aised her head after
returning our salutation, before she had time to discipline them
thoroughly. I saw them glitter with defiant hatred as they lighted on
her rival. I saw them melt with passionate eagerness as for one brief
moment they followed Guy's retreating figure and averted face. Half of
Mohun's warning became superfluous after that. I was in no danger of
being deceived by "Miss Bellasys taking things pleasantly."

Yet, as time wore on, the idea forced itself on me more and more that
Livingstone's choice was in some respects a mistake. They were _not_
suited to each other. Constance was as unsuspicious and as free from
commonplace jealousies as the merest child; but some of her lover's
proceedings did not please her, and she told him so, perhaps without
attending sufficiently to the "_suaviter in modo_"; for, when it was a
question of duty, real or fancied, to herself and to others, she was
rigid as steel. Besides this, she was a strict observer of all Church
canons and rituals; and more than once, when Guy had proposed some plan,
a vigil, or matins, or vespers came in the way. She did all for the
best, I am certain, and judged herself far more severely than she did
others, but she could not guess how any thing like an admonition or a
lecture grated on the proud, self-willed nature that from childhood had
been unused to the slightest control. To speak the truth, too, she was
not exempt from that failing which brought ruin on the brightest of the
angels, and punishment eternal on the Son of the Morning; so that pride
may often have checked the evidence of the deep love she really felt,
and made her manner seem constrained and cold.

I only guess all this; for neither then, nor at any future time, did I
ever hear from Guy the faintest whisper of accusation or complaint.

I do not think he contradicted her often; I am quite sure it never came
to a quarrel or even a dispute. They were not a couple likely to indulge
in the _amantium irae_; but sometimes, after quitting her, his brow was
so ominously overcast that it would have gladdened the very heart of
Flora Bellasys to have seen it. Once, I remember, after sitting some
time in silence, his eyes turned toward a table, where, among other
letters, lay a little triangular note unopened. He broke the seal and
read it through, frowning still heavily; after a few moments of what
looked like hesitation, he seemed to come to a decision, and burned it
slowly at the flame