sly that I knew you
had done nothing of the sort; but that perhaps Dolly thought so." (This
quieted him a little, for I watched his face.) "So the best way, I
think, is for us all to be quiet for a little and say nothing. You know
now what my own wishes are; and that is enough for you and me. As to
estates, I will make a settlement, if ever the marriage is arranged,
that will satisfy you; but I think we need not trouble about that at
present. I will do my utmost to push my suit; but it must be in my own
way; and that way will be to say nothing at all for a while, but to
establish easy relations with her. She is a little perturbed at present:
I saw that, for I watched her to-night; and unless she can grow quiet
again, all will come to nothing."

So I spoke, in the folly of my own wisdom that seemed to me so great at
that time. I had dealt with men, but not at all with women, and knew
nothing of them. If I had but followed my heart and spoken to her at
once, while the warmth of my welcome, and the memory of the peril we had
undergone together were still in heart, matters might have been very
different. But I thought otherwise, and that I would be very prudent and
circumspect, knowing nothing at all of a maid's heart and her ways. As
for Cousin Tom, he had to yield to me; for what else could he do? The
prospect that I opened before him was a better one than he could get
anywhere else: he had no opening at Court, in spite of his bragging; and
the Protestants round about were too wise, in their rustic way, to
engage themselves with a Papist at such a time. So there the matter
remained.

* * * * *

When I came to my chamber, it had a very pleasant aspect to me. The
curtains were across the windows; a great fire blazed on the hearth--(I
had heard my Cousin Dolly's footsteps pass across the landing, before
she went to bed,--no doubt to put more wood on)--my bed was ready, and
on the round table in the middle was a jug of horn-beam branches with
some winter flowers. It was six months since I had been here; and
matters were considerably better with me now than they had been then.
Then I was being hunted; now I was free from all anxiety on that score:
then I had been going up to London to resign what little position I had;
now I was re-established, owing to what I had done in France, on a
better footing than ever. More than all, I knew now, without any doubt
at all, what my heart told me of my Cou