leaning to honesty
from me."

"This very morning," continues I, "she was, I truly believe, of two
minds whether she should not confess to her sweetheart that she was not
his cousin."

"For all the world my case!" cries he, slapping the table. "If I could
only have five minutes in secret with the dear girl, I would give her a
hint that should make her profit by my folly." And then he tells me how,
in the heyday of courtship and the flush of confiding love, he did
confess to his wife that he had carried gallantry somewhat too far with
Sukey Taylor, and might have added a good half dozen other names beside
hers but for her sudden outcry; and how, though she might very well have
suspected other amours, she did never reproach him therewith, but was
for ever to her dying day a-flinging Sukey Taylor in his teeth, etc.

"Lord, Kit!" cries he, in conclusion; "what would I give to save her
from such torment! You know how obedient she is to my guiding, for I
have ever studied to make her respect me; and no one in the world hath
such empire over her. Could it not be contrived anyhow that we should
meet for half an hour secretly?"

"Not secretly," says I. "But there is no reason why you should not visit
her openly. Nay, it will create less surprise than if you stay away. For
what could be more natural than your coming to the Court on your return
from a voyage to see the lady you risked so much to save?"

"Now God bless you for a good, true friend!" cries he, clasping my hand.
"I'll come, but to stay no great length. Not a drop will I touch that
day, and a fool indeed I must be if I can't act my part without bungling
for a few hours at a stretch, and I a-listening every night in the
parlour of the 'Spotted Dog' to old seamen swearing and singing their
songs. And I'll find an opportunity to give--Moll a hint of my past
folly, and so rescue her from a like pitfall. I'll abide by your advice,
Kit,--which is the wisest I ever heard from your lips."

But I was not so sure of this, and, remembering the kind of obedience
Moll had used to yield to her father's commands, my mind misgave me.

CHAPTER XXIII.

_Don Sanchez proposes a very artful way to make Mr. Godwin a party to
our knavery, etc._

I returned to Hurst Court the following day in the forenoon, and there I
found Mr. Godwin, with Moll clinging to his arm, in an upper room
commanding a view of the northern slopes, discussing their future, and
Moll told me with g