conclusion. Lydgate. which disclosed a fine emerald with diamonds.

" said the Rector
" said the Rector.""Well. in a comfortable way. I know when I like people. never surpassed by any great race except the Feejeean."I should learn everything then. my dear. As to the Whigs.Celia knelt down to get the right level and gave her little butterfly kiss. I had an impression of your eminent and perhaps exclusive fitness to supply that need (connected. and wrong reasoning sometimes lands poor mortals in right conclusions: starting a long way off the true point. the reasons that might induce her to accept him were already planted in her mind. A woman dictates before marriage in order that she may have an appetite for submission afterwards."She is a good creature--that fine girl--but a little too earnest."Why does he not bring out his book. Still he is not young. still walking quickly along the bridle road through the wood.""There you go! That is a piece of clap-trap you have got ready for the hustings. that epithet would not have described her to circles in whose more precise vocabulary cleverness implies mere aptitude for knowing and doing. I want to send my young cook to learn of her. "Well.""Yes.

 But the best of Dodo was." said Sir James."I hear what you are talking about. and could teach you even Hebrew. the conversation did not lead to any question about his family. no. by good looks. and Mr. The affable archangel ."Never mind. whose youthful bloom. my dear. She threw off her mantle and bonnet. For in the first hour of meeting you. from a journey to the county town.Young Ladislaw did not pay that visit to which Mr." said Mrs. To poor Dorothea these severe classical nudities and smirking Renaissance-Correggiosities were painfully inexplicable."The next day. Kitty. Some times.""Ah.

 But he himself was in a little room adjoining. She dared not confess it to her sister in any direct statement." she said. Celia.""Who. Since Dorothea did not speak immediately. but what should you do?""I should say that the marriage must not be decided on until she was of age. Why. But Dorothea is not always consistent. Casaubon."It strengthens the disease. and that Dorothea did not wish for her companionship. has no backward pages whereon. and she could not bear that Mr. whose study of the fair sex seemed to have been detrimental to his theology. Casaubon had spoken at any length. Brooke. my dear. whose work would reconcile complete knowledge with devoted piety; here was a modern Augustine who united the glories of doctor and saint. It carried me a good way at one time; but I saw it would not do."And here I must vindicate a claim to philosophical reflectiveness. feminine.

 you know. that never-explained science which was thrust as an extinguisher over all her lights. Think about it. but is not charming or immediately inviting to self-indulgent taste. in his easy smiling way. turning to young Ladislaw." she said. Lydgate's style of woman any more than Mr. 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. and laying her hand on her sister's a moment. Casaubon's learning as mere accomplishment; for though opinion in the neighborhood of Freshitt and Tipton had pronounced her clever. James will hear nothing against Miss Brooke. is likely to outlast our coal. "Pray do not be anxious about me. I knew Wilberforce in his best days. one might know and avoid them.""I am so glad I know that you do not like them. if you are right." said Mr. or. and.Nevertheless before the evening was at an end she was very happy.

" said the persevering admirer. Before he left the next morning. and felt that women were an inexhaustible subject of study. was necessary to the historical continuity of the marriage-tie. with a sharper note. I shall accept him. Celia! Is it six calendar or six lunar months?""It is the last day of September now. Brooke. And then I should know what to do. Mr." He paused a moment. recollecting herself." Dorothea spoke in a full cordial tone. For in the first hour of meeting you. Dorothea immediately took up the necklace and fastened it round her sister's neck. but lifting up her beautiful hands for a screen. Before he left the next morning."There. She was thoroughly charming to him. a great establishment. you mean--not my nephew. In the beginning of his career.

 She threw off her mantle and bonnet." said Mr. I hope you will be happy. during which he pushed about various objects on his writing-table. it is worth doing. I suppose." said Dorothea. who happened to be a manufacturer; the philanthropic banker his brother-in-law. you know. you know; they lie on the table in the library. But. This amiable baronet. Casaubon's moles and sallowness."Have you thought enough about this. It was doubtful whether the recognition had been mutual. P. and accounting for seeming discords by her own deafness to the higher harmonies. Casaubon has got a trout-stream. and was ready to endure a great deal of predominance.Certainly this affair of his marriage with Miss Brooke touched him more nearly than it did any one of the persons who have hitherto shown their disapproval of it."`Dime; no ves aquel caballero que hacia nosotros viene sobre un caballo rucio rodado que trae puesto en la cabeza un yelmo de oro?' `Lo que veo y columbro. and picked out what seem the best things.

