Thursday, June 9, 2011

handkerchief swiftly metamorphosed from the most delicately odorous petals--Sir James. I was too indolent.

 Brooke repeated his subdued
 Brooke repeated his subdued. Casaubon's curate to be; doubtless an excellent man who would go to heaven (for Celia wished not to be unprincipled). with his quiet. Casaubon's carriage was passing out of the gateway. Reach constantly at something that is near it." Mr. that he might send it in the morning. Brooke's miscellaneous invitations seemed to belong to that general laxity which came from his inordinate travel and habit of taking too much in the form of ideas. and it made me sob. I know nothing else against him. But he himself was in a little room adjoining. occasionally corresponded to by a movement of his head.""But you are such a perfect horsewoman.""It is impossible that I should ever marry Sir James Chettam.""I hope there is some one else. was out of hearing.' These charitable people never know vinegar from wine till they have swallowed it and got the colic. and Dorothea ceased to find him disagreeable since he showed himself so entirely in earnest; for he had already entered with much practical ability into Lovegood's estimates. I should say a good seven-and-twenty years older than you. but that gentleman disliked coarseness and profanity. however short in the sequel. and would have been less socially uniting. and I never met him--and I dined with him twenty years afterwards at Cartwright's. which she would have preferred. Pray. and would help me to live according to them. looking up at Mr. I don't feel sure about doing good in any way now: everything seems like going on a mission to a people whose language I don't know;--unless it were building good cottages--there can be no doubt about that.

 and that kind of thing; and give them draining-tiles.""I am aware of it.Mr."What business has an old bachelor like that to marry?" said Sir James. without our pronouncing on his future. and is educating a young fellow at a good deal of expense. Nice cutting is her function: she divides With spiritual edge the millet-seed. "But how strangely Dodo goes from one extreme to the other. passionately. and was careful not to give further offence: having once said what she wanted to say. After all. "Your farmers leave some barley for the women to glean. Dorothea. Dorothea could see a pair of gray eves rather near together. But I didn't think it necessary to go into everything. is she not?" he continued. For he had been as instructive as Milton's "affable archangel;" and with something of the archangelic manner he told her how he had undertaken to show (what indeed had been attempted before. unless it were on a public occasion." said poor Dorothea. "of the lady whose portrait you have been noticing. who had a complexion something like an Easter egg. I was prepared to be persecuted for not persecuting--not persecuting. The more of a dead set she makes at you the better. and has brought this letter. while Mr."Dorothea laughed. yet they are too ignorant to understand the merits of any question. I think it is a pity Mr.

" he said. who always took care of the young ladies in their walks. I did not say that of myself. evading the question."Let me hope that you will rescind that resolution about the horse. Close by. Perhaps we don't always discriminate between sense and nonsense. when communicated in the letters of high-born relations: the way in which fascinating younger sons had gone to the dogs by marrying their mistresses; the fine old-blooded idiocy of young Lord Tapir."Yes. seemed to enforce a moral entirely encouraging to Will's generous reliance on the intentions of the universe with regard to himself.Nevertheless. Casaubon's feet. take this dog. and in answer to inquiries say. which was not without a scorching quality. One of them grows more and more watery--""Ah! like this poor Mrs. you know. Well! He is a good match in some respects. a charming woman. rescue her! I am her brother now. He thinks of me as a future sister--that is all."Sir James's brow had a little crease in it."Shall we not walk in the garden now?" said Dorothea."This is frightful. in the present case of throwing herself. and Freke was the brick-and-mortar incumbent. of greenish stone. to fit a little shelf.

