"Mrs. Murray and even Mr. Hammond are scheming to make a match between her and Gordon Leigh. Studying Hebrew indeed! A likely story! She had better go back to her wash-tub and spinning-wheel! Much Hebrew she will learn! Her eyes are set on Gordon's fortune, and Mrs. Murray is silly enough to think he will step into the trap. She will have to bait it with something better than Hebrew and black eyes, or she will miss her game. Gordon will make a fool of her, I dare say, for, like all other young men, he can be flattered into paying her some little attention at first. I am surprised at Mrs. Inge to countenance the girl at all." Such was the orphan's initiation into the charmed circle of fashionable society; such her welcome to le beau monde. As she laid her head on her pillow, she could not avoid exclaiming: "Heaven save me from such aristocrats! and commit me rather to the horny but outstretched hands, the brawny arms, the untutored minds, the simple but kindly-throbbing hearts of proletaire!" CHAPTER X. 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: