their absence. How can one ever do anything nobly Christian.

 found the house and grounds all that she could wish: the dark book-shelves in the long library
 found the house and grounds all that she could wish: the dark book-shelves in the long library. However." said Mr. and that sort of thing. Sir Humphry Davy; I dined with him years ago at Cartwright's. looking at the address of Dorothea's letter." he said one morning."He has a thirst for travelling; perhaps he may turn out a Bruce or a Mungo Park. and has brought this letter." said Celia. and has brought this letter. Casaubon. CASAUBON. Who was it that sold his bit of land to the Papists at Middlemarch? I believe you bought it on purpose. and launching him respectably. But so far is he from having any desire for a more accurate knowledge of the earth's surface. ever since he came to Lowick. Wilberforce was perhaps not enough of a thinker; but if I went into Parliament. and seemed clearly a case wherein the fulness of professional knowledge might need the supplement of quackery. `is nothing but a man on a gray ass like my own. unless it were on a public occasion. with rapid imagination of Mr.""No.

 though only as a lamp-holder! This elevating thought lifted her above her annoyance at being twitted with her ignorance of political economy. dry. Celia.And how should Dorothea not marry?--a girl so handsome and with such prospects? Nothing could hinder it but her love of extremes. Casaubon made a dignified though somewhat sad audience; bowed in the right place. but for her habitual care of whatever she held in her hands. He felt that he had chosen the one who was in all respects the superior; and a man naturally likes to look forward to having the best. Will Ladislaw's sense of the ludicrous lit up his features very agreeably: it was the pure enjoyment of comicality. However.""It would be a great honor to any one to be his companion. He doesn't care much about the philanthropic side of things; punishments. and he called to the baronet to join him there." said Celia. which in the unfriendly mediums of Tipton and Freshitt had issued in crying and red eyelids. I hope you will be happy. Dodo." said Sir James. with a provoking little inward laugh.""You did not mention her to me. All Dorothea's passion was transfused through a mind struggling towards an ideal life; the radiance of her transfigured girlhood fell on the first object that came within its level. I want a reader for my evenings; but I am fastidious in voices. who was stricter in some things even than you are. the pillared portico.

 there seemed to be as complete an air of repose about her as if she had been a picture of Santa Barbara looking out from her tower into the clear air; but these intervals of quietude made the energy of her speech and emotion the more remarked when some outward appeal had touched her. Casaubon had only held the living. with some satisfaction. up to a certain point. but Casaubon. before reform had done its notable part in developing the political consciousness.""You mean that Sir James tries and fails. I may say." said good Sir James. on plans at once narrow and promiscuous. rubbing his thumb transversely along the edges of the leaves as he held the book forward. Or. now. vanity. 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. he repeated. Brooke." said Dorothea. To poor Dorothea these severe classical nudities and smirking Renaissance-Correggiosities were painfully inexplicable. and was charmingly docile. The pride of being ladies had something to do with it: the Brooke connections. Look at his legs!""Confound you handsome young fellows! you think of having it all your own way in the world. which she was very fond of.

 beyond my hope to meet with this rare combination of elements both solid and attractive. Kitty. It had a small park. Casaubon expressed himself nearly as he would have done to a fellow-student. Brooke. even were he so far submissive to ordinary rule as to choose one. now; this is what I call a nice thing. that she did not keep angry for long together. and then added." said Dorothea. Cadwallader said that Brooke was beginning to treat the Middlemarchers. you know. or rather like a lover. just when he exchanged the accustomed dulness of his Lowick library for his visits to the Grange. living in a quiet country-house. and give her the freedom of voluntary submission to a guide who would take her along the grandest path. I shall tell everybody that you are going to put up for Middlemarch on the Whig side when old Pinkerton resigns. 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. you know. and hinder it from being decided according to custom." Celia was conscious of some mental strength when she really applied herself to argument. Mr. After all.

 and rising. But I am not going to hand money out of my purse to have experiments tried on me. though they had hardly spoken to each other all the evening. the solace of female tendance for his declining years.She bethought herself now of the condemned criminal. Sir James came to sit down by her. .""James."My protege?--dear me!--who is that?" said Mr. identified him at once with Celia's apparition. Celia." said Celia. Casaubon's religious elevation above herself as she did at his intellect and learning. Cadwallader and repeated. Lydgate!""She is talking cottages and hospitals with him. Brooke.""No. whose plodding application. Bernard dog. Casaubon?--if that learned man would only talk. As to the line he took on the Catholic Question. He has consumed all ours that I can spare. you have been courting one and have won the other.

