The pecuniary obligation had long since been repaid, but the feeling of gratitude to the one who had enabled him to pursue the career best fitted to the bent of his mind remained in full force; and, from the influence of this feeling, he had been induced to make an offer to Mr. McLeod, which was the immediate occasion of Miss McLeod's visit to Westbridge.
Mr. McLeod had been for some years devoting himself spasmodically to the study of Revelations. He fancied that he had discovered the clue to the meaning of many of the most mysterious parts of this book; but, unfortunately, there were many little discrepancies between his ideas and those apparently conveyed by the words of this part of Holy Writ. These he attributed to a faulty translation, and had himself begun one that was to be free from such blemishes; but, finding that his knowledge of the language was insufficient, or that his patience was soon exhausted, he determined that his daughter Janet should qualify herself to perform this office for him.
She would have undertaken to learn Chinese, if her father had expressed a wish to that effect, and therefore made no opposition to studying Greek, nor to passing the winter in Westbridge with her aunt, that she might avail herself of the proposal Mr. Mainwaring had made to her father, that he should be her instructor. Miss McLeod had never been in Westbridge, and Mr. Mainwaring had never happened to meet her. He knew that she was a young lady of eighteen, and that, since her mother's death, some three years before, she had devoted herself entirely to making her father's home as comfortable and happy as possible. Her filial affection had prepossessed him very much in her favor, and he looked forward to aiding her in her studies with an unusual degree of pleasure. Jane Atwood, too, was delighted at the prospect of renewing an acquaintance that had languished since her childhood.
Mr. McLeod was prevented, by some of his numerous engagements, from accompanying his daughter to Westbridge, as he had intended; and, placing her under the care of an acquaintance who was on his way to the city of New York, he telegraphed to Professor Mainwaring a request that he would meet Miss McLeod at the Westbridge depot.