"Surely, if you care to tell me I shall be interested," she answered without a moment’s hesitation. "You know, of course, that he has just come back from Nice?" "I knew he had gone anyhow, because Sadie has had budgets from Kitty." "And you know, too, that my sister is there with Lady Betty Neil?" "Yes," she answered quietly, "I knew that, too." "She is going to marry Drummond," said Malcolm then, not looking at her. It did not occur to him that she could have any acute personal interest in the news. As for Rosmead, in his absence he had in more senses than one dropped out of the count. "She is going to marry Neil Drummond!" said Vivien after a while, and her voice was a little faint as if the news staggered her. "How very extraordinary and unexpected!" "Why do you say that?" he asked anxiously. "Well, because, somehow, one never expected to hear that in this world. Did you?" "I wasn’t surprised. He has been in love with her since they were children. He told me he had asked her six times last year." "Oh!" said Vivien with a little gasp. "Then one can only hope that they will be very happy," she added, as if recovering herself by an effort of the will. But her reception of the news was all very half-hearted, and Malcolm was deeply disappointed. "I thought you would be pleased." "I am, if you are. I suppose you would like Mr. Drummond for a brother-in-law." "Drummond is a very good sort. But what chiefly pleases me is that Isla will have a proper home at Garrion and the position she ought to have. It’s a fine old place, and Drummond will be a rich man one day when Lady Betty Neil is done with her money. She is to give them ten thousand pounds as a wedding present." "’The Ancestor’ has come up to expectation," said Vivien with a little smile. "Have you heard from your sister? Is she very happy?" "I haven’t heard from her," he answered lamely. "I’ll be writing this evening. May I send her a message from you?" "If you like. But I shall write myself--unless she is coming home soon." "That is unlikely. Drummond talks of a marriage at the Scotch church at Nice. In that case I, of course, would have to go there. But nothing can be arranged till I have heard from Isla." "Don’t you feel a little sore because she did not write to tell you herself?" asked Vivien straightly and in a puzzled voice. The relations between Mackinnon and his sister had always puzzled and saddened Vivien, and in her heart of hearts she had sometimes blamed Isla. At other times, recalling the glimpse of the real woman she had obtained on that never-to-be-forgotten day at the Lodge of Creagh, she wondered whether there was not something in the background which, if known, would have explained everything and justified Isla. "Well, you see, we are not a writing family, and I was so long abroad that we got a little out of touch," said Malcolm lamely again.