When Mr. Hammond mentioned Edna's determination to discontinue Hebrew, Mr. Leigh expressed no surprise, asked no explanation, but the minister noticed that he bit his lip, and beat a hurried tattoo with the heel of his boot on the stony hearth; and as he studiously avoided all allusion to her, he felt assured that the conversation which she had overheard must have reached the ears of her partner also, and supplied him with a satisfactory solution of her change of purpose. For several weeks Edna saw nothing of her quondam schoolmate; and fixing her thoughts more firmly than ever on her studies, the painful recollection of the birthday fete was lowly fading from her mind, when one morning, as she was returning from the parsonage, Mr. Leigh joined her, and asked permission to attend her home. The sound of his voice, the touch of his hand, brought back all the embarrassment and constraint, and called up the flush of confusion so often attributed to other sources than that from which it really springs.
After a few commonplace remarks, he asked: "When is Mr. Murray coming home?"
"I have no idea. Even his mother is ignorant of his plans."
"How long has he been absent?"
"Four years to-day."
"Indeed! so long? Where is he?"
"I believe his last letter was written at Edfu, and he said nothing about returning."
"What do you think of his singular character?"
"I know almost nothing about him, as I was too young when I saw him to form an estimate of him."
"Do you not correspond?"
Edna looked up with unfeigned astonishment, and could not avoid smiling at the inquiry.
"Certainly not."
A short silence followed, and then Mr. Leigh said: "Do you not frequently ride on horseback?"
"Yes, sir."
"Will you permit me to accompany you to-morrow afternoon?"
"I have promised to make a visit with Mr. Hammond."
"To-morrow morning then, before breakfast?"
She hesitated--the blush deepened, and after a brief struggle, she said hurriedly: "Please excuse me, Mr. Leigh; I prefer to ride alone."
He bowed, and was silent for a minute, but she saw a smile lurking about the corners of his handsome mouth, threatening to run riot over his features.
"By the by, Miss Edna, I am coming to-night, to ask your assistance in a Chaldee quandary. For several days I have been engaged in a controversy with Mr. Hammond on the old battlefield of ethnology, and, in order to establish my position of diversity of origin, have been comparing the Septuagint with some passages from the Talmud. I heard you say that there was a Rabbinical Targum in the library at Le Bocage, and I must beg you to examine it for me, and ascertain whether it contains any comments on the first chapter of Genesis. Somewhere in my most desultory reading I have seen it stated that in some of those early Targums was the declaration, that 'God originally created men red, white and black.' Mr. Hammond is charitable enough to say that I must have smoked an extra cigar, and dreamed the predicate I am so anxious to authenticate. Will you oblige me by searching for the passage?"