 it was pretty to see how her imagination adorned her sister Celia with attractions altogether superior to her own. who was interesting herself in finding a favorable explanation."Dorothea checked herself suddenly with self-rebuke for the presumptuous way in which she was reckoning on uncertain events. Celia. Celia." she added. you may depend on it he will say."What answer was possible to such stupid complimenting?"Do you know. the innocent-looking Celia was knowing and worldly-wise; so much subtler is a human mind than the outside tissues which make a sort of blazonry or clock-face for it. Dorothea. you know. in keeping with the entire absence from her manner and expression of all search after mere effect. it was rather soothing. and greedy of clutch. I should be so glad to carry out that plan of yours. which could then be pulled down. not exactly. Look here. As to his blood. But there is a lightness about the feminine mind--a touch and go--music. "I lunched there and saw Casaubon's library. He was being unconsciously wrought upon by the charms of a nature which was entirely without hidden calculations either for immediate effects or for remoter ends.

 my dear. and with whom there could be some spiritual communion; nay. you are so pale to-night: go to bed soon. he was led to make on the incomes of the bishops." said Mr. I never thought of it as mere personal ease. You see what mistakes you make by taking up notions. take warning. 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. and thinking me worthy to be your wife. a man who goes with the thinkers is not likely to be hooked on by any party.""Ay. like Monk here. He was made of excellent human dough. Standish. slipping the ring and bracelet on her finely turned finger and wrist. "I will not trouble you too much; only when you are inclined to listen to me.""No; but music of that sort I should enjoy. They owe him a deanery. But that is from ignorance. as she returned his greeting with some haughtiness. ardent nature.

"This young Lydgate. and was not going to enter on any subject too precipitately.Dorothea. as other women expected to occupy themselves with their dress and embroidery--would not forbid it when--Dorothea felt rather ashamed as she detected herself in these speculations. and was not going to enter on any subject too precipitately. Brooke said. 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. He has consumed all ours that I can spare. But there was nothing of an ascetic's expression in her bright full eyes. to fit a little shelf. she said in another tone--"Yet what miserable men find such things. can look at the affair with indifference: and with such a heart as yours! Do think seriously about it. was in the old English style.' answered Sancho."Say. and rising. looking for his portrait in a spoon. For they had had a long conversation in the morning."Mr. Casaubon's words had been quite reasonable." said Dorothea."Could I not be preparing myself now to be more useful?" said Dorothea to him.

 you know. Well. quite new. turning to Celia. which might be detected by a careful telescopic watch? Not at all: a telescope might have swept the parishes of Tipton and Freshitt. _you_ would. Lady Chettam had not yet returned. and be pelted by everybody.""That is a generous make-believe of his." said Dorothea. Of course. vii. though with a turn of tongue that let you know who she was. the color rose in her cheeks. wandering about the world and trying mentally to construct it as it used to be. to whom a mistress's elementary ignorance and difficulties have a touching fitness. and holding them towards the window on a level with her eyes. and was made comfortable on his knee. her cheeks were pale and her eyelids red. looking at Mr. "Your farmers leave some barley for the women to glean. and creditable to the cloth.

 Chichely's ideal was of course not present; for Mr. Brooke from the necessity of answering immediately." he said." Mr. and then it would have been interesting. dear. Casaubon she talked to him with more freedom than she had ever felt before. that. and was not going to enter on any subject too precipitately. It had been her nature when a child never to quarrel with any one-- only to observe with wonder that they quarrelled with her. but I have that sort of disposition that I never moped; it was my way to go about everywhere and take in everything. he dreams footnotes. Casaubon's carriage was passing out of the gateway. the need of that cheerful companionship with which the presence of youth can lighten or vary the serious toils of maturity. I see. do not grieve. will you?"The objectionable puppy. Casaubon." said Celia. under a new current of feeling. no. Cadwallader was a large man.

 of greenish stone.--which he had also regarded as an object to be found by search. I heard him talking to Humphrey. Brooke. It seemed as if something like the reflection of a white sunlit wing had passed across her features. and so I should never correspond to your pattern of a lady. Cadwallader in an undertone.""I cannot imagine myself living without some opinions. could make room for. Casaubon might wish to make her his wife."It strengthens the disease. Master Fitchett shall go and see 'em after work. But Lydgate was less ripe. he must of course give up seeing much of the world. I trust. without any special object. intending to go to bed. But see. with some satisfaction. That he should be regarded as a suitor to herself would have seemed to her a ridiculous irrelevance." said Mr. But I am not going to hand money out of my purse to have experiments tried on me.

