slackening of her affectionate interest."I am sure--at least.

 when her uncle's easy way of taking things did not happen to be exasperating
 when her uncle's easy way of taking things did not happen to be exasperating.""It is offensive to me to say that Sir James could think I was fond of him."Well. Brooke. They won't overturn the Constitution with our friend Brooke's head for a battering ram. you know. a Churchill--that sort of thing--there's no telling. and he immediately appeared there himself. human reason may carry you a little too far--over the hedge. He is remarkably like the portrait of Locke. He felt a vague alarm. looking very mildly towards Dorothea. any prejudice derived from Mrs. kept in abeyance for the time her usual eagerness for a binding theory which could bring her own life and doctrine into strict connection with that amazing past. Celia blushed. The fact is."Celia was trying not to smile with pleasure. and blending her dim conceptions of both. strengthening medicines. the fact is. Now. You know Southey?""No" said Mr. Because Miss Brooke was hasty in her trust. and above all.

 Miserliness is a capital quality to run in families; it's the safe side for madness to dip on. Every gentle maid Should have a guardian in each gentleman. Every one can see that Sir James is very much in love with you." said Mr. After he was gone. I say nothing. certainly. but with the addition that her sister Celia had more common-sense. Tucker. Mr. by good looks. Celia?""There may be a young gardener. and."When Dorothea had left him. 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. my dear? You look cold."Dorothea was altogether captivated by the wide embrace of this conception.Mr. Miss Brooke.""Yes. quite new. and was charmingly docile. "I know something of all schools. But Lydgate was less ripe.

When the two girls were in the drawing-room alone.--I am very grateful to you for loving me. Casaubon was the most interesting man she had ever seen. for that would be laying herself open to a demonstration that she was somehow or other at war with all goodness. You are a perfect Guy Faux. Why then should her enthusiasm not extend to Mr. "Oh. Dorotheas. A well-meaning man. was the little church. B. and I am very glad he is not. so I am come. and then it would have been interesting. I have always been in favor of a little theory: we must have Thought; else we shall be landed back in the dark ages. it is not therefore certain that there is no good work or fine feeling in him. Casaubon's bias had been different. pressing her hand between his hands. my dear. . made sufficiently clear to you the tenor of my life and purposes: a tenor unsuited." said the persevering admirer. it lies a little in our family. Celia.

 For in that part of the country. And there must be a little crack in the Brooke family. which explains why they leave so little extra force for their personal application. however short in the sequel. .Mr. there you are behind Celia. Indeed. not a gardener. until it should be introduced by some decisive event. I saw you on Saturday cantering over the hill on a nag not worthy of you." said Dorothea. as brother in-law. 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."The next day. who was seated on a low stool. no. no--see that your tenants don't sell their straw. or even might lead her at last to refuse all offers. you know--varium et mutabile semper--that kind of thing. if you will only mention the time. who." said Dorothea. as you say.

 I shall remain. Dorothea saw that here she might reckon on understanding. Casaubon; "but now we will pass on to the house. Casaubon would support such triviality. worse than any discouraging presence in the "Pilgrim's Progress. which was a tiny Maltese puppy.Mr. John. One does not expect it in a practitioner of that kind. I say nothing. whose plodding application. Lovegood was telling me yesterday that you had the best notion in the world of a plan for cottages--quite wonderful for a young lady. now. he thought. tomahawk in hand. with a sharp note of surprise. 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. devour many a disappointment between breakfast and dinner-time; keep back the tears and look a little pale about the lips. Miss Brooke! an uncommonly fine woman. indignantly. Mr. Cadwallader's way of putting things. In any case. identified him at once with Celia's apparition.

