The school throve.  The pupils came with great punctuality at their different hours, and were unknown to each other and to the world.  The secret of the school would never have got abroad, but for the incaution of a certain Mrs. Brigback (wife of a man who had been connected with the City Government for two years on a nominal salary, and retired rich).  She was so delighted at the progress which she made in the English rudiments, and in the French (being able to ask for bread, or fish, or concerning a person’s health, in that language), that she could not refrain from confidentially advising another lady (the wife of a street contractor, suddenly opulent) to take a few lessons from the same accomplished teacher.  The street contractor’s wife was perfectly indifferent to society, and had no wish to remedy the defects of her early education.  She promised secrecy, and the next day told the story, at the expense of her friend, to a mutual female acquaintance, who passed it on with embellishments to a third, who amused a fourth with its narration; and so it went through a succession of confidential people, until, one day, it became the subject of conversation in a stage in which Marcus Wilkeson was riding.  He could not avoid hearing it; and, although the two ladies (themselves shockingly astray in their grammar) laughed at the absurdity of the thing, Marcus Wilkeson thought it was a capital idea.  A plan which he had been idly revolving in his mind for the education of Miss Minford, began to take shape.  The inventor (he reasoned) would not be likely to object to a strictly private school for his daughter, if the teacher were a lady of correct principles, and highly educated.

Upon the last point, Marcus Wilkeson determined to satisfy himself.  So he addressed a note, through the General Post Office, to “Miss Pillbody, New York City,” requesting the privilege of an interview on business, at the residence of the lady, the exact location of which she was asked to designate.

The letter was advertised (Miss Pillbody’s address being unknown to the carrier), and, about two weeks after it was written, an answer came back to Mr. Wilkeson, at his house, giving information as to the whereabouts of the lady, and appointing the time for an interview.

Mr. Wilkeson called, and in five minutes’ conversation was satisfied of Miss Pillbody’s moral and intellectual qualifications as teacher, and thought himself very fortunate in securing a vacancy among the pupils (caused by sudden illness) for Miss Minford.  With what perfect confidence the suspicious inventor, as well as his simple-hearted daughter, accepted the frank offer of their friend and benefactor, we have already seen.

CHAPTER VII.

THE LITTLE PUPIL.

It was a pleasant winter’s morning, when Mr. Minford and his daughter, and their singular friend, made a formal call on Miss Pillbody, by appointment.  The inventor had overcome a difficulty in his machine, by introducing a cam movement, and was in excellent humor.  As he walked along the streets, he said that the snow and the sky and his future all looked bright to him now.  Of the two former objects his assertion was obviously true, and Pet enjoyed the shining scene, as youth, health, and innocence always do, without reference to the future.