The night before Mr. Wycherly left for England the minister came to see him. At first they talked of the move; of Oxford; of the great change it would make in the lives of the three most concerned. Then it was borne in upon Mr. Wycherly that Mr. Gloag was there for some special purpose and found it difficult to come to the point.
At last he did so; cleared his throat, looked hard at his host, and then said gravely: "I hope you fully realise, that in undertaking the sole guardianship of those two boys you must carry on the excellent religious training given them by Miss Esperance. There must be no break, no spiritual backwardness...."
"I assure you," Mr. Wycherly interposed, "that there is no lack of religious training in our English schools; it forms a large part...."
"That's as it may be," the minister interrupted. "It's the home religious training to which I referred, and it is that counts most in after life. For instance, now, did not Miss Esperance daily read the Bible with those boys when they were with her?"
"I believe she did," Mr. Wycherly replied meekly.
"Well, then, what is to prevent you from doing the same and so carrying on her work?"
"I will do my best."
"Remember," said the minister, "we are bidden to search the scriptures, and the young are not, as a rule, much given to doing it of their own accord."
"That is true," Mr. Wycherly agreed, wishing from his heart that they were, for then he would not be required to interfere.
"Then I may depend upon you?" asked the minister.