And
I'd got to dance with the other Miss Gunn,' said Godfrey, glad of
the subterfuge his uncle had suggested to him.
The prevarication and white lies which a mind that keeps itself
ambitiously pure is as uneasy under as a great artist under the
false touches that no eye detects but his own, are worn as lightly
as mere trimmings when once the actions have become a lie.
Godfrey reappeared in the White Parlour with dry feet, and, since
the truth must be told, with a sense of relief and gladness that was
too strong for painful thoughts to struggle with. For could he not
venture now, whenever opportunity offered, to say the tenderest things
to Nancy Lammeter- to promise her and himself that he would always
be just what she would desire to see him? There was no danger that his
dead wife would be recognized: those were not days of active inquiry
and wide report; and as for the registry of their marriage, that was a
long way off, buried in unturned pages, away from everyone's
interest but his own. Dunsey might betray him if he came back; but
Dunsey might be won to silence.
And when events turn out so much better for a man than he has had
reason to dread, is it not a proof that his conduct has been less
foolish and blameworthy than it might otherwise have appeared? When we
are treated well, we naturally begin to think that we are not
altogether unmeritorious, and that it is only just we should treat
ourselves well, and not mar our own good fortune.
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