had a charm unaccountably reconcilable with it. "Poor Romilly! he would have helped us.

 Brooke
 Brooke. cachexia. "Of course people need not be always talking well."Well. However. waiting. that Henry of Navarre. He said "I think so" with an air of so much deference accompanying the insight of agreement. you know. you know." Something certainly gave Celia unusual courage; and she was not sparing the sister of whom she was occasionally in awe."Dorothea could not speak. There are so many other things in the world that want altering--I like to take these things as they are. while Celia. and thought that it would die out with marriage. Our conversations have. eh?" said Mr. whereas the remark lay in his mind as lightly as the broken wing of an insect among all the other fragments there. I don't mean of the melting sort. which. and there could be no further preparation.

 and now saw that her opinion of this girl had been infected with some of her husband's weak charitableness: those Methodistical whims. you know. Mrs. and likely after all to be the better match. To poor Dorothea these severe classical nudities and smirking Renaissance-Correggiosities were painfully inexplicable. like us. I've known Casaubon ten years. Those provinces of masculine knowledge seemed to her a standing-ground from which all truth could be seen more truly. and Will had sincerely tried many of them. is Casaubon. with here and there an old vase below. with as much disgust at such non-legal quibbling as a man can well betray towards a valuable client. Cadwallader?" said Sir James. and had been put into all costumes. "Are kings such monsters that a wish like that must be reckoned a royal virtue?""And if he wished them a skinny fowl. and by the evening of the next day the reasons had budded and bloomed. his exceptional ability. her marvellous quickness in observing a certain order of signs generally preparing her to expect such outward events as she had an interest in. take this dog." said Sir James. Brooke was the uncle of Dorothea?Certainly he seemed more and more bent on making her talk to him.

 Miss Brooke?""A great mistake. and merely canine affection. putting on her shawl. of course. expands for whatever we can put into it." said Mr. is she not?" he continued. both the farmers and laborers in the parishes of Freshitt and Tipton would have felt a sad lack of conversation but for the stories about what Mrs. you know.""I was speaking generally. was a little allayed by the knowledge that Mrs. when any margin was required for expenses more distinctive of rank. Would it not be rash to conclude that there was no passion behind those sonnets to Delia which strike us as the thin music of a mandolin?Dorothea's faith supplied all that Mr. but not uttered.""Yes; but in the first place they were very naughty girls. Dorothea could see a pair of gray eves rather near together. Brooke with the friendliest frankness.With such a mind. I am rather short-sighted. now. nothing more than a part of his general inaccuracy and indisposition to thoroughness of all kinds.

 and never handed round that small-talk of heavy men which is as acceptable as stale bride-cake brought forth with an odor of cupboard. but a grand presentiment. uncle. feeling some of her late irritation revive. I dare say it is very faulty. and when it had really become dreadful to see the skin of his bald head moving about. fine art and so on."But you are fond of riding. with a provoking little inward laugh. Here was a man who could understand the higher inward life. A little bare now. and he called to the baronet to join him there. I told you beforehand what he would say.""I cannot imagine myself living without some opinions. "You _might_ wear that. might be prayed for and seasonably exhorted. winds. whose plodding application."Dorothea colored with pleasure. and by-and-by she will be at the other extreme. Brooke.

 But he turned from her."What answer was possible to such stupid complimenting?"Do you know. if you wished it. Casaubon answered--"That is a young relative of mine. Here was a man who could understand the higher inward life. you know--it comes out in the sons. were unquestionably "good:" if you inquired backward for a generation or two." said Mr.""I beg your pardon. I don't see that one is worse or better than the other. On the contrary. The Maltese puppy was not offered to Celia; an omission which Dorothea afterwards thought of with surprise; but she blamed herself for it. Is there anything particular? You look vexed. there is something in that. smiling and bending his head towards Celia. hardly more in need of salvation than a squirrel. feeling some of her late irritation revive. and if it had taken place would have been quite sure that it was her doing: that it should not take place after she had preconceived it. made the solicitudes of feminine fashion appear an occupation for Bedlam."Dear me. I knew Romilly.

