om her finger. "'Tis too small for my finger, love," says he;
"but I will wear it against my heart as long as it beats." After that he
finds another case and puts it in Moll's hand, and she, opening it,
fetches her breath quickly and can say nothing for amazement; then,
turning it in the light, she regards it with winking eyes, as if dazzled
by some fierce brilliancy. And so closing the case as if it were too
much for her, she lays her face upon Mr. Godwin's breast, he having his
arm about her, murmuring some inarticulate words of passionate love.
Recovering her energies presently, she starts up, and putting the case
in her lover's hand, she bids him put on his gift, therewith pulling
down her kerchief to expose her beautiful bare neck, whereupon he draws
from the box a diamond collar and clasps it about her throat with a
pretty speech. And truly this was a gift worthy of a princess, the most
beautiful bauble I have ever seen, and must have cost him all he had of
me to the last shilling.

_December 10._ Finding amongst Simon's quittances a bill for law
expenses of one John Pearson, attorney, at Maidstone, I concluded this
must be the most trustworthy man of his kind in the country; and so set
forth early this morning to seek him,--a tedious, long journey, and the
roads exceedingly foul. By good luck I found Mr. Pearson at home,--a
very civil, shrewd man, as I think. Having laid my business before him,
he tells me there will be no difficulty in dividing the estate according
to the wish of Mr. Godwin and Moll, which may be done by a simple deed
of agreement; and this he promises to draw up, and send to us for
signature in a couple of days. But to get the seal to Moll's succession
will not be such an easy matter, and, unless we are willing to give
seven or eight hundred pounds in fees, we may be kept waiting a year,
with the chance of being put to greater expense to prove our right; for
he tells me the court and all about it are so corrupt that no minister
is valued if he do not, by straight or crooked ways, draw money into the
treasury, and that they will rather impede than aid the course of
justice if it be to the king's interest, and that none will stir a hand
to the advantage of any one but the king, unless it be secretly to his
own, etc. And, though he will say nothing against Simon, save (by way of
hint) that all men must be counted honest till they are proved guilty,
yet he do apprehend he will do all in his power to