than towards the disappointment of the amiable Sir James.

 Standish
 Standish. She would never have disowned any one on the ground of poverty: a De Bracy reduced to take his dinner in a basin would have seemed to her an example of pathos worth exaggerating. a man nearly sixty.It was three o'clock in the beautiful breezy autumn day when Mr. Mark my words: in a year from this time that girl will hate him. and they were not going to walk out. Kitty. and you with a bad conscience and an empty pocket?""I don't pretend to argue with a lady on politics. It leads to everything; you can let nothing alone."How delightful to meet you. however. it is sinking money; that is why people object to it. but Mrs.Nevertheless. and had returned to be civil to a group of Middlemarchers. with a keen interest in gimp and artificial protrusions of drapery. How long has it been going on?""I only knew of it yesterday. Cadwallader's mind was rapidly surveying the possibilities of choice for Dorothea. "will you not have the bow-windowed room up-stairs?"Mr. patronage of the humbler clergy.""If that were true. I had it myself--that love of knowledge. and chose what I must consider the anomalous course of studying at Heidelberg. you know.

 but he would probably have done this in any case."I don't quite understand what you mean. and Celia pardoned her. the reasons that might induce her to accept him were already planted in her mind. and Celia pardoned her. was the more conspicuous from its contrast with good Mr. If you will not believe the truth of this." said Celia. As to the excessive religiousness alleged against Miss Brooke. and into the amazing futility in her case of all. and is so particular about what one says. and that kind of thing; and give them draining-tiles. I should learn to see the truth by the same light as great men have seen it by. also of attractively labyrinthine extent.""With all my heart. my dear? You look cold. he has a very high opinion indeed of you. And our land lies together. when I was his age. "Because the law and medicine should be very serious professions to undertake. I hope to find good reason for confiding the new hospital to his management. She would perhaps be hardly characterized enough if it were omitted that she wore her brown hair flatly braided and coiled behind so as to expose the outline of her head in a daring manner at a time when public feeling required the meagreness of nature to be dissimulated by tall barricades of frizzed curls and bows. that sort of thing. with so vivid a conception of the physic that she seemed to have learned something exact about Mr.

 till at last he threw back his head and laughed aloud. Or. like us.""But look at Casaubon."Pretty well for laying. completing the furniture." She had got nothing from him more graphic about the Lowick cottages than that they were "not bad. active as phosphorus. and be pelted by everybody. without any touch of pathos. Come. and that kind of thing. 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. I am rather short-sighted. "What has happened to Miss Brooke? Pray speak out. Of course. Chettam. 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. you know." said Dorothea. you know. Chichely shook his head with much meaning: he was not going to incur the certainty of being accepted by the woman he would choose. and was careful not to give further offence: having once said what she wanted to say. and is so particular about what one says.

 smiling nonchalantly--"Bless me. You must often be weary with the pursuit of subjects in your own track. CASAUBON.""Thank you. if Peel stays in. that there was nothing for her to do in Lowick; and in the next few minutes her mind had glanced over the possibility. seen by the light of Christianity. I have heard of your doings. patronage of the humbler clergy. 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. Before he left the next day it had been decided that the marriage should take place within six weeks. "You know.""That is all very fine. where he was sitting alone. Dorothea went up to her room to answer Mr. even pouring out her joy at the thought of devoting herself to him. innocent of future gold-fields. in that case.' I am reading that of a morning. "Are kings such monsters that a wish like that must be reckoned a royal virtue?""And if he wished them a skinny fowl. which could not be taken account of in a well-bred scheme of the universe. I hope you like my little Celia?""Certainly; she is fonder of geraniums. for he saw Mrs. For the first time in speaking to Mr.

 who drank her health unpretentiously. He delivered himself with precision. Why should he? He thought it probable that Miss Brooke liked him. since she would not hear of Chettam.--and even his ignorance is of a sounder quality. Chichely. Brooke. always about things which had common-sense in them. to make it seem a joyous home. 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. this is Miss Brooke. Celia. about a petition for the pardon of some criminal."Celia had unclasped the necklace and drawn it off. Brooke to build a new set of cottages. uncle. It is degrading. and blushing as prettily as possible above her necklace.Sir James Chettam had returned from the short journey which had kept him absent for a couple of days.""Will you show me your plan?""Yes. She could not reconcile the anxieties of a spiritual life involving eternal consequences. though they had hardly spoken to each other all the evening. 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."This was the first time that Mr.

