But such a crisis
was far away, and there was no necessity for now contemplating
it. Indeed, there was no _certainty_ it would ever arrive;
it was only a possibility. The child was not beautiful, although
to him she was lovely, and, being also penniless, was therefore
not likely to attract attention; while, if her being unfolded
under the genial influences he was doing his best to make
powerful upon her, if she grew aware that by them her life was
enlarging and being tenfold enriched, it was possible she might
not be ready to fall in love, and leave Thornwick. He must be
careful, however, he said to himself, quite plainly now, that his
behavior should lead her into no error. He was not afraid she
might fall in love with him; he was not so full of himself as
that; but he recoiled from the idea, as from a humiliation, that
she might imagine him in love with her. It was not merely that he
had loved once for all, and, once deceived and forsaken, would
love no more; but it was not for him, a man of thirty years, to
bow beneath the yoke of a girl of eighteen--a child in everything
except outward growth. Not for a moment would he be imagined by
her a courtier for her favor.
Thus, even in the heart of one so far above ordinary men as
Godfrey, and that in respect of the sweetest of child-maidens,
pride had its evil place; and no good ever comes of pride, for it
is the meanest of mean things, and no one but he who is full of
it thinks it grand.
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