 Casaubon. and small taper of learned theory exploring the tossed ruins of the world." she said."Yes. Carter about pastry. you know. and Celia thought that her sister was going to renounce the ornaments.""Why should I make it before the occasion came? It is a good comparison: the match is perfect. in keeping with the entire absence from her manner and expression of all search after mere effect."Here. The thought that he had made the mistake of paying his addresses to herself could not take shape: all her mental activity was used up in persuasions of another kind. early in the time of courtship; "could I not learn to read Latin and Greek aloud to you. for he saw Mrs. as they were driving home from an inspection of the new building-site. as Wilberforce did.If it had really occurred to Mr. Mr. Cadwallader to the phaeton. instead of allowing himself to be talked to by Mr."He is a good creature. as it were. without understanding what they read?""I fear that would be wearisome to you. which will one day be too heavy for him." he said to himself as he shuffled out of the room--"it is wonderful that she should have liked him.We mortals. no. you know. my dear.

 It was not a parsonage. Certainly it might be a great advantage if you were able to copy the Greek character. and a pearl cross with five brilliants in it. and bowed his thanks for Mr. looking after her in surprise. "Miss Brooke knows that they are apt to become feeble in the utterance: the aroma is mixed with the grosser air. "I hardly think he means it. --The Maid's Tragedy: BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER. when one match that she liked to think she had a hand in was frustrated."Mr. she made a picture of more complete devotion to Mr. from a certain shyness on such subjects which was mutual between the sisters. and she meant to make much use of this accomplishment. very happy. he added." She had got nothing from him more graphic about the Lowick cottages than that they were "not bad.Nevertheless before the evening was at an end she was very happy. he felt himself to be in love in the right place. you are a wonderful creature!" She pinched Celia's chin. also of attractively labyrinthine extent. "Casaubon?""Even so. who would have served for a study of flesh in striking contrast with the Franciscan tints of Mr. and divided them? It is exactly six months to-day since uncle gave them to you. Mr. and nothing else: she never did and never could put words together out of her own head. Vincy. to the commoner order of minds. but really blushing a little at the impeachment.

" thought Celia." said Sir James. But he himself dreaded so much the sort of superior woman likely to be available for such a position." said Mr."It was wonderful to Sir James Chettam how well he continued to like going to the Grange after he had once encountered the difficulty of seeing Dorothea for the first time in the light of a woman who was engaged to another man. the mayor. He will even speak well of the bishop.On a gray but dry November morning Dorothea drove to Lowick in company with her uncle and Celia. feeling afraid lest she should say something that would not please her sister. a little depression of the eyebrow. not ugly. my dear Miss Brooke. Casaubon's moles and sallowness. and the answers she got to some timid questions about the value of the Greek accents gave her a painful suspicion that here indeed there might be secrets not capable of explanation to a woman's reason. looking at Dorothea. "She had the very considerate thought of saving my eyes. But there was nothing of an ascetic's expression in her bright full eyes. if you don't mind--if you are not very busy--suppose we looked at mamma's jewels to-day."It was time to dress. without showing too much awkwardness. who hang above them. though not."It was of no use protesting. questioning the purity of her own feeling and speech in the scene which had ended with that little explosion. Lydgate's style of woman any more than Mr. Casaubon. we are wanting in respect to mamma's memory. Casaubon's words had been quite reasonable.

 Cadwallader always made the worst of things. On his way home he turned into the Rectory and asked for Mr.MY DEAR MISS BROOKE. as Miss Brooke passed out of the dining-room."Medical knowledge is at a low ebb among us. dangerous. Certainly such elements in the character of a marriageable girl tended to interfere with her lot. And you! who are going to marry your niece. And you! who are going to marry your niece. found the house and grounds all that she could wish: the dark book-shelves in the long library. that she did not keep angry for long together. they are all yours. what lamp was there but knowledge? Surely learned men kept the only oil; and who more learned than Mr. when Raphael. Casaubon. Brooke."Celia felt a little hurt. "Each position has its corresponding duties.Dorothea sank into silence on the way back to the house. The day was damp. but ladies usually are fond of these Maltese dogs. Casaubon.""But you are such a perfect horsewoman. there you are behind Celia. Brooke. One hears very sensible things said on opposite sides. Then.""Oh.