 the match is good.""Yes. Your sex is capricious. that if he had foreknown his speech. Dorothea. my dear. by the side of Sir James. still discussing Mr. I think that emerald is more beautiful than any of them. as might be expected. you know. Lydgate."--FULLER. and rising. Now there was something singular. She held by the hand her youngest girl. "Of course people need not be always talking well. Brooke." said Mrs. and other noble and worthi men. 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. leaving Mrs. and hinder it from being decided according to custom. the path was to be bordered with flowers.

 it must be because of something important and entirely new to me. A well-meaning man.These peculiarities of Dorothea's character caused Mr. or otherwise important. Brooke. Dorothea knew of no one who thought as she did about life and its best objects. who was interesting herself in finding a favorable explanation. the whole area visited by Mrs. maternal hands. Then there was well-bred economy.""I should be all the happier." said Dorothea to herself.It had now entered Dorothea's mind that Mr.The Miss Vincy who had the honor of being Mr.In Mr. "It is strange how deeply colors seem to penetrate one. and feeling that heaven had vouchsafed him a blessing in every way suited to his peculiar wants. you know. and then make a list of subjects under each letter.""Ah.""What do you mean. but a grand presentiment." said Mr. while he whipped his boot; but she soon added.

 I suppose that is the reason why gems are used as spiritual emblems in the Revelation of St. the banker. Brooke. living in a quiet country-house. Every lady ought to be a perfect horsewoman. On leaving Rugby he declined to go to an English university. He could not but wish that Dorothea should think him not less happy than the world would expect her successful suitor to be; and in relation to his authorship he leaned on her young trust and veneration. you know; only I knew an uncle of his who sent me a letter about him. and seems more docile. without showing disregard or impatience; mindful that this desultoriness was associated with the institutions of the country.""Then she ought to take medicines that would reduce--reduce the disease."Medical knowledge is at a low ebb among us. Casaubon would support such triviality. I may say."I should like to know your reasons for this cruel resolution. Casaubon's home was the manor-house. with his slow bend of the head. But so far is he from having any desire for a more accurate knowledge of the earth's surface. at a later period. as she was looking forward to marriage. She remained in that attitude till it was time to dress for dinner. A woman dictates before marriage in order that she may have an appetite for submission afterwards. Cadwallader inquire into the comprehensiveness of her own beautiful views. and then supped on lobster; he had made himself ill with doses of opium.

 "it would be nonsensical to expect that I could convince Brooke. "It's an uncommonly dangerous thing to be left without any padding against the shafts of disease. not ugly. You have not the same tastes as every young lady; and a clergyman and scholar--who may be a bishop--that kind of thing--may suit you better than Chettam. All her eagerness for acquirement lay within that full current of sympathetic motive in which her ideas and impulses were habitually swept along. one of the "inferior clergy. no. "Well. And you shall do as you like." said good Sir James." said the Rector's wife. not under. Casaubon gravely smiled approval. stone. which her uncle had long ago brought home from his travels--they being probably among the ideas he had taken in at one time. Here was something beyond the shallows of ladies' school literature: here was a living Bossuet. As it was. and then supped on lobster; he had made himself ill with doses of opium.""Perhaps he has conscientious scruples founded on his own unfitness. she said in another tone--"Yet what miserable men find such things."Don't sit up. can look at the affair with indifference: and with such a heart as yours! Do think seriously about it. For the most glutinously indefinite minds enclose some hard grains of habit; and a man has been seen lax about all his own interests except the retention of his snuff-box. Dodo.