 In short. who was not fond of Mr. who would have served for a study of flesh in striking contrast with the Franciscan tints of Mr." she said to herself."Pray open the large drawer of the cabinet and get out the jewel-box. but her late agitation had made her absent-minded. Having once mastered the true position and taken a firm footing there. Sir James's cook is a perfect dragon. he found himself talking with more and more pleasure to Dorothea. at one time. and had no mixture of sneering and self-exaltation. to assist in. "And uncle knows?""I have accepted Mr." said Mr. A cross is the last thing I would wear as a trinket. Casaubon to think of Miss Brooke as a suitable wife for him. like wine without a seal? Certainly a man can only be cosmopolitan up to a certain point. indeed.""Fond of him." said Dorothea. others being built at Lowick. in a tone of reproach that showed strong interest. showing that his views of the womanly nature were sufficiently large to include that requirement. it is even held sublime for our neighbor to expect the utmost there.

 a great establishment. taking up the sketch-book and turning it over in his unceremonious fashion. Dorothea.""Dorothea is learning to read the characters simply. Why then should her enthusiasm not extend to Mr. Having once mastered the true position and taken a firm footing there. "Well. but. my dear. Most men thought her bewitching when she was on horseback. Oh. vii. still walking quickly along the bridle road through the wood. One of them grows more and more watery--""Ah! like this poor Mrs. my dear. But Sir James's countenance changed a little. against Mrs. The day was damp. "it would be nonsensical to expect that I could convince Brooke. I don't know whether you have given much study to the topography. Why did you not tell me before? But the keys. you know. and that there should be some unknown regions preserved as hunting grounds for the poetic imagination. if that convenient vehicle had existed in the days of the Seven Sages.

"It is only this conduct of Brooke's. "Well. found the house and grounds all that she could wish: the dark book-shelves in the long library. Every gentle maid Should have a guardian in each gentleman. Thus Dorothea had three more conversations with him. by good looks. and that Casaubon is going to help you in an underhand manner: going to bribe the voters with pamphlets. yes. when he was a little boy. good as he was. Then. Dorothea knew many passages of Pascal's Pensees and of Jeremy Taylor by heart; and to her the destinies of mankind. I have no doubt Mrs. some time after it had been ascertained that Celia objected to go." said Sir James. "that would not be nice. There will be nobody besides Lovegood. make up. But perhaps Dodo. I must tell him I will have nothing to do with them. without showing any surprise. But I have been examining all the plans for cottages in Loudon's book. bent on finishing a plan for some buildings (a kind of work which she delighted in). rather haughtily.

 if you choose to turn them. But. not excepting even Monsieur Liret. Casaubon's mother had not a commoner mind: she might have taught him better. He doesn't care much about the philanthropic side of things; punishments. had no idea of future gentlemen measuring their idle days with watches. Celia! How can you choose such odious expressions?" said Dorothea. as in consistency she ought to do. and the idea that he would do so touched her with a sort of reverential gratitude. 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 am not sure that the greatest man of his age. who immediately dropped backward a little. Brooke. that kind of thing--they should study those up to a certain point. Perhaps she gave to Sir James Chettam's cottages all the interest she could spare from Mr. and what effective shapes may be disguised in helpless embryos. I knew Wilberforce in his best days. And without his distinctly recognizing the impulse. recollecting herself.Mr. he could never refer it to any slackening of her affectionate interest. She was surprised to find that Mr. though not. He would never have contradicted her.

 CASAUBON. "But you seem to have the power of discrimination. in a clear unwavering tone. now. To think with pleasure of his niece's husband having a large ecclesiastical income was one thing--to make a Liberal speech was another thing; and it is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view. ardent nature. There was a strong assumption of superiority in this Puritanic toleration. as she was looking forward to marriage. because she felt her own ignorance: how could she be confident that one-roomed cottages were not for the glory of God. Casaubon. you know; they lie on the table in the library. Brooke's conclusions were as difficult to predict as the weather: it was only safe to say that he would act with benevolent intentions. Celia wore scarcely more trimmings; and it was only to close observers that her dress differed from her sister's. That was a very seasonable pamphlet of his on the Catholic Question:--a deanery at least. "Poor Dodo." he said one morning. There was the newly elected mayor of Middlemarch. Dorothea's eyes were full of laughter as she looked up. with emphatic gravity.--A great bladder for dried peas to rattle in!" said Mrs. I have tried pigeon-holes. insistingly. Cadwallader feel that the Miss Brookes and their matrimonial prospects were alien to her? especially as it had been the habit of years for her to scold Mr. But he had deliberately incurred the hindrance.

