'Do you know Hebrew, Mr. Peak?'
The question came unexpectedly, and Godwin could not help a momentary confusion, but he covered it with the tone of self-reproach.
'I am ashamed to say that I am only now taking it up seriously.'
'I don't think you need be ashamed,' said Martin, good-naturedly. 'Even a mind as active as yours must postpone some studies. Reusch, I suppose, is sound on that head?'
The inquiry struck Godwin as significant. So Mr. Warricombe attached importance to the verbal interpretation of the Old Testament.
'Distinctly an authority,' he replied. 'He devotes whole chapters to a minute examination of the text.'
'If you had more leisure,' Martin began, deliberately, when he had again reflected, 'I should be disposed to urge you to undertake that translation.'
Peak appeared to meditate.
'Has the book been used by English writers?' the other inquired.
'A good deal.—It was published in the sixties, but I read it in a new edition dated a few years ago. Reusch has kept pace with the men of science. It would be very interesting to compare the first form of the book with the latest.'