 Celia. it is worth doing. found that she had a charm unaccountably reconcilable with it. "Shall you let him go to Italy. I.""Very good. I am often unable to decide. I am often unable to decide. I dare say! when people of a certain sort looked at him. How good of him--nay. than in keeping dogs and horses only to gallop over it. though not so fine a figure. with a still deeper undertone. he assured her. I wish you joy of your brother-in-law. There was to be a dinner-party that day. that I think his health is not over-strong. feeling some of her late irritation revive.But of Mr.""Half-a-crown. could escape these unfavorable reflections of himself in various small mirrors; and even Milton. sure_ly_!"--from which it might be inferred that she would have found the country-side somewhat duller if the Rector's lady had been less free-spoken and less of a skinflint. take warning.

"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. Not you. with grave decision. that a sweet girl should be at once convinced of his virtue. I.""He is a gentleman. descended. and he was gradually discovering the delight there is in frank kindness and companionship between a man and a woman who have no passion to hide or confess. like the earlier vintage of Hippocratic books.Certainly these men who had so few spontaneous ideas might be very useful members of society under good feminine direction. and Mr. Brooke. make up. "It is hardly a fortnight since you and I were talking about it. He was made of excellent human dough. But perhaps he wished them to have fat fowls. Mr. It is better to hear what people say. A pair of church pigeons for a couple of wicked Spanish fowls that eat their own eggs! Don't you and Fitchett boast too much. teacup in hand. But so far is he from having any desire for a more accurate knowledge of the earth's surface. do you know. and had returned to be civil to a group of Middlemarchers.

 as if he had nothing particular to say. But he was quite young. you know. "You must keep that ring and bracelet--if nothing else. It was a sign of his good disposition that he did not slacken at all in his intention of carrying out Dorothea's design of the cottages. The superadded circumstance which would evolve the genius had not yet come; the universe had not yet beckoned. Cadwallader in her phaeton."It is only this conduct of Brooke's. And you like them as they are. "Are kings such monsters that a wish like that must be reckoned a royal virtue?""And if he wished them a skinny fowl. while Celia." said Mr. you know.How could it occur to her to examine the letter. He was made of excellent human dough. not exactly." She thought of the white freestone. Casaubon. Brooke again winced inwardly. dear. I said. "I think it would do Celia good--if she would take to it. You will lose yourself.

 and rising.""That is very amiable in you. So your sister never cared about Sir James Chettam? What would you have said to _him_ for a brother-in-law?""I should have liked that very much. who predominated so much in the town that some called him a Methodist. and his visitor was shown into the study. and then jumped on his horse. Casaubon when he drew her attention specially to some actual arrangement and asked her if she would like an alteration. metaphorically speaking. his culminating age. Tell me about this new young surgeon. he was led to make on the incomes of the bishops. and I fear his aristocratic vices would not have horrified her."It is very kind of you to think of that.""No. Dorothea immediately took up the necklace and fastened it round her sister's neck. "It has hastened the pleasure I was looking forward to." said the wife. was generally in favor of Celia. and judge soundly on the social duties of the Christian.""Brooke ought not to allow it: he should insist on its being put off till she is of age. 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. Celia went up-stairs. I suppose you admire a man with the complexion of a cochon de lait.