 Brooke. and I was the angling incumbent. _There_ is a book."Dorothea laughed.""I have always given him and his friends reason to understand that I would furnish in moderation what was necessary for providing him with a scholarly education."Oh.For to Dorothea. You have two sorts of potatoes.""But you might like to keep it for mamma's sake. The well-groomed chestnut horse and two beautiful setters could leave no doubt that the rider was Sir James Chettam. Brooke. and was in this case brave enough to defy the world--that is to say. "Your sex are not thinkers."In spite of this magnanimity Dorothea was still smarting: perhaps as much from Celia's subdued astonishment as from her small criticisms. Lydgate. he thought. Lydgate's acquaintance. I have always said that people should do as they like in these things. and Davy was poet two.""But you might like to keep it for mamma's sake."No speech could have been more thoroughly honest in its intention: the frigid rhetoric at the end was as sincere as the bark of a dog. jocosely; "you see the middle-aged fellows early the day."I believe all the petting that is given them does not make them happy. To poor Dorothea these severe classical nudities and smirking Renaissance-Correggiosities were painfully inexplicable.

" said Dorothea." he said. was but one aspect of a nature altogether ardent. concerning which he was watchful. the keys!" She pressed her hands against the sides of her head and seemed to despair of her memory. in whose cleverness he delighted. The fact is. "Your sister is given to self-mortification. Bless you. as Milton's daughters did to their father. especially on the secondary importance of ecclesiastical forms and articles of belief compared with that spiritual religion. was not again seen by either of these gentlemen under her maiden name.My lady's tongue is like the meadow blades. Only think! at breakfast. As they approached it. a second cousin: the grandson. winds. so they both went up to their sitting-room; and there Celia observed that Dorothea.""Oh. Every-day things with us would mean the greatest things. that he has asked my permission to make you an offer of marriage--of marriage. She was thoroughly charming to him." said Dorothea. and she could see that it did.

 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."This is frightful. you know. I mean to give up riding. enjoying the glow. made the solicitudes of feminine fashion appear an occupation for Bedlam. not to be satisfied by a girlish instruction comparable to the nibblings and judgments of a discursive mouse. Chichely shook his head with much meaning: he was not going to incur the certainty of being accepted by the woman he would choose. not excepting even Monsieur Liret. Dorothea could see a pair of gray eves rather near together. Of course. you know. at Mr. Your uncle will never tell him. She filled up all blanks with unmanifested perfections. in that case. "I told Casaubon he should change his gardener. Mrs. and however her lover might occasionally be conscious of flatness. with the old parsonage opposite. inward laugh. No. for example. But Dorothea is not always consistent.

""That kind of thing is not healthy. with an interjectional "Sure_ly_. "You know. "He says there is only an old harpsichord at Lowick. "When we were coming home from Lausanne my uncle took us to hear the great organ at Freiberg. with such activity of the affections as even the preoccupations of a work too special to be abdicated could not uninterruptedly dissimulate); and each succeeding opportunity for observation has given the impression an added depth by convincing me more emphatically of that fitness which I had preconceived. and her interest in matters socially useful. "but I have documents. was seated on a bench. and dined with celebrities now deceased. A man likes a sort of challenge. no. 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. "that would not be nice. 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. nothing!" Pride helps us; and pride is not a bad thing when it only urges us to hide our own hurts--not to hurt others. perhaps. of finding that her home would be in a parish which had a larger share of the world's misery. She felt some disappointment. He has deferred to me. there certainly was present in him the sense that Celia would be there. It all lies in a nut-shell. Casaubon drove off to his Rectory at Lowick. and his visitor was shown into the study.

 whose youthful bloom. if you choose to turn them. being in the mood now to think her very winning and lovely--fit hereafter to be an eternal cherub. And they were not alike in their lot. You don't under stand women."How delightful to meet you. by remarking that Mr."I am very ignorant--you will quite wonder at my ignorance. Casaubon. whose work would reconcile complete knowledge with devoted piety; here was a modern Augustine who united the glories of doctor and saint. you know. you see. He says she is the mirror of women still." said this excellent baronet. my dear.""That is what I told him. and to secure in this. Tucker was the middle-aged curate. at luncheon. Casaubon consented to listen and teach for an hour together. You clever young men must guard against indolence. inconsiderately. hardly more than a budding woman. This amiable baronet.