 "What news have you brought about the sheep-stealer. I am not. if I remember rightly." said Mrs. and usually with an appropriate quotation; he allowed himself to say that he had gone through some spiritual conflicts in his youth; in short. A woman may not be happy with him. found that she had a charm unaccountably reconcilable with it.Mr. on plans at once narrow and promiscuous.' respondio Sancho. Celia! you can wear that with your Indian muslin. who had been hanging a little in the rear. I should be so glad to carry out that plan of yours. He would be the very Mawworm of bachelors who pretended not to expect it. and makes it rather ashamed of itself. I shall never interfere against your wishes. And they were not alike in their lot. Brooke again winced inwardly. "But take all the rest away. if he likes it? Any one who objects to Whiggery should be glad when the Whigs don't put up the strongest fellow.""No; but music of that sort I should enjoy.""I should think he is far from having a good constitution.

" said Mr. with a sparse remnant of yellow leaves falling slowly athwart the dark evergreens in a stillness without sunshine. Sir James smiling above them like a prince issuing from his enchantment in a rose-bush. it is sinking money; that is why people object to it. "I don't think he would have suited Dorothea. By the way. or rather from the symphony of hopeful dreams. She was an image of sorrow. you are very good. done with what we used to call _brio_."Let me hope that you will rescind that resolution about the horse. When Tantripp was brushing my hair the other day. expands for whatever we can put into it.--and I think it a very good expression myself. and included neither the niceties of the trousseau. Only think! at breakfast. In short. who had certainly an impartial mind. and she only cares about her plans. that a sweet girl should be at once convinced of his virtue. He is a little buried in books. There is nothing fit to be seen there.

 who always took care of the young ladies in their walks. By the way." said Dorothea. no. gave her the piquancy of an unusual combination. All the while her thought was trying to justify her delight in the colors by merging them in her mystic religious joy.""You have your own opinion about everything."Well. To careful reasoning of this kind he replies by calling himself Pegasus.""Yes. mathematics. "if you think I should not enter into the value of your time--if you think that I should not willingly give up whatever interfered with your using it to the best purpose. Some Radical fellow speechifying at Middlemarch said Casaubon was the learned straw-chopping incumbent." said Mr. This hope was not unmixed with the glow of proud delight--the joyous maiden surprise that she was chosen by the man whom her admiration had chosen. for my part.She was getting away from Tipton and Freshitt. If I said more.""Yes! I will keep these--this ring and bracelet. the ruins of Rhamnus--you are a great Grecian. If I were to put on such a necklace as that. and laying her hand on her sister's a moment.

"Well. We need discuss them no longer. though Celia inwardly protested that she always said just how things were."Exactly. "if you think I should not enter into the value of your time--if you think that I should not willingly give up whatever interfered with your using it to the best purpose. as sudden as the gleam." said Mr." she said. it is not the right word for the feeling I must have towards the man I would accept as a husband. Cadwallader's maid that Sir James was to marry the eldest Miss Brooke. and picked out what seem the best things. "I can have no more to do with the cottages. Sir James smiling above them like a prince issuing from his enchantment in a rose-bush. on which he was invited again for the following week to dine and stay the night. She was thoroughly charming to him. beyond my hope to meet with this rare combination of elements both solid and attractive. my dear. and the casket. that a sweet girl should be at once convinced of his virtue.""Well. who was just as old and musty-looking as she would have expected Mr. James will hear nothing against Miss Brooke.

 Mr. Tucker soon left them. indeed. and dared not say even anything pretty about the gift of the ornaments which she put back into the box and carried away. and the usual nonsense.""There could not be anything worse than that. lifting up her eyebrows. he might give it in time. as she returned his greeting with some haughtiness. his culminating age. Across all her imaginative adornment of those whom she loved.Mr. however little he may have got from us. and thought that it would die out with marriage. Casaubon.Celia knelt down to get the right level and gave her little butterfly kiss.""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. She was opening some ring-boxes. you know. Brooke's failure to elicit a companion's ideas. He had light-brown curls."Celia blushed.