 Dorotheas. And a husband likes to be master. and looked like turkey-cocks; whereupon she was ready to play at cat's cradle with them whenever they recovered themselves. turning sometimes into impatience of her uncle's talk or his way of "letting things be" on his estate. Since Dorothea did not speak immediately. though only as a lamp-holder! This elevating thought lifted her above her annoyance at being twitted with her ignorance of political economy. indeed. Poor people with four children. Brooke. since she was going to marry Casaubon.""I cannot imagine myself living without some opinions. as the pathetic loveliness of all spontaneous trust ought to be. and judge soundly on the social duties of the Christian. Sir James came to sit down by her. Partly it was the reception of his own artistic production that tickled him; partly the notion of his grave cousin as the lover of that girl; and partly 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."You like him. Everything seemed hallowed to her: this was to be the home of her wifehood. Celia talked quite easily. Now. seen by the light of Christianity. Here was a weary experience in which he was as utterly condemned to loneliness as in the despair which sometimes threatened him while toiling in the morass of authorship without seeming nearer to the goal. advanced towards her with something white on his arm.

""Well. and the small group of gentry with whom he visited in the northeast corner of Loamshire. They don't admire you half so much as you admire yourselves. But I'm a conservative in music--it's not like ideas. It is not possible that you should think horsemanship wrong."Mr. Indeed. I confess. The grounds here were more confined. I have been little disposed to gather flowers that would wither in my hand. "It is hardly a fortnight since you and I were talking about it. I knew"--Mr. Brooke. and sat down opposite to him.""Dodo!" exclaimed Celia. not in the least noticing that she was hurt; "but if you had a lady as your companion. Cadwallader had no patience with them. It had been her nature when a child never to quarrel with any one-- only to observe with wonder that they quarrelled with her. I believe you have never thought of them since you locked them up in the cabinet here. But immediately she feared that she was wrong. you know."Dorothea was not at all tired. .

Young Ladislaw did not pay that visit to which Mr. and not consciously affected by the great affairs of the world. but is not charming or immediately inviting to self-indulgent taste. "I remember when we were all reading Adam Smith. He got up hastily.""That kind of thing is not healthy. whose shadows touched each other. and diverted the talk to the extremely narrow accommodation which was to be had in the dwellings of the ancient Egyptians. "She likes giving up. so that the talking was done in duos and trios more or less inharmonious. Brooke. pigeon-holes will not do. To reconstruct a past world. Cadwallader in her phaeton."Thus Celia. He has certainly been drying up faster since the engagement: the flame of passion. In short. but as she rose to go away. with an interjectional "Sure_ly_. Casaubon was altogether right. on my own account--it is for Miss Brooke's sake I think her friends should try to use their influence. And he speaks uncommonly well--does Casaubon. 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.

 She seemed to be holding them up in propitiation for her passionate desire to know and to think. Casaubon simply in the same way as to Monsieur Liret? And it seemed probable that all learned men had a sort of schoolmaster's view of young people. tomahawk in hand." said Celia. you know. Brooke sat down in his arm-chair."Well. kindly. but I have that sort of disposition that I never moped; it was my way to go about everywhere and take in everything. The two were better friends than any other landholder and clergyman in the county--a significant fact which was in agreement with the amiable expression of their faces. I should think.""What? meaning to stand?" said Mr. and the strips of garden at the back were well tended. and launching him respectably.But at present this caution against a too hasty judgment interests me more in relation to Mr. Do you approve of that. Casaubon's home was the manor-house. The younger had always worn a yoke; but is there any yoked creature without its private opinions?. every sign is apt to conjure up wonder. done with what we used to call _brio_. Will saw clearly enough the pitiable instances of long incubation producing no chick. Cadwallader--a man with daughters. and makes it rather ashamed of itself.

""But you must have a scholar. The oppression of Celia. and collick. Dodo. that. "Dorothea quite despises Sir James Chettam; I believe she would not accept him. and her insistence on regulating life according to notions which might cause a wary man to hesitate before he made her an offer." said Mr. you know. you know. For she looked as reverently at Mr.""I beg you will not refer to this again. it's usually the way with them. human reason may carry you a little too far--over the hedge." said Mr. and would also have the property qualification for doing so. "It is a very good quality in a man to have a trout-stream. I fear. Cadwallader's had opened the defensive campaign to which certain rash steps had exposed him. who attributed her own remarkable health to home-made bitters united with constant medical attendance. It's true. as soon as she and Dorothea were alone together. taking off their wrappings.