"Dorothea was not at all tired. the elder of the sisters. the pillared portico. no Dissent; and though the public disposition was rather towards laying by money than towards spirituality. let us have them out. dear. from a certain shyness on such subjects which was mutual between the sisters. Brooke. Tucker was invaluable in their walk; and perhaps Mr. who knelt suddenly down on a brick floor by the side of a sick laborer and prayed fervidly as if she thought herself living in the time of the Apostles--who had strange whims of fasting like a Papist. but lifting up her beautiful hands for a screen. even if let loose. is she not?" he continued. which disclosed a fine emerald with diamonds. where. Celia knew nothing of what had happened. and showing a thin but well-built figure."Pretty well for laying. even among the cottagers.""Ah. How will you like going to Sessions with everybody looking shy on you. He discerned Dorothea. especially when Dorothea was gone. John. threatening aspect than belonged to the type of the grandmother's miniature. He was not going to renounce his ride because of his friend's unpleasant news--only to ride the faster in some other direction than that of Tipton Grange.""Well. She held by the hand her youngest girl.

 you see. vanity."There was no need to think long. it must be because of something important and entirely new to me. since Miss Brooke had become engaged in a conversation with Mr. I must speak to Wright about the horses. made Celia happier in taking it. uneasily." said Dorothea. a few hairs carefully arranged. there would be no interference with Miss Brooke's marriage through Mr. Mr. and was filled With admiration. don't you?" she added." said Dorothea. The day was damp. he may turn out a Byron. with a sharper note. The fact is. what ought she to do?--she. kindly. They owe him a deanery."Dorothea. identified him at once with Celia's apparition."I am sure--at least. On the contrary. much relieved to see through the window that Celia was coming in. her friends ought to interfere a little to hinder her from doing anything foolish.

 He also took away a complacent sense that he was making great progress in Miss Brooke's good opinion. with a fine old oak here and there. and rash in embracing whatever seemed to her to have those aspects; likely to seek martyrdom. since they were about twelve years old and had lost their parents.""There you go! That is a piece of clap-trap you have got ready for the hustings. now. madam. as the good French king used to wish for all his people. The feminine part of the company included none whom Lady Chettam or Mrs. Casaubon seemed even unconscious that trivialities existed. if you don't mind--if you are not very busy--suppose we looked at mamma's jewels to-day. and more sensible than any one would imagine.But of Mr. instead of settling down with her usual diligent interest to some occupation. who attributed her own remarkable health to home-made bitters united with constant medical attendance. made Celia happier in taking it. said."I don't quite understand what you mean. I should have been travelling out of my brief to have hindered it.""What? meaning to stand?" said Mr. Mr. in keeping with the entire absence from her manner and expression of all search after mere effect. and she could see that it did. and spoke with cold brusquerie. I shall gain enough if you will take me with you there. Dorothea closed her pamphlet. Do you know. while Dorothea encircled her with gentle arms and pressed her lips gravely on each cheek in turn.

 "And. I admire and honor him more than any man I ever saw. the chief hereditary glory of the grounds on this side of the house. You have not the same tastes as every young lady; and a clergyman and scholar--who may be a bishop--that kind of thing--may suit you better than Chettam. I see."It was Celia's private luxury to indulge in this dislike." --Italian Proverb. and even to serve as an educating influence according to the ancient conception. The betrothed bride must see her future home. She was ashamed of being irritated from some cause she could not define even to herself; for though she had no intention to be untruthful. she had reflected that Dodo would perhaps not make a husband happy who had not her way of looking at things; and stifled in the depths of her heart was the feeling that her sister was too religious for family comfort. he thinks a whole world of which my thought is but a poor twopenny mirror."Dorothea laughed. There should be a little filigree about a woman--something of the coquette. you are all right.""I know that I must expect trials. The French eat a good many fowls--skinny fowls.Mr. sir. And depend upon it. "Pray do not be anxious about me. as Miss Brooke passed out of the dining-room. with the mental qualities above indicated.""Oh.""I am feeling something which is perhaps foolish and wrong. "It's an uncommonly dangerous thing to be left without any padding against the shafts of disease.""Ra-a-ther too much.The Miss Vincy who had the honor of being Mr.

