realisation of those
wishes which he had never been permitted to consummate. Godolphin, too,
was precisely of a nature to appreciate the delicacy of Constance's
conduct, and to be deeply penetrated by the thought that, while he was
following a career so separate from hers, she, in the midst of all her
ambitious projects, could pause to labour, unthanked and in concealment,
for the delight of this hour's gratification to him: the delicacy and
the forethought affected him the more, because they made not a part of
the ordinary character of the high and absorbed ambition of Constance.
He did not thank her much by words, but his looks betrayed all he felt,
and Constance was overpaid.

Although the new portion of the building was necessarily not extensive,
yet each chamber was of those grand proportions which suited the
magnificent taste of Godolphin, and harmonised with the ancient ruins.
Constance had shown her tact by leaving the ruins themselves (which it
was profane to touch) unrestored; but so artfully were those connected
with the modern addition, and thence with the apartments in the cottage,
which she had not scrupled to remodel, that an effect was produced from
the whole far more splendid than many Gothic buildings of greater extent
and higher pretensions can afford. Godolphin wandered delightedly over
the whole, charmed with the taste and judgment which presided over even
the nicest arrangement.

"Why, where," said he, struck with the accurate antiquity of some of the
details, "where learned you all these minutiae? You are as wise as Hope
himself upon cornices and tables."

"I was forced to leave these things to others," answered Constance; "but
I took care that they possessed the necessary science."

The night was exceedingly beautiful, and they walked forth under the
summer moon among those grounds in which Constance had first seen
Godolphin. They stood by the very rivulet--they paused at the very spot!
On the murmuring bosom of the wave floated many a water-flower; and now
and then a sudden splash, a sudden circle in the shallow stream, denoted
the leap of the river-tyrant on his prey. There was a universal odor in
the soft air; that delicate, that ineffable fragrance belonging to those
midsummer nights which the rich English poetry might well people with
Oberon and his fairies; the bat wheeled in many a ring along the air;
but the gentle light bathed all things, and robbed his wanderings of the
gloomier ass