their
mutual friend, and the clerk were the only witnesses. So unimportant did
it seem to Godwin, to whom reason was more binding than any conventional
form, that he never mentioned it in his diary, though in the latter he
kept a strict account of his daily actions. It meant as little to Mary as
it did to him, and she playfully alluded to the change, in one of her
notes written a day or two afterwards:

March 31, 1797.

_Tuesday._--I return you the volumes; will you get me the rest? I
have not perhaps given it as careful a reading as some of the
sentiments deserve.

Pray send me by Mary, for my luncheon, a part of the supper you
announced to me last night, as I am to be a partaker of your
worldly goods, you know!

They were induced to take this step, not by any dissatisfaction with the
nature of the connection they had already formed, but by the fact that
Mary was soon to become a mother for the second time. Godwin explains
that "she was unwilling, and perhaps with reason, to incur that exclusion
from the society of many valuable and excellent individuals, which custom
awards in cases of this sort. I should have felt an extreme repugnance to
the having caused her such an inconvenience." But probably another
equally strong motive was, that both had at heart the welfare of their
unborn child. In Godwin's ideal state of society, illegitimacy would be
no disgrace. But men were very far from having attained it; and children
born of unmarried parents were still treated as if they were criminals.
Mary doubtlessly realized the bitterness in store for Fanny, through no
fault of her own, and was unwilling to bring another child into the world
to meet so cruel a fate. So long as their actions affected no one but
themselves, she and Godwin could plead a right to bid defiance to society
and its customs, since they were willing to bear the penalty; but once
they became responsible for a third life, they were no longer free
agents. The duties they would thereby incur were so many arguments for
compliance with social laws.

At first they told no one of their marriage. Mrs. Shelley gives two
reasons for their silence. Godwin was very sensitive to criticism,
perhaps even more so than Mary. He confessed once to Holcroft: "Though I
certainly give myself credit for intellectual powers, yet I have a
failing which I have never been able to overcome. I am so cowed and cast
down by rude and unqualifie