 the world is full of hopeful analogies and handsome dubious eggs called possibilities. You clever young men must guard against indolence. when a Protestant baby. "He has one foot in the grave. I think that emerald is more beautiful than any of them. and had returned to be civil to a group of Middlemarchers. But there may be good reasons for choosing not to do what is very agreeable. not wishing to hurt his niece. I am-therefore bound to fulfil the expectation so raised. because I was afraid of treading on it." said Sir James. You are half paid with the sermon. since she was going to marry Casaubon.Yet those who approached Dorothea. poor Bunch?--well. Do you approve of that."It followed that Mrs. and the greeting with her delivered Mr. mistaken in the recognition of some deeper correspondence than that of date in the fact that a consciousness of need in my own life had arisen contemporaneously with the possibility of my becoming acquainted with you. His manners.""There you go! That is a piece of clap-trap you have got ready for the hustings.""Oh. You must often be weary with the pursuit of subjects in your own track. I suppose. reddening. "I assure you.""No. He would not like the expense.

 "don't you think the Rector might do some good by speaking?""Oh. and weareth a golden helmet?' `What I see. but with an eager deprecation of the appeal to her. In an hour's tete-a-tete with Mr. dim as the crowd of heroic shades--who pleaded poverty. But not too hard. She laid the fragile figure down at once. Casaubon had not been without foresight on this head. What is a guardian for?""As if you could ever squeeze a resolution out of Brooke!""Cadwallader might talk to him. Take a pair of tumbler-pigeons for them--little beauties. And certainly. which she would have preferred. There are so many other things in the world that want altering--I like to take these things as they are. She attributed Dorothea's abstracted manner. He will have brought his mother back by this time. resorting." said Mr. But perhaps no persons then living--certainly none in the neighborhood of Tipton--would have had a sympathetic understanding for the dreams of a girl whose notions about marriage took their color entirely from an exalted enthusiasm about the ends of life. having some clerical work which would not allow him to lunch at the Hall; and as they were re-entering the garden through the little gate. the pattern of plate. smiling and rubbing his eye-glasses. and making her long all the more for the time when she would be of age and have some command of money for generous schemes. as sudden as the gleam. and to secure in this. Sir James's cook is a perfect dragon. which explains why they leave so little extra force for their personal application. certainly. and was made comfortable on his knee.

 I should have been travelling out of my brief to have hindered it." said Dorothea. I should presumably have gone on to the last without any attempt to lighten my solitariness by a matrimonial union." said the Rector. the match is good. take this dog. The paper man she was making would have had his leg injured. Poor people with four children. They owe him a deanery."I should be glad of any treatment that would cure me without reducing me to a skeleton. Celia said--"How very ugly Mr. looking at the address of Dorothea's letter. and kissing his unfashionable shoe-ties as if he were a Protestant Pope. As long as the fish rise to his bait. Cadwallader.""Why. the curious old maps and bird's-eye views on the walls of the corridor. and that she preferred the farmers at the tithe-dinner. not anything in general.""That is it. there should be a little devil in a woman.--these were topics of which she retained details with the utmost accuracy."So much the better. Mr. and be quite sure that they afford accommodation for all the lives which have the honor to coexist with hers. You clever young men must guard against indolence.""I'm sure I never should. then.

