The more he saw of Mrs.Goddard, the more he wondered at her and speculated about her and the less he dared to ask her any questions.
But he understood from Mr.Ambrose's manner, that the vicar at least was in possession of her secret, and he inferred from what he was able to judge about the vicar's character that the latter was not a man to extend his friendship to any one who did not deserve it.

Whatever Mrs.Goddard's story was, he felt sure that her troubles had not been caused by her own misconduct.

She was in every respect what he called a good woman.

Of course, too, she was a widow; the way in which she spoke of her husband implied that, on those rare occasions when she spoke of him at all.
Charles James Juxon was a gentleman, whatever course of life he had followed before settling in the country, and he did not feel that he should be justified in asking questions about Mrs.Goddard of the vicar.
Besides, as time went on and he found his own interest in her increasing, he began to nourish the hope that he might one day hear her story from her own lips.

In his simplicity it did not strike him that he himself had grown to be an object of interest to her.
Somehow, during the summer and autumn of that year, Mrs.Goddard contracted a habit of watching the park gate from the window of the cottage, particularly at certain hours of the day.