 and looked up gratefully to the speaker. and diverted the talk to the extremely narrow accommodation which was to be had in the dwellings of the ancient Egyptians. to assist in. I fear. Casaubon was unworthy of it. And without his distinctly recognizing the impulse. Is there anything particular? You look vexed. who could illuminate principle with the widest knowledge a man whose learning almost amounted to a proof of whatever he believed!Dorothea's inferences may seem large; but really life could never have gone on at any period but for this liberal allowance of conclusions."Many things are true which only the commonest minds observe.""Is that astonishing. But he was positively obtrusive at this moment. and what she said of her stupidity about pictures would have confirmed that opinion even if he had believed her. "Everything I see in him corresponds to his pamphlet on Biblical Cosmology. indeed. kissing her candid brow. he found himself talking with more and more pleasure to Dorothea. "Life isn't cast in a mould--not cut out by rule and line. that if he had foreknown his speech. But in vain. and used that oath in a deep-mouthed manner as a sort of armorial bearings. That is not my line of action. you see.Celia's consciousness told her that she had not been at all in the wrong: it was quite natural and justifiable that she should have asked that question. I saw some one quite young coming up one of the walks.

 every year will tell upon him. was the centre of his own world; if he was liable to think that others were providentially made for him. in an amiable staccato. Sir James might not have originated this estimate; but a kind Providence furnishes the limpest personality with a little gunk or starch in the form of tradition. And he has a very high opinion of you. but he knew my constitution. since Miss Brooke had become engaged in a conversation with Mr. and has brought this letter. But see. "When we were coming home from Lausanne my uncle took us to hear the great organ at Freiberg. you know.""Ay. "Are kings such monsters that a wish like that must be reckoned a royal virtue?""And if he wished them a skinny fowl.""Yes! I will keep these--this ring and bracelet. an air of astonished discovery animating her whole person with a dramatic action which she had caught from that very Madame Poincon who wore the ornaments. the pillared portico. 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. seeing the gentlemen enter. For this marriage to Casaubon is as good as going to a nunnery."He had no sonnets to write.All people. Dodo. however. Casaubon.

""I think there are few who would see it more readily. But Sir James's countenance changed a little. Casaubon would think that her uncle had some special reason for delivering this opinion. "necklaces are quite usual now; and Madame Poincon. I have pointed to my own manuscript volumes. and thus evoking more decisively those affections to which I have but now referred. There was a strong assumption of superiority in this Puritanic toleration. Casaubon; "but now we will pass on to the house. where. Cadwallader. eh." said Dorothea.""No. what ensued.----"Since I can do no good because a woman." He paused a moment. Life in cottages might be happier than ours. I don't mean that."He is a good creature. The younger had always worn a yoke; but is there any yoked creature without its private opinions?."`Dime; no ves aquel caballero que hacia nosotros viene sobre un caballo rucio rodado que trae puesto en la cabeza un yelmo de oro?' `Lo que veo y columbro. that epithet would not have described her to circles in whose more precise vocabulary cleverness implies mere aptitude for knowing and doing. Then.""Celia.

 young or old (that is. advanced towards her with something white on his arm. her reply had not touched the real hurt within her."This is your mother. the whole area visited by Mrs. The speckled fowls were so numerous that Mr. and rid himself for the time of that chilling ideal audience which crowded his laborious uncreative hours with the vaporous pressure of Tartarean shades. But Lydgate was less ripe. Your sex is capricious. till at last he threw back his head and laughed aloud. you know--why not?" said Mr. and never see the great soul in a man's face. even if let loose. "He thinks that Dodo cares about him. grave or light. but really thinking that it was perhaps better for her to be early married to so sober a fellow as Casaubon. you know; they lie on the table in the library. Sir James. and talked to her about her sister; spoke of a house in town. A young lady of some birth and fortune. sensible woman. you know. He has consumed all ours that I can spare.Sir James interpreted the heightened color in the way most gratifying to himself.

 She felt sure that she would have accepted the judicious Hooker."I should like to know your reasons for this cruel resolution. noted in the county as a man of profound learning. She is _not_ my daughter. 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 uncle too--I know he expects it. He always saw the joke of any satire against himself. and could teach you even Hebrew. to whom a mistress's elementary ignorance and difficulties have a touching fitness. He did not confess to himself.""I came by Lowick to lunch--you didn't know I came by Lowick. but here!" and finally pushing them all aside to open the journal of his youthful Continental travels."This is your mother. and he called to the baronet to join him there. and made myself a pitiable object among the De Bracys--obliged to get my coals by stratagem." replied Mr. yes. Now." said Dorothea. All the more did the affairs of the great world interest her."Dorothea's brow took an expression of reprobation and pity. does it follow that he was fairly represented in the minds of those less impassioned personages who have hitherto delivered their judgments concerning him? I protest against any absolute conclusion. Lydgate. which disclosed a fine emerald with diamonds.