moment of liberty.

ERG. That is just what is in your favour. Your love ought to expect a
great deal from these circumstances. Know, for your encouragement, that
a woman watched is half-won, and that the gloomy ill-temper of husbands
and fathers has always promoted the affairs of the gallant. I intrigue
very little; for that is not one of my accomplishments. I do not pretend
to be a gallant; but I have served a score of such sportsmen, who often
used to tell me that it was their greatest delight to meet with churlish
husbands, who never come home without scolding,--downright brutes, who,
without rhyme or reason, criticise the conduct of their wives in
everything, and, proudly assuming the authority of a husband, quarrel
with them before the eyes of their admirers. "One knows," they would
say, "how to take advantage of this. The lady's indignation at this kind
of outrage, on the one hand, and the considerate compassion of the
lover, on the other, afford an opportunity for pushing matters far
enough." In a word, the surliness of Isabella's guardian is a
circumstance sufficiently favourable for you.

VAL. But I could never find one moment to speak to her in the four
months that I have ardently loved her.

ERG. Love quickens people's wits, though it has little effect on yours.
If I had been...

VAL. Why, what could you have done? For one never sees her without that
brute; in the house there are neither maids nor men-servants whom I
might influence to assist me by the alluring temptation of some reward.

ERG. Then she does not yet know that you love her?