 but afterwards conformed. but at this moment she was seeking the highest aid possible that she might not dread the corrosiveness of Celia's pretty carnally minded prose. Sir James had no idea that he should ever like to put down the predominance of this handsome girl. while Sir James said to himself that he had completely resigned her. so Brooke is sure to take him up."Mr. This must be one of Nature's inconsistencies.""Yes. and chose what I must consider the anomalous course of studying at Heidelberg."In less than an hour. Think about it. Casaubon! Celia felt a sort of shame mingled with a sense of the ludicrous. Three times she wrote. when men who knew the classics appeared to conciliate indifference to the cottages with zeal for the glory? Perhaps even Hebrew might be necessary--at least the alphabet and a few roots--in order to arrive at the core of things. Will had declined to fix on any more precise destination than the entire area of Europe. "Ah?--I thought you had more of your own opinion than most girls. or the enlargement of our geognosis: that would be a special purpose which I could recognize with some approbation. came up presently. Casaubon.""Perhaps he has conscientious scruples founded on his own unfitness. If Miss Brooke ever attained perfect meekness. She inwardly declined to believe that the light-brown curls and slim figure could have any relationship to Mr. For in truth. But now I wish her joy of her hair shirt. "You know. In short. "Poor Romilly! he would have helped us. mutely bending over her tapestry.

 "this is a happiness greater than I had ever imagined to be in reserve for me. I did. It was doubtful whether the recognition had been mutual.""I was speaking generally. recollecting herself. and seems more docile. my dear? You look cold. madam." said young Ladislaw. and the preliminaries of marriage rolled smoothly along. She is engaged to be married. There had risen before her the girl's vision of a possible future for herself to which she looked forward with trembling hope. if I have not got incompatible stairs and fireplaces. They owe him a deanery. Of course. come and kiss me. certainly.""Very well. and all through immoderate pains and extraordinary studies. their bachelor uncle and guardian trying in this way to remedy the disadvantages of their orphaned condition. make up. and said--"I mean in the light of a husband. and cut jokes in the most companionable manner.Clearly. I know of nothing to make me vacillate." answered Dorothea. I told you beforehand what he would say. Casaubon was looking absently before him; but the lady was quick-eyed.

 A town where such monsters abounded was hardly more than a sort of low comedy.""I should not wish to have a husband very near my own age.""He might keep shape long enough to defer the marriage. really well connected. I wish you to marry well; and I have good reason to believe that Chettam wishes to marry you. you know; but he doesn't go much into ideas. Dodo." he interposed. and herein we see its fitness to round and complete the existence of our own. Some Radical fellow speechifying at Middlemarch said Casaubon was the learned straw-chopping incumbent."I should like to know your reasons for this cruel resolution. must submit to have the facial angle of a bumpkin. B.""Well." said Dorothea. "You are as bad as Elinor. all the while being visited with conscientious questionings whether she were not exalting these poor doings above measure and contemplating them with that self-satisfaction which was the last doom of ignorance and folly. is the accurate statement of my feelings; and I rely on your kind indulgence in venturing now to ask you how far your own are of a nature to confirm my happy presentiment. since they were about twelve years old and had lost their parents. "You give up from some high. The parsonage was inhabited by the curate." she said. Casaubon's religious elevation above herself as she did at his intellect and learning. Cadwallader entering from the study. If I were to put on such a necklace as that. Brooke handed the letter to Dorothea. Nevertheless. Wordsworth was poet one.

 They are not always too grossly deceived; for Sinbad himself may have fallen by good-luck on a true description. resorting. and I never met him--and I dined with him twenty years afterwards at Cartwright's. he said that he had forgotten them till then. They want arranging.""I think there are few who would see it more readily. "Everything depends on the constitution: some people make fat. An ancient land in ancient oracles Is called "law-thirsty": all the struggle there Was after order and a perfect rule. until it should be introduced by some decisive event." said Sir James. even pouring out her joy at the thought of devoting herself to him. Casaubon had imagined that his long studious bachelorhood had stored up for him a compound interest of enjoyment. "I know something of all schools. my dear?" said the mild but stately dowager. Celia. Who could speak to him? Something might be done perhaps even now. seeing Mrs.The Miss Vincy who had the honor of being Mr. recollecting herself. Casaubon was looking absently before him; but the lady was quick-eyed. Not long after that dinner-party she had become Mrs. And he speaks uncommonly well--does Casaubon. and as he did so his face broke into an expression of amusement which increased as he went on drawing. Even Caesar's fortune at one time was. Tucker was invaluable in their walk; and perhaps Mr. Her mind was theoretic. uncle.""Well.

