ore, his
return and suspicions, she made so little of these that I may say she
scarce remarked them, and all her troubles and doings regarded what had
passed between us in the night before. This is partly to be explained
by the innocence and boldness of her character; and partly because James
More, having sped so ill in his interview with me, or had his mouth
closed by my invitation, said no word to her upon the subject. At the
breakfast, accordingly, it soon appeared we were at cross-purposes. I
had looked to find her in clothes of her own: I found her (as if her
father were forgotten) wearing some of the best that I had bought for
her, and which she knew (or thought) that I admired her in. I had looked
to find her imitate my affectation of distance, and be most precise and
formal; instead, I found her flushed and wild-like, with eyes
extraordinary bright, and a painful and varying expression, calling me
by name with a sort of appeal of tenderness, and referring and deferring
to my thoughts and wishes like an anxious or a suspected wife.

But this was not for long. As I beheld her so regardless of her own
interests, which I had jeopardised and was now endeavouring to recover,
I redoubled my own coldness in the manner of a lesson to the girl. The
more she came forward, the further I drew back; the more she betrayed
the closeness of our intimacy, the more pointedly civil I became, until
even her father (if he had not been so engrossed with eating) might have
observed the opposition. In the midst of which, of a sudden, she became
wholly changed, and I told myself, with a good deal of relief, that she
had took the hint at last.

All day I was at my classes or in quest of my new lodging; and though
the hour of our customary walk hung miserably on my hands, I cannot say
but I was happy on the whole to find my way cleared, the girl again in
proper keeping, the father satisfied, or at least acquiescent, and
myself free to prosecute my love with honour. At supper, as at all our
meals, it was James More that did the talking. No doubt but he talked
well, if any one could have believed him. But I will speak of him
presently more at large. The meal at an end, he rose, got his
great-coat, and looking (as I thought) at me, observed he had affairs
abroad. I took this for a hint that I was to be going also, and got up;
whereupon the girl, who had scarce given me greeting at my entrance,
turned her eyes on me wide open, with a look tha