What had passed about his proposing to Nancy had raised a new alarm, lest by some after-dinner words of his father's to Mr.Lammeter he should be thrown into the embarrassment of being obliged absolutely to decline her when she seemed to be within his reach.

He fled to his usual refuge, that of hoping for some unforeseen turn of fortune, some favourable chance which would save him from unpleasant consequences--perhaps even justify his insincerity by manifesting its prudence.

And in this point of trusting to some throw of fortune's dice, Godfrey can hardly be called specially old-fashioned.

Favourable Chance, I fancy, is the god of all men who follow their own devices instead of obeying a law they believe in.

Let even a polished man of these days get into a position he is ashamed to avow, and his mind will be bent on all the possible issues that may deliver him from the calculable results of that position.