so short a time?  And as Nellie was quite unable to answer such an inquiry, she desisted from her questions and applied herself to the method of personal observation.  But here, too, she was met by a hopeless difficulty.  The squire and her mother never seemed to have any secrets, as Nellie would have expressed it.  They met daily, and daily exchanged very much the same remarks concerning the weather, the garden, the vicar’s last sermon.  When they talked about anything else, they spoke of books, of which the squire lent Mrs. Goddard a great number.  But this was a subject which did not interest Nellie very much; she was not by any means a prodigy in the way of learning, and though she was now nearly eleven years old was only just beginning to read the Waverley novels.  On one occasion she remarked to her mother that she did not believe a word of them and did not think they were a bit like real life, but the momentary fit of scepticism soon passed and Nellie read on contentedly, not omitting however to watch her mother in order to find out, as her small mind expressed it, “whether mamma really liked that nice Mr. Juxon.”  Events were slowly preparing themselves which would help her to come to a satisfactory conclusion upon that matter.

Mr. Juxon himself was in a very uncertain state of mind.  After knowing Mrs. Goddard for six months, and having acquired the habit of seeing her almost every day, he found to his surprise that she formed a necessary part of his existence.  It need not have surprised him, for in spite of that lady’s surmise with regard to his early life, he was in reality a man of generous and susceptible temperament.  He recognised in the charming tenant of the cottage many qualities which he liked, and he could not deny that she was exceedingly pretty.  Being a strong man he was particularly attracted by the pathetic expression of her face, the perpetual sadness that was visible there when she was not momentarily interested or amused.  Had he suspected her paleness and air of secret suffering to be the result of any physical infirmity, she would not have interested him so much.  But Mrs. Goddard’s lithe figure and easy grace of activity belied all idea of weakness.  It was undoubtedly some hidden suffering of mind which lent that sadness to her voice and features, and which so deeply roused the sympathies of the squire.  At the end of six months Mr. Juxon was very much interested in Mrs. Goddard, but despite all his efforts to be agreeable he seemed to have made no progress whatever in the direction of banishing her cares.  To tell the truth, it did not enter his mind that he was in love with her.  She was his tenant; she was evidently very unhappy about something; it was therefore undeniably his duty as a landlord and as a gentleman to make life easy for her.