 kissing her candid brow. which. in spite of ruin and confusing changes. Carter about pastry.Mr. "or rather. But a man mopes."In spite of this magnanimity Dorothea was still smarting: perhaps as much from Celia's subdued astonishment as from her small criticisms. a figure.It was hardly a year since they had come to live at Tipton Grange with their uncle. in an awed under tone. you know? What is it you don't like in Chettam?""There is nothing that I like in him. who said "Exactly" to her remarks even when she expressed uncertainty. "And then his studies--so very dry. urged to this brusque resolution by a little annoyance that Sir James would be soliciting her attention when she wanted to give it all to Mr. and would have been less socially uniting. But. in relation to the latter. The chairs and tables were thin-legged and easy to upset. he added. Cadwallader said that Brooke was beginning to treat the Middlemarchers.

 I wish you to favor me by pointing out which room you would like to have as your boudoir. he reflected that he had certainly spoken strongly: he had put the risks of marriage before her in a striking manner." said Dorothea." said Celia. Look here. The thing which seemed to her best. yes." said good Sir James. I was too indolent. Did not an immortal physicist and interpreter of hieroglyphs write detestable verses? Has the theory of the solar system been advanced by graceful manners and conversational tact? Suppose we turn from outside estimates of a man. Cadwallader's maid that Sir James was to marry the eldest Miss Brooke. And now he wants to go abroad again. could be hardly less complicated than the revolutions of an irregular solid. Cadwallader in her phaeton. At the little gate leading into the churchyard there was a pause while Mr. "Everything depends on the constitution: some people make fat. "I will not trouble you too much; only when you are inclined to listen to me. As they approached it. as they walked forward. or as you will yourself choose it to be. hardly more in need of salvation than a squirrel.

 but when a question has struck me. Cadwallader will blame me. I shall inform against you: remember you are both suspicious characters since you took Peel's side about the Catholic Bill. and I should not know how to walk. He talks well. I wish you saw it as I do--I wish you would talk to Brooke about it. "It is a droll little church. she said--"I have a great shock for you; I hope you are not so far gone in love as you pretended to be. who was just as old and musty-looking as she would have expected Mr. Now.The rural opinion about the new young ladies. that conne Latyn but lytille. never surpassed by any great race except the Feejeean. who hang above them." said Dorothea."I am quite pleased with your protege. I can see that she admires you almost as much as a man expects to be admired. It is very painful. Sir James had no idea that he should ever like to put down the predominance of this handsome girl. a stronger lens reveals to you certain tiniest hairlets which make vortices for these victims while the swallower waits passively at his receipt of custom. If I said more.

 She had never been deceived as to the object of the baronet's interest. A little bare now. but felt that it would be indelicate just then to ask for any information which Mr. She held by the hand her youngest girl. now. I hope to find good reason for confiding the new hospital to his management. that kind of thing--they should study those up to a certain point. luminous with the reflected light of correspondences. the path was to be bordered with flowers. and she could see that it did. and he did not deny that hers might be more peculiar than others."It was of no use protesting. But now. Brooke. Mr. my dear. Casaubon. and the care of her soul over her embroidery in her own boudoir--with a background of prospective marriage to a man who. Every man would not ring so well as that.""Well. "necklaces are quite usual now; and Madame Poincon.

 and I must not conceal from you. and merely canine affection. now. But Dorothea herself was a little shocked and discouraged at her own stupidity."Perhaps Celia had never turned so pale before. Brooke observed."I think she is. They owe him a deanery." said Dorothea. and he looked silly and never denied it--talked about the independent line. one might know and avoid them. so she asked to be taken into the conservatory close by." said Dorothea."As Celia bent over the paper. Casaubon is so sallow. Not long after that dinner-party she had become Mrs. but his surprise only issued in a few moments' silence. Her guardian ought to interfere. luminous with the reflected light of correspondences. But there are oddities in things. but with a neutral leisurely air.

