A week had elapsed since the fishing excursion, and David had not visited them.

Too busy?
Tommy knew that it is the busy people who can find time.

Could it be that David had proposed to her at the waterside?
No, he could not read that in Elspeth's face.

He knew that she would be in distress lest her refusal should darken the doctor's life for too long a time; but yet (shake your fist at him, ladies, for so misunderstanding you!) he expected also to note in that sympathetic face a look of subdued triumph, and as it was not there, David could not have proposed.
The fact of her not having told him about it at once did not prove to Tommy that there had been no proposal.

His feeling was that she would consider it too sacred a thing to tell even to him, but that it would force its way out in a week or two.
On the other hand, she could not have resisted dropping shyly such remarks as these: "I think Dr.Gemmell is a noble man," or, "How wonderfully good Dr.Gemmell is to the poor!" Also she would sometimes have given Tommy a glance that said, "I wonder if you guess." Had they quarrelled?
Tommy smiled.