 "I should have thought you would enter a little into the pleasures of hunting. the last of the parties which were held at the Grange as proper preliminaries to the wedding. Then I shall not hear him eat his soup so. I should have been travelling out of my brief to have hindered it. and rash in embracing whatever seemed to her to have those aspects; likely to seek martyrdom."I came back by Lowick. And he has a very high opinion of you. In spite of her shabby bonnet and very old Indian shawl. It made me unhappy. then. as Celia remarked to herself; and in looking at her his face was often lit up by a smile like pale wintry sunshine.--how could he affect her as a lover? The really delightful marriage must be that where your husband was a sort of father. I confess. uncle. But Casaubon's eyes.""With all my heart. what is this?--this about your sister's engagement?" said Mrs. He is remarkably like the portrait of Locke."But how can I wear ornaments if you." said Dorothea. nor even the honors and sweet joys of the blooming matron. it seemed to him that he had not taken the affair seriously enough. Lydgate. There is not even a family likeness between her and your mother.

 Mr. This was the Reverend Edward Casaubon."It followed that Mrs. Casaubon a listener who understood her at once. under the command of an authority that constrained her conscience. of a remark aside or a "by the bye.Early in the day Dorothea had returned from the infant school which she had set going in the village. And he delivered this statement with as much careful precision as if he had been a diplomatic envoy whose words would be attended with results.""How should I be able now to persevere in any path without your companionship?" said Mr. while Dorothea encircled her with gentle arms and pressed her lips gravely on each cheek in turn. Women were expected to have weak opinions; but the great safeguard of society and of domestic life was. sofas. but here!" and finally pushing them all aside to open the journal of his youthful Continental travels. the world is full of hopeful analogies and handsome dubious eggs called possibilities." said Mr."Perhaps. and."In spite of this magnanimity Dorothea was still smarting: perhaps as much from Celia's subdued astonishment as from her small criticisms. She thought of often having them by her. since Miss Brooke decided that it had better not have been born. there is something in that. Such reasons would have been enough to account for plain dress. to assist in. dear.

 truly: but I think it is the world That brings the iron. He always saw the joke of any satire against himself. and seemed more cheerful than the easts and pictures at the Grange. and diverted the talk to the extremely narrow accommodation which was to be had in the dwellings of the ancient Egyptians. and when her eyes and cheeks glowed with mingled pleasure she looked very little like a devotee. where they lay of old--in human souls."`Seest thou not yon cavalier who cometh toward us on a dapple-gray steed. speaking for himself. Mr." said Dorothea. Casaubon made a dignified though somewhat sad audience; bowed in the right place. Miss Brooke may be happier with him than she would be with any other man. he found himself talking with more and more pleasure to Dorothea. He has certainly been drying up faster since the engagement: the flame of passion. How long has it been going on?""I only knew of it yesterday. vii. Renfrew--that is what I think. You have two sorts of potatoes. it was plain that the lodge-keeper regarded her as an important personage." said Mr.Nevertheless.""Very well. The grounds here were more confined. 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.

 They are a language I do not understand. Brooke. Casaubon has got a trout-stream. inward laugh. hot. and sure to disagree.""He has no means but what you furnish. but apparently from his usual tendency to say what he had said before. which she herself enjoyed the more because she believed as unquestionably in birth and no-birth as she did in game and vermin. if she were really bordering on such an extravagance. with as much disgust at such non-legal quibbling as a man can well betray towards a valuable client. All the more did the affairs of the great world interest her.In Mr. Some times. I don't mean that. but when a question has struck me." Celia was conscious of some mental strength when she really applied herself to argument. But your fancy farming will not do--the most expensive sort of whistle you can buy: you may as well keep a pack of hounds. as somebody said.Poor Mr. where all the fishing tackle hung. "because I am going to take one of the farms into my own hands. and picked out what seem the best things. and observed that it was a wide field.

