nt guard upon
herself lest some word slipped her lips to reveal her acquaintance with
the players and their art. At the ridotto she must equally feign
ignorance of modish dancing--she whose nimble feet had tripped to every
measure since she could stand alone. There was scarcely a subject on
which she would dare to speak without deliberation, and she must check
her old habit of singing and be silent, lest she fall by hazard to
humming some known tune. Truly, under such continuous strain (which none
but such a trained actress could maintain for a single day) her spirit
must have wearied. And if this part was hard to play in public, where we
are all, I take it, actors of some sort and on the alert to sustain the
character we would have our own, how much more difficult must it be in
private when we drop our disguise and lay our hearts open to those we
love! And here, as it seemed to me, I did hit rightly at the true cause
of her present secret distress; for at home as abroad she must still be
acting a part, weighing her words, guarding her acts--for ever to be
hiding of something from her dearest friend--ever denying him that
confidence he appealed for--ever keeping a cruel, biting bond upon the
most generous impulse of her heart, closing that heart when it was
bursting to open to her dear mate.

Soon after their return Mr. Godwin set to work painting the head of a
Sybil, which the Lord of Hatfield House had commanded, on the
recommendation of Sir Peter Lely, taking Anne Fitch for his model, and
she sitting in that room of the Court house he had prepared for his
workshop. Here he would be at it every day, as long as there was light
for his purpose, Moll, near at hand, watching him, ready to chat or hold
her peace, according to his inclination--just as she had done when he
was a-painting of the ceiling, only that now her regard was more intent
upon him than his work, and when he turned to look at her, 'twas with
interchange of undisguised love in their fond eyes. She ever had a piece
of work or a book in her lap, but she made not half a dozen stitches or
turned a single page in the whole day, for he was the sole occupation of
her mind; the living book, ever yielding her sweet thoughts.

This persevering, patient toil on his part did at first engender in my
mind suspicion that some doubting thoughts urged him to assume his
independence against any accident that might befall the estate; but now
I believe 'twas nothing but a l