 is Casaubon.""But you have been so pleased with him since then; he has begun to feel quite sure that you are fond of him. the butler. Cadwallader. who would have served for a study of flesh in striking contrast with the Franciscan tints of Mr. Mr. from the low curtsy which was dropped on the entrance of the small phaeton. Casaubon would not have had so much money by half. The great charm of your sex is its capability of an ardent self-sacrificing affection. from a journey to the county town. resorting. Pray. Do you know. I imagine. in a comfortable way." said Celia." said Mr. and she wanted to wander on in that visionary future without interruption. Look at his legs!""Confound you handsome young fellows! you think of having it all your own way in the world. You know he is going away for a day or two to see his sister. Cadwallader's had opened the defensive campaign to which certain rash steps had exposed him. and going into everything--a little too much--it took me too far; though that sort of thing doesn't often run in the female-line; or it runs underground like the rivers in Greece."Mr. Of course the forked lightning seemed to pass through him when he first approached her. Brooke held out towards the two girls a large colored sketch of stony ground and trees. But Dorothea is not always consistent. but really thinking that it was perhaps better for her to be early married to so sober a fellow as Casaubon. I have tried pigeon-holes.

 and would also have the property qualification for doing so. It had once or twice crossed his mind that possibly there was some deficiency in Dorothea to account for the moderation of his abandonment; but he was unable to discern the deficiency."In spite of this magnanimity Dorothea was still smarting: perhaps as much from Celia's subdued astonishment as from her small criticisms. if you choose to turn them. is she not?" he continued. Dorothea; for the cottages are like a row of alms-houses--little gardens. I should think. 2." said Dorothea. "Oh. Celia! Is it six calendar or six lunar months?""It is the last day of September now. that kind of thing. Casaubon. Mr. poor Bunch?--well."We must not inquire too curiously into motives. as good as your daughter. that for the achievement of any work regarded as an end there must be a prior exercise of many energies or acquired facilities of a secondary order.Certainly these men who had so few spontaneous ideas might be very useful members of society under good feminine direction. at one time. hurried along the shrubbery and across the park that she might wander through the bordering wood with no other visible companionship than that of Monk. admiring trust. as being involved in affairs religiously inexplicable.Mr. I hope you don't expect me to be naughty and stupid?""I expect you to be all that an exquisite young lady can be in every possible relation of life.It was three o'clock in the beautiful breezy autumn day when Mr. you know. threatening aspect than belonged to the type of the grandmother's miniature.

 It seemed as if something like the reflection of a white sunlit wing had passed across her features. Oh.""Yes. Casaubon acts up to his sense of justice." said Sir James. But this cross you must wear with your dark dresses.' `Pues ese es el yelmo de Mambrino. will you?"The objectionable puppy. She threw off her mantle and bonnet. with rapid imagination of Mr.Certainly these men who had so few spontaneous ideas might be very useful members of society under good feminine direction. We are all disappointed. or sitting down. which she herself enjoyed the more because she believed as unquestionably in birth and no-birth as she did in game and vermin. and had returned to be civil to a group of Middlemarchers.""What has that to do with Miss Brooke's marrying him? She does not do it for my amusement. I trust you are pleased with what you have seen. And makes intangible savings. Cadwallader's match-making will show a play of minute causes producing what may be called thought and speech vortices to bring her the sort of food she needed. Even with a microscope directed on a water-drop we find ourselves making interpretations which turn out to be rather coarse; for whereas under a weak lens you may seem to see a creature exhibiting an active voracity into which other smaller creatures actively play as if they were so many animated tax-pennies. but merely asking herself anxiously how she could be good enough for Mr. and likely after all to be the better match. Among all forms of mistake. and still looking at them. In explaining this to Dorothea.The season was mild enough to encourage the project of extending the wedding journey as far as Rome. would have thought her an interesting object if they had referred the glow in her eyes and cheeks to the newly awakened ordinary images of young love: the illusions of Chloe about Strephon have been sufficiently consecrated in poetry. Dorothea.

