against this.  Even Don Sanchez, who was no innocent, did persuade her from it with good strong argument,—­showing that, despite his worldliness, he did really love her as much as ’twas in his withered heart to love any one.  As for Dawson, he declared he would sooner see his Moll in her winding-sheet than in the king’s company, adding that ’twould be time enough for her to think of going to court when she had a husband to keep her out of mischief.  And so she refused this offer (but with secret tears, I believe).  “But,” says she to her father, “if I’m not to have my own way till I’m married, I shall get me a husband as soon as I can.”

And it seemed that she would not have to look far nor wait long for one neither.  Before a month was passed, at least half a dozen young sparks were courting her, they being attracted, not only by her wit and beauty, but by the report of her wealth, it being known to all how Simon had enriched the estate.  And ’twas this abundance of suitors which prevented Moll from choosing any one in particular, else had there been but one, I believe the business would have been settled very quickly.  For now she was in the very flush of life, and the blood that flowed in her veins was of no lukewarm kind.

But here (that I may keep all my strings in harmony) I must quit Moll for a space to tell of her father.  That first hint of the Don’s bringing him to his senses somewhat (like a dash of cold water), and the exuberance of his joy subsiding, he quickly became more circumspect in his behaviour, and fell into the part he had to play.  And the hard, trying, sorrowful part that was, neither he nor I had foreseen.  For now was he compelled for the first time in his life, at any length, to live apart from his daughter, to refrain from embracing her when they met in the morning, to speak to her in a rough, churlish sort when his heart, maybe, was overflowing with love, and to reconcile himself to a cool, indifferent behaviour on her side, when his very soul was yearning for gentle, tender warmth.  And these natural cravings of affection were rather strengthened than stilled by repression, as one’s hunger by starving.  To add to this, he now saw his Moll more bewitching than ever she was before, the evidence of her wit and understanding stimulating that admiration which he dared not express.  He beheld her loved and courted openly by all, whilst he who had deeper feeling for her than any, and more right to caress her, must at each moment stifle his desires and lay fetters on his inclinations, which constraint, like chains binding down a stout, thriving oak, did eat and corrode into his being, so that he did live most of these days in a veritable torment.  Yet, for Moll’s sake, was he very stubborn in his resolution; and, when he could no longer endure to stand indifferently by while others were enjoying her sprightly conversation, he would go up to his chamber and pace to and fro, like some she-lion parted from her cub.