honour that a gentleman holds sacred.

He thought of the scornful wonder with which she would listen to his
tale, and preferred to take the risk of greater disaster in the future
to the certainty of present shame. In the end, he contrived to
establish a species of confidential intimacy with Maria, which, whilst
it somewhat mystified the poor girl, was not without its charm,
inasmuch as it tended to transform the every-day Philip into a hero of
romance.

But in the main Maria was ill-suited to play heroine to her wooer's
hero. Herself as open as the daylight, it was quite incomprehensible
to her why their relationship should be kept such a dark and
mysterious secret, or why, if her lover gave her a kiss, it should be
done with as many precautions as though he were about to commit a
murder.

She was a very modest maiden, and in her heart believed it a wonderful
thing that Philip should have fallen in love with her--a thing to be
very proud of; and she felt it hard that she should be denied the
gratification of openly acknowledging her lover, and showing him off
to her friends, after the fashion that is so delightful to the female
mind.

But, though this consciousness of the deprivation of a lawful joy set
up a certain feeling of irritation in her mind, she did not allow it
to override her entire trust in and love for Philip. Whatever he did
was no doubt wise and right; but, for all that, on several occasions
she took an opportunity to make him acquainted with her views of the
matter, and to ask him questions that he found it increasingly