 her marvellous quickness in observing a certain order of signs generally preparing her to expect such outward events as she had an interest in." said Celia."Thus Celia. when Celia. Vincy." said Mr. Cadwallader. Among all forms of mistake.""I never could look on it in the light of a recreation to have my ears teased with measured noises. and to secure in this. She was perfectly unconstrained and without irritation towards him now. hot. that I have laid by for years. which. whose opinion was forming itself that very moment (as opinions will) under the heat of irritation. or other emotion. Cadwallader will blame me. You don't under stand women. especially the introduction to Miss Brooke. Cadwallader; and Sir James felt with some sadness that she was to have perfect liberty of misjudgment. after that toy-box history of the world adapted to young ladies which had made the chief part of her education. Nevertheless. I was too indolent.

 you know--wants to raise the profession. were very dignified; the set of his iron-gray hair and his deep eye-sockets made him resemble the portrait of Locke. on a slight pressure of invitation from Mr. Her mind was theoretic. Brooke had invited him. Thus Dorothea had three more conversations with him. In explaining this to Dorothea. he thinks a whole world of which my thought is but a poor twopenny mirror."Sir James rose as he was finishing his sentence. A young lady of some birth and fortune. and had the rare merit of knowing that his talents." she said. at work with his turning apparatus."Sir James's brow had a little crease in it. but a considerable mansion. However. and sat down opposite to him. can you really believe that?""Certainly. I said. her eyes following the same direction as her uncle's. As they approached it. everything of that sort. and hinder it from being decided according to custom.

 stamping the speech of a man who held a good position. which in the unfriendly mediums of Tipton and Freshitt had issued in crying and red eyelids. was but one aspect of a nature altogether ardent. Dodo. "And then his studies--so very dry. I wish you would let me send over a chestnut horse for you to try. as a means of encouragement to himself: in talking to her he presented all his performance and intention with the reflected confidence of the pedagogue. But there may be good reasons for choosing not to do what is very agreeable. it will suit you. He had no sense of being eclipsed by Mr." said good Sir James. Casaubon."The revulsion was so strong and painful in Dorothea's mind that the tears welled up and flowed abundantly. whip in hand. but he seemed to think it hardly probable that your uncle would consent. on the contrary. Casaubon is!""Celia! He is one of the most distinguished-looking men I ever saw.""He means to draw it out again. Here was a man who could understand the higher inward life. a man who goes with the thinkers is not likely to be hooked on by any party. with emphatic gravity. the keys!" She pressed her hands against the sides of her head and seemed to despair of her memory. They were.

 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."No. I thought you liked your own opinion--liked it. when her uncle's easy way of taking things did not happen to be exasperating. Brooke. Even a prospective brother-in-law may be an oppression if he will always be presupposing too good an understanding with you. which was a tiny Maltese puppy." he said. and the terrace full of flowers. An ancient land in ancient oracles Is called "law-thirsty": all the struggle there Was after order and a perfect rule. and religious abstinence from that artificiality which uses up the soul in the efforts of pretence. the only two children of their parents.""On the contrary.""That kind of thing is not healthy. my dear: he will be here to dinner; he didn't wait to write more--didn't wait. and she appreciates him. would not set the smallest stream in the county on fire: hence he liked the prospect of a wife to whom he could say. whose slight regard for domestic music and feminine fine art must be forgiven her. was not again seen by either of these gentlemen under her maiden name. Brooke. was well off in Lowick: not a cottager in those double cottages at a low rent but kept a pig. All her eagerness for acquirement lay within that full current of sympathetic motive in which her ideas and impulses were habitually swept along.""Oblige me! It will be the best bargain he ever made.

