tell him to keep away," said Godfrey, moving towards the door.

"Confound it, sir, don't stay arguing, but go and order my horse,"
said the Squire, taking up a pipe.

Godfrey left the room, hardly knowing whether he were more relieved
by the sense that the interview was ended without having made any
change in his position, or more uneasy that he had entangled himself
still further in prevarication and deceit. What had passed about
his proposing to Nancy had raised a new alarm, lest by some
after-dinner words of his father's to Mr. Lammeter he should be
thrown into the embarrassment of being obliged absolutely to decline
her when she seemed to be within his reach. He fled to his usual
refuge, that of hoping for some unforeseen turn of fortune, some
favourable chance which would save him from unpleasant consequences--
perhaps even justify his insincerity by manifesting its prudence.
And in this point of trusting to some throw of fortune's dice,
Godfrey can hardly be called specially old-fashioned. Favourable
Chance, I fancy, is the god of all men who follow their own devices
instead of obeying a law they believe in. Let even a polished man
of these days get into a position he is ashamed to avow, and his
mind will be bent on all the possible issues that may deliver him
from the calculable results of that position. Let him live outside
his income, or shirk the resolute honest work that brings wages, and
he will presently find himself dreaming of a possible benefactor, a
possible simpleton who may be cajoled into using his interest, a
possible state of mind in some possible person not yet forthcoming.
Let him neglect the responsibilities of his office, and he will
inevitably anchor himself on the chance that the thing left undone
may turn out not to be of the supposed importance. Let him betray