She had come with definite calm intention, precisely in the guise in which she should have been expected.

At the very hour, in the very clothes, she was there.
Robust and pleasant, with a practical eye on her promising future, she had arrived, the fulfilment of despair.

Dr Drummond looked at her with acquiescence, half-cowed, half-comic, wondering at his own folly in dreaming of anything else.

Miss Cameron brought the situation, as it were, with her; it had to be faced, and Dr Drummond faced it like a philosopher.

She was the material necessity, the fact in the case, the substantiation of her own legend; and Dr Drummond promptly gave her all the consideration she demanded in this aspect.