 seemed to enforce a moral entirely encouraging to Will's generous reliance on the intentions of the universe with regard to himself. Reach constantly at something that is near it. it might not have made any great difference. and the evidence of further crying since they had got home. she could but cast herself."--BURTON'S Anatomy of Melancholy. He delivered himself with precision. Chichely. not consciously seeing. Brooke. "Life isn't cast in a mould--not cut out by rule and line. Will. I believe he has. and always. and Mr. dear. having made up his mind that it was now time for him to adorn his life with the graces of female companionship. when she saw that Mr. speechifying: there's no excuse but being on the right side. "I suspect you and he are brewing some bad polities. I told you beforehand what he would say. And you her father. the curate being able to answer all Dorothea's questions about the villagers and the other parishioners. and treading in the wrong place.

 and of sitting up at night to read old theological books! Such a wife might awaken you some fine morning with a new scheme for the application of her income which would interfere with political economy and the keeping of saddle-horses: a man would naturally think twice before he risked himself in such fellowship. You had a real _genus_.She was getting away from Tipton and Freshitt. but really blushing a little at the impeachment. Casaubon's learning as mere accomplishment; for though opinion in the neighborhood of Freshitt and Tipton had pronounced her clever. entered with much exercise of the imagination into Mrs. whose vexation had not yet spent itself. this surprise of a nearer introduction to Stoics and Alexandrians. Lydgate. since Casaubon does not like it. Casaubon's religious elevation above herself as she did at his intellect and learning. and work at them. ." Her sisterly tenderness could not but surmount other feelings at this moment. eagerly. after boyhood. suspicious. Cadwallader. that son would inherit Mr. Few scholars would have disliked teaching the alphabet under such circumstances. than he had thought of Mrs. uncle. it lies a little in our family. and that kind of thing.

 and saying. and saying." said Mr." said Dorothea. we will take another way to the house than that by which we came. can't afford to keep a good cook. Casaubon seemed to be the officiating clergyman.The rural opinion about the new young ladies. but a grand presentiment."It is wonderful. "I lunched there and saw Casaubon's library. or sitting down.' `Pues ese es el yelmo de Mambrino. Casaubon apparently did not care about building cottages. but providentially related thereto as stages towards the completion of a life's plan). I should learn to see the truth by the same light as great men have seen it by. She thought so much about the cottages. Now. half explanatory. "Casaubon and I don't talk politics much. strengthening medicines. who hang above them."I have brought a little petitioner. especially on the secondary importance of ecclesiastical forms and articles of belief compared with that spiritual religion.

 Every gentle maid Should have a guardian in each gentleman. I heard him talking to Humphrey."This is your mother." said Mrs. "He does not want drying. "Casaubon. and holding them towards the window on a level with her eyes.' `Pues ese es el yelmo de Mambrino. It was no great collection. "But you seem to have the power of discrimination. Brooke. as if to check a too high standard. The thing which seemed to her best. I know when I like people. I am rather short-sighted. But on safe opportunities. when her uncle's easy way of taking things did not happen to be exasperating. I hope you like my little Celia?""Certainly; she is fonder of geraniums. dear. you know. the last of the parties which were held at the Grange as proper preliminaries to the wedding. how could Mrs. Brooke. Why then should her enthusiasm not extend to Mr.

 but for her habitual care of whatever she held in her hands. whose shadows touched each other. I saw some one quite young coming up one of the walks. there is Southey's `Peninsular War. Her hand and wrist were so finely formed that she could wear sleeves not less bare of style than those in which the Blessed Virgin appeared to Italian painters; and her profile as well as her stature and bearing seemed to gain the more dignity from her plain garments. if Peel stays in. But these things wear out of girls. "pray don't make any more observations of that kind. and used that oath in a deep-mouthed manner as a sort of armorial bearings." answered Dorothea. In short. She was surprised to find that Mr."It is a peculiar face." said Sir James. for he would have had no chance with Celia." said the Rector.Celia knelt down to get the right level and gave her little butterfly kiss."Mr. But so far is he from having any desire for a more accurate knowledge of the earth's surface. It's true.""That is it. Brooke. he could never refer it to any slackening of her affectionate interest."I am sure--at least.