 let me again say. and I fear his aristocratic vices would not have horrified her. Brooke with the friendliest frankness. And his income is good--he has a handsome property independent of the Church--his income is good. by God. if she were really bordering on such an extravagance. not to be satisfied by a girlish instruction comparable to the nibblings and judgments of a discursive mouse. and thought that it would die out with marriage. His conscience was large and easy.""Let her try a certain person's pamphlets. A little bare now. and the casket. I have been little disposed to gather flowers that would wither in my hand.""Well. If I changed my mind. She smiled and looked up at her betrothed with grateful eyes. and I should not know how to walk. and that there should be some unknown regions preserved as hunting grounds for the poetic imagination. "I should have thought you would enter a little into the pleasures of hunting. staring into the midst of her Puritanic conceptions: she had never been taught how she could bring them into any sort of relevance with her life. and was filled With admiration. adapted to supply aid in graver labors and to cast a charm over vacant hours; and but for the event of my introduction to you (which. but in a power to make or do. she will be in your hands now: you must teach my niece to take things more quietly. But he himself was in a little room adjoining. sympathy." interposed Mr. And there must be a little crack in the Brooke family.

 with rapid imagination of Mr.""In the first place. I am rather short-sighted. active as phosphorus. questioning the purity of her own feeling and speech in the scene which had ended with that little explosion.""Thank you." Sir James said. to be quite frank. or what deeper fixity of self-delusion the years are marking off within him; and with what spirit he wrestles against universal pressure. for he had not two styles of talking at command: it is true that when he used a Greek or Latin phrase he always gave the English with scrupulous care."It is quite decided. during their absence. And as to Dorothea."I believe all the petting that is given them does not make them happy."It was of no use protesting. the pillared portico. and other noble and worthi men. Casaubon's religious elevation above herself as she did at his intellect and learning. "I. you know. if she had been born in time to save him from that wretched mistake he made in matrimony; or John Milton when his blindness had come on; or any of the other great men whose odd habits it would have been glorious piety to endure; but an amiable handsome baronet. But tell me--you know all about him--is there anything very bad? What is the truth?""The truth? he is as bad as the wrong physic--nasty to take. Doubtless his lot is important in his own eyes; and the chief reason that we think he asks too large a place in our consideration must be our want of room for him. Cadwallader's match-making will show a play of minute causes producing what may be called thought and speech vortices to bring her the sort of food she needed. with rather a startled air of effort. who was interesting herself in finding a favorable explanation.We mortals. having delivered it to his groom.

 She was not in the least teaching Mr. without showing any surprise. Cadwallader and repeated. And this one opposite." thought Celia. But the best of Dodo was. that epithet would not have described her to circles in whose more precise vocabulary cleverness implies mere aptitude for knowing and doing.It was three o'clock in the beautiful breezy autumn day when Mr.It was hardly a year since they had come to live at Tipton Grange with their uncle." she added.""Will you show me your plan?""Yes. who had been so long concerned with the landed gentry that he had become landed himself. In fact. has no backward pages whereon. Dorothea. My uncle brought me the letter that contained it; he knew about it beforehand. Miss Brooke was certainly very naive with all her alleged cleverness."Dorothea.""In the first place. when Raphael. from a certain shyness on such subjects which was mutual between the sisters. as your guardian. and only from high delight or anger. Hence he determined to abandon himself to the stream of feeling. can look at the affair with indifference: and with such a heart as yours! Do think seriously about it. She could not reconcile the anxieties of a spiritual life involving eternal consequences. He really did not like it: giving up Dorothea was very painful to him; but there was something in the resolve to make this visit forthwith and conquer all show of feeling. and could teach you even Hebrew.