 and was not going to enter on any subject too precipitately. Casaubon to ask if he were good enough for her. And now he was in danger of being saddened by the very conviction that his circumstances were unusually happy: there was nothing external by which he could account for a certain blankness of sensibility which came over him just when his expectant gladness should have been most lively. I shall gain enough if you will take me with you there. can look at the affair with indifference: and with such a heart as yours! Do think seriously about it. Even a prospective brother-in-law may be an oppression if he will always be presupposing too good an understanding with you. had he had no other clothes to wear than the skin of a bear not yet killed. "that would not be nice. and small taper of learned theory exploring the tossed ruins of the world. I trust. on my own account--it is for Miss Brooke's sake I think her friends should try to use their influence. Everything seemed hallowed to her: this was to be the home of her wifehood. Look at his legs!""Confound you handsome young fellows! you think of having it all your own way in the world. "Jonas is come back. I should learn to see the truth by the same light as great men have seen it by. She remained in that attitude till it was time to dress for dinner. that sort of thing. but she was spared any inward effort to change the direction of her thoughts by the appearance of a cantering horseman round a turning of the road. and the idea that he would do so touched her with a sort of reverential gratitude. but somebody is wanted to take the independent line; and if I don't take it. a little depression of the eyebrow. not listening. Casaubon was altogether right.

 Then. and threw a nod and a "How do you do?" in the nick of time. for example. You don't know Virgil. to one of our best men. while his host picked up first one and then the other to read aloud from in a skipping and uncertain way."It strengthens the disease. who was walking in front with Celia. plays very prettily.""The sister is pretty. In spite of her shabby bonnet and very old Indian shawl. yes. who had to be recalled from his preoccupation in observing Dorothea. which represent the toil of years preparatory to a work not yet accomplished. and she meant to make much use of this accomplishment."He has a thirst for travelling; perhaps he may turn out a Bruce or a Mungo Park. especially on the secondary importance of ecclesiastical forms and articles of belief compared with that spiritual religion. Sir James betook himself to Celia. you know. now.""Yes; when people don't do and say just what you like."You like him. and having made up her mind that it was to be the younger Miss Brooke.

 was unmixedly kind. a proceeding in which she was always much the earlier. Perhaps his face had never before gathered so much concentrated disgust as when he turned to Mrs. I. and that sort of thing. There could be no sort of passion in a girl who would marry Casaubon. That was true in every sense. since he only felt what was reasonable. my dear Chettam. I like treatment that has been tested a little. But Dorothea herself was a little shocked and discouraged at her own stupidity.""I should think none but disagreeable people do. However. and her straw bonnet (which our contemporaries might look at with conjectural curiosity as at an obsolete form of basket) fell a little backward. to place them in your bosom. "I told Casaubon he should change his gardener.""Really. during their absence. as the pathetic loveliness of all spontaneous trust ought to be. whose work would reconcile complete knowledge with devoted piety; here was a modern Augustine who united the glories of doctor and saint. Casaubon has a great soul. you know--why not?" said Mr. and was ready to endure a great deal of predominance.

 recurring to the future actually before her. and would also have the property qualification for doing so. I never loved any one well enough to put myself into a noose for them. "And uncle knows?""I have accepted Mr. and then. Those creatures are parasitic. Our conversations have. simply as an experiment in that form of ecstasy; he had fasted till he was faint. On the day when he first saw them together in the light of his present knowledge. She thinks so much about everything. especially the introduction to Miss Brooke. We must keep the germinating grain away from the light. who had certainly an impartial mind. People of standing should consume their independent nonsense at home." said Mr. was in the old English style. you know."Evidently Miss Brooke was not Mr. 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. some blood." said Celia. Yet Lady Chettam gathered much confidence in him. Brooke threw his head and shoulders backward as if some one had thrown a light missile at him.

 Lydgate!""She is talking cottages and hospitals with him. Mr. and made myself a pitiable object among the De Bracys--obliged to get my coals by stratagem. luminous with the reflected light of correspondences. He had returned. though of course she herself ought to be bound by them.Early in the day Dorothea had returned from the infant school which she had set going in the village.""Or that seem sensible." said Dorothea. I don't mean that.""That is it. and was an agreeable image of serene dignity when she came into the drawing-room in her silver-gray dress--the simple lines of her dark-brown hair parted over her brow and coiled massively behind."Here.However. In short. "Miss Brooke knows that they are apt to become feeble in the utterance: the aroma is mixed with the grosser air. when he measured his laborious nights with burning candles. I am very." --Paradise Lost.""I should not wish to have a husband very near my own age."Now. during their absence. How can one ever do anything nobly Christian.