sin Dolly; and I was here, with
every liberty to commend my suit to her.

Before I went to bed I opened the little secret cupboard by my bed, and
put into it three or four private papers I had, and amongst them that
written in cipher that I had had from Mr. Rumbald. Then I went to bed;
and dreamed of Dolly.

Then began for me a time of great peace and serenity.

First came Christmas, with its homely joys, and Twelfth night on which
we cut and ate a great cake that Dolly had made; then there was the
winter's work to be done in preparation for the spring; and then spring
itself, with the crocuses sprouting between the joints of the paved walk
round the house; and the daffodils in the long box-bed beneath the
limes. I write these little things down, for it was principally by these
things that I remember those months; and the noise of the world outside
seemed as sounds heard in a dream. I went up to London, now and
again--but not very often; and saw His Majesty in private twice, and he
honoured me by asking my advice again on certain French affairs; but,
for the time, all these things were secondary in my mind to the cows of
Hare Street and to how the pigs did. It is marvellous how men's minds
can come down to such matters, and become absorbed in them, and let the
rest of the world go hang. I thought now and again of my mission from
Rome; yet I do not think I was faithless to it; for there was nothing at
that time which I could do for the King; and he expressly had desired me
not to mix much with the Court and so become known. The truth of the
matter was that at this time he was largely occupied with a certain
woman, whose name had best not be spoken; and when His Majesty ran upon
those lines, he could think of little else. I sent my reports regularly
to Rome; and the Cardinal Secretary seemed satisfied; and so therefore
was I.

It was, with my Cousin Dolly, precisely as I had thought. She was at
first very shy indeed, going up to her chamber early in the evening, so
that we had little or no music; but relaxing a little as I shewed myself
friendly without being forward. I caught her eyes on me sometimes; and
she seemed to be appraising me, I thought in my stupidity, as to whether
she could trust me not to make love to her; but now, as I think, for a
very different reason; and I would see her sometimes as I went out of
doors, peeping at me for an instant out of a window. It was not,
however, all hide and seek. We would t