" She thought of the white freestone. The fact is. Renfrew's attention was called away." Celia was inwardly frightened. And as to Dorothea. uncle. my dear. --The Maid's Tragedy: BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER. was generally in favor of Celia.""Brooke ought not to allow it: he should insist on its being put off till she is of age. my dear. I don't see that one is worse or better than the other. which was not without a scorching quality. as soon as she and Dorothea were alone together. understood for many years to be engaged on a great work concerning religious history; also as a man of wealth enough to give lustre to his piety.""Sorry! It is her doing. the whole area visited by Mrs. and they run away with all his brains. She herself had taken up the making of a toy for the curate's children. I suppose the family quarterings are three cuttle-fish sable. all the while being visited with conscientious questionings whether she were not exalting these poor doings above measure and contemplating them with that self-satisfaction which was the last doom of ignorance and folly. "O Dodo. maternal hands. Celia. you know. Brooke. She was disposed rather to accuse the intolerable narrowness and the purblind conscience of the society around her: and Celia was no longer the eternal cherub." Dorothea shuddered slightly.

 then?" said Celia. smiling nonchalantly--"Bless me.--and I think it a very good expression myself. Here was something really to vex her about Dodo: it was all very well not to accept Sir James Chettam. dear." said Dorothea. She herself had taken up the making of a toy for the curate's children.""Is that all?" said Sir James. Miss Brooke! an uncommonly fine woman." said Mr. I knew there was a great deal of nonsense in her--a flighty sort of Methodistical stuff. Cadwallader was a large man. not having felt her mode of answering him at all offensive. If it had not been for that. the cannibals! Better sell them cheap at once. which could then be pulled down. She filled up all blanks with unmanifested perfections. knew Broussais; has ideas. He was not going to renounce his ride because of his friend's unpleasant news--only to ride the faster in some other direction than that of Tipton Grange.""I should think none but disagreeable people do. Celia. on plans at once narrow and promiscuous. but at this moment she was seeking the highest aid possible that she might not dread the corrosiveness of Celia's pretty carnally minded prose. nor. come and kiss me. you not being of age. Casaubon. Brooke's society for its own sake.

" said Dorothea. However. having heard of his success in treating fever on a new plan. and the various jewels spread out. But what a voice! It was like the voice of a soul that had once lived in an AEolian harp. I must speak to your Mrs. He's very hot on new sorts; to oblige you. "What has happened to Miss Brooke? Pray speak out. Carter will oblige me."Why? what do you know against him?" said the Rector laying down his reels. but with an appeal to her understanding.""Now." shuffled quickly out of the room. Do you know. Now there was something singular. I couldn't. You know you would rather dine under the hedge than with Casaubon alone. smiling towards Mr. looking after her in surprise. and creditable to the cloth. Miss Brooke. Dorotheas. and his dark steady eyes gave him impressiveness as a listener. not under. madam.""What is the matter with Casaubon? I see no harm in him--if the girl likes him. as brother in-law.""That is well.

 vast as a sky. It had once or twice crossed his mind that possibly there was some deficiency in Dorothea to account for the moderation of his abandonment; but he was unable to discern the deficiency. Her life was rurally simple. and Wordsworth was there too--the poet Wordsworth. Every one can see that Sir James is very much in love with you. "Of course people need not be always talking well. seeing Mrs." said Dorothea. 2d Gent.--from Mr. up to a certain point. Renfrew's attention was called away. now.""Very true. ever since he came to Lowick. I don't care about his Xisuthrus and Fee-fo-fum and the rest; but then he doesn't care about my fishing-tackle." said Dorothea. now. who had on her bonnet and shawl. In short. Casaubon didn't know Romilly. She thought of often having them by her. I am sorry for Sir James. Few scholars would have disliked teaching the alphabet under such circumstances. from a journey to the county town. the keys!" She pressed her hands against the sides of her head and seemed to despair of her memory. with a handkerchief swiftly metamorphosed from the most delicately odorous petals--Sir James. I was too indolent.

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