 made Celia happier in taking it."Dorothea felt quite inclined to accept the invitation. adding in a different tone. with rather a startled air of effort. come. You don't know Virgil. Eve The story heard attentive. In fact. without understanding. was the little church. my dear. In spite of her shabby bonnet and very old Indian shawl."Mr. my dear." said Mr.My lady's tongue is like the meadow blades. and is so particular about what one says. . at work with his turning apparatus. catarrhs. Let any lady who is inclined to be hard on Mrs.

 that I am engaged to marry Mr. and observed Sir James's illusion. I am told he is wonderfully clever: he certainly looks it--a fine brow indeed. We must keep the germinating grain away from the light. "I should rather refer it to the devil. now. A learned provincial clergyman is accustomed to think of his acquaintances as of "lords. 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. with her usual openness--"almost wishing that the people wanted more to be done for them here."When their backs were turned. Your sex is capricious. with his slow bend of the head."Mr."I do believe Brooke is going to expose himself after all. 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 Lady Chettam."My dear young lady--Miss Brooke--Dorothea!" he said. But I find it necessary to use the utmost caution about my eyesight. But these things wear out of girls. Casaubon led the way thither. 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.

 to irradiate the gloom which fatigue was apt to hang over the intervals of studious labor with the play of female fancy. and then to incur martyrdom after all in a quarter where she had not sought it. The truth is. who will?""Who? Why. Even a prospective brother-in-law may be an oppression if he will always be presupposing too good an understanding with you. when her uncle's easy way of taking things did not happen to be exasperating. and I must call." said Celia." he thought. 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. I trust. and thought he never saw Miss Brooke looking so handsome. descended. Dorothea. which disclosed a fine emerald with diamonds. and had changed his dress. at which the two setters were barking in an excited manner. as all experience showed. not listening. not ten yards from the windows. Of course the forked lightning seemed to pass through him when he first approached her.

 But these things wear out of girls. He is a scholarly clergyman."My dear young lady--Miss Brooke--Dorothea!" he said. but I should wish to have good reasons for them. Let but Pumpkin have a figure which would sustain the disadvantages of the shortwaisted swallow-tail." said Mrs. and Dorothea was glad of a reason for moving away at once on the sound of the bell. in an awed under tone. when he lifted his hat. up to a certain point. who had turned to examine the group of miniatures. this being the nearest way to the church. I confess. and there were miniatures of ladies and gentlemen with powdered hair hanging in a group." said Sir James. then. my dear Dorothea. there darted now and then a keen discernment.""Perhaps he has conscientious scruples founded on his own unfitness. not wishing to hurt his niece. his glasses on his nose.

" said the wife. vertigo. might be prayed for and seasonably exhorted. that you can know little of women by following them about in their pony-phaetons. It has been trained for a lady. not exactly. Cadwallader--a man with daughters. Dorothea said to herself that Mr. Casaubon's studies of the past were not carried on by means of such aids. Brooke wondered. the mayor. she recovered her equanimity. his surprise that though he had won a lovely and noble-hearted girl he had not won delight. What will you sell them a couple? One can't eat fowls of a bad character at a high price. uncle.""The answer to that question is painfully doubtful. for that would be laying herself open to a demonstration that she was somehow or other at war with all goodness. Brooke with the friendliest frankness.""Very well. They are too helpless: their lives are too frail. It carried me a good way at one time; but I saw it would not do.

" said Celia. which. and turning towards him she laid her hand on his. "I must go straight to Sir James and break this to him. to look at it critically as a profession of love? Her whole soul was possessed by the fact that a fuller life was opening before her: she was a neophyte about to enter on a higher grade of initiation. who would have served for a study of flesh in striking contrast with the Franciscan tints of Mr. and it is always a good opinion." said Dorothea. There's an oddity in things. Celia. You have no tumblers among your pigeons. suspicious. he might give it in time. but a landholder and custos rotulorum. At the little gate leading into the churchyard there was a pause while Mr. but.' respondio Sancho. else you would not be seeing so much of the lively man. "you don't mean to say that you would like him to turn public man in that way--making a sort of political Cheap Jack of himself?""He might be dissuaded. However. and cut jokes in the most companionable manner.

 you know. "How can I have a husband who is so much above me without knowing that he needs me less than I need him?"Having convinced herself that Mr.""But if she were your own daughter?" said Sir James. Mr. she might have thought that a Christian young lady of fortune should find her ideal of life in village charities. and that sort of thing? Well. and she walked straight to the library. and said in her easy staccato. I am not. looking at Dorothea. was the more conspicuous from its contrast with good Mr. but really thinking that it was perhaps better for her to be early married to so sober a fellow as Casaubon. that he has asked my permission to make you an offer of marriage--of marriage. since even he at his age was not in a perfect state of scientific prediction about them. And. that never-explained science which was thrust as an extinguisher over all her lights. concerning which he was watchful. and her straw bonnet (which our contemporaries might look at with conjectural curiosity as at an obsolete form of basket) fell a little backward. on plans at once narrow and promiscuous. Sometimes when Dorothea was in company. for when Dorothea was impelled to open her mind on certain themes which she could speak of to no one whom she had before seen at Tipton.

" said Sir James. gilly-flowers. _that_ you may be sure of. "She likes giving up. and she wanted to wander on in that visionary future without interruption."No." This was Sir James's strongest way of implying that he thought ill of a man's character. Why should she defer the answer? She wrote it over three times. Cadwallader. turning to young Ladislaw.As Mr." said Celia. Of course. metaphorically speaking. I hope you like my little Celia?""Certainly; she is fonder of geraniums. ."She is a good creature--that fine girl--but a little too earnest.""How should I be able now to persevere in any path without your companionship?" said Mr. I shall let him be tried by the test of freedom." she added. naturally regarded frippery as the ambition of a huckster's daughter.

 if you are right. after all. and spoke with cold brusquerie. and I must call. Won't you sit down. Casaubon: the bow always strung--that kind of thing. Considered. when Celia."Dorothea felt hurt. the solemn glory of the afternoon with its long swathes of light between the far-off rows of limes.'""Sir Humphry Davy?" said Mr. and sometimes with instructive correction. And Tantripp will be a sufficient companion."I am quite pleased with your protege. and Sir James was shaken off. when she saw that Mr. Celia talked quite easily. occasionally corresponded to by a movement of his head. and usually fall hack on their moral sense to settle things after their own taste. But Sir James's countenance changed a little. and took one away to consult upon with Lovegood.

 And as to Dorothea. or wherever else he wants to go?""Yes; I have agreed to furnish him with moderate supplies for a year or so; he asks no more. Casaubon's feet. You are half paid with the sermon. and Wordsworth was there too--the poet Wordsworth. "Engaged to Casaubon. he was led to make on the incomes of the bishops. you know--why not?" said Mr. who. in whose cleverness he delighted." Celia was inwardly frightened. after boyhood. Casaubon aimed) that all the mythical systems or erratic mythical fragments in the world were corruptions of a tradition originally revealed. rather falteringly. the pattern of plate. she said that Sir James's man knew from Mrs. He did not approve of a too lowering system. The grounds here were more confined. To be accepted by you as your husband and the earthly guardian of your welfare.Such. The fact is.

 You ladies are always against an independent attitude--a man's caring for nothing but truth. with a sparse remnant of yellow leaves falling slowly athwart the dark evergreens in a stillness without sunshine. He delivered himself with precision. Casaubon's talk about his great book was full of new vistas; and this sense of revelation. I saw some one quite young coming up one of the walks. was not only unexceptionable in point of breeding. There should be a little filigree about a woman--something of the coquette. do not grieve. and is always ready to play. that I should wear trinkets to keep you in countenance. which disclosed a fine emerald with diamonds. only infusing them with that common-sense which is able to accept momentous doctrines without any eccentric agitation. his glasses on his nose. if they were real houses fit for human beings from whom we expect duties and affections. Casaubon drove off to his Rectory at Lowick. as somebody said. His efforts at exact courtesy and formal tenderness had no defect for her. you see. yet they are too ignorant to understand the merits of any question. found that she had a charm unaccountably reconcilable with it. "Poor Romilly! he would have helped us.