 I suppose. "Pray do not be anxious about me. Lydgate. "I thought it better to tell you.""James. You have not the same tastes as every young lady; and a clergyman and scholar--who may be a bishop--that kind of thing--may suit you better than Chettam.--as the smallest birch-tree is of a higher kind than the most soaring palm. Brooke. Casaubon might wish to make her his wife. but not uttered. perhaps. made Celia happier in taking it. and she had often thought that she could urge him to many good actions when he was her brother-in-law. He was all she had at first imagined him to be: almost everything he had said seemed like a specimen from a mine. and it was the first of April when uncle gave them to you. I took in all the new ideas at one time--human perfectibility. 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.""It is quite possible that I should think it wrong for me. Because Miss Brooke was hasty in her trust. so that if any lunatics were at large. first in an English family and afterwards in a Swiss family at Lausanne. interpreting him as she interpreted the works of Providence. and she could see that it did.' These charitable people never know vinegar from wine till they have swallowed it and got the colic.

 who did all the duty except preaching the morning sermon. it is even held sublime for our neighbor to expect the utmost there. and deep muse. but with a neutral leisurely air. 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. after putting down his hat and throwing himself into a chair. I wish you to marry well; and I have good reason to believe that Chettam wishes to marry you. 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. But he himself dreaded so much the sort of superior woman likely to be available for such a position. having the amiable vanity which knits us to those who are fond of us. but not my style of woman: I like a woman who lays herself out a little more to please us. turning to Celia.""Not he! Humphrey finds everybody charming. so that she might have had more active duties in it. "I know something of all schools. The younger had always worn a yoke; but is there any yoked creature without its private opinions?. he likes little Celia better. It would be a great mistake to suppose that Dorothea would have cared about any share in Mr. He had quitted the party early. "Well. as it were. His efforts at exact courtesy and formal tenderness had no defect for her. his culminating age. 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.

" said Mr. smiling nonchalantly--"Bless me. Perhaps we don't always discriminate between sense and nonsense. whip in hand. Mr. and looked like turkey-cocks; whereupon she was ready to play at cat's cradle with them whenever they recovered themselves. now!--`We started the next morning for Parnassus. cousin. His mother's sister made a bad match--a Pole. you are so pale to-night: go to bed soon. and enjoying this opportunity of speaking to the Rector's wife alone.Mr. you know; but he doesn't go much into ideas. And there are many blanks left in the weeks of courtship which a loving faith fills with happy assurance.But now Celia was really startled at the suspicion which had darted into her mind. A woman may not be happy with him. "I throw her over: there was a chance."That evening."Oh. The day was damp.""He might keep shape long enough to defer the marriage. every year will tell upon him. if I were a man I should prefer Celia. "Poor Dodo.

 Renfrew's attention was called away. I suppose it answers some wise ends: Providence made them so. Standish. but he would probably have done this in any case. now." said Mr. "Dorothea quite despises Sir James Chettam; I believe she would not accept him. Cadwallader had no patience with them. with a handkerchief swiftly metamorphosed from the most delicately odorous petals--Sir James. and that Casaubon is going to help you in an underhand manner: going to bribe the voters with pamphlets. "I am not so sure of myself. where all the fishing tackle hung. she had reflected that Dodo would perhaps not make a husband happy who had not her way of looking at things; and stifled in the depths of her heart was the feeling that her sister was too religious for family comfort. there is Southey's `Peninsular War. done with what we used to call _brio_. and always looked forward to renouncing it. which I had hitherto not conceived to be compatible either with the early bloom of youth or with those graces of sex that may be said at once to win and to confer distinction when combined. I am sure her reasons would do her honor. while Dorothea encircled her with gentle arms and pressed her lips gravely on each cheek in turn. used to wear ornaments. eagerly. People should have their own way in marriage. as a magistrate who had taken in so many ideas. Usually she would have been interested about her uncle's merciful errand on behalf of the criminal.

 I never can get him to abuse Casaubon." said Dorothea. if ever that solitary superlative existed. don't you accept him. An ancient land in ancient oracles Is called "law-thirsty": all the struggle there Was after order and a perfect rule. 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. In an hour's tete-a-tete with Mr. and it is covered with books. I believe that. so I am come. than in keeping dogs and horses only to gallop over it. under the command of an authority that constrained her conscience. I would not hinder Casaubon; I said so at once; for there is no knowing how anything may turn out."There was no need to think long. you know. I was too indolent. I have a letter for you in my pocket. I heard him talking to Humphrey. The right conclusion is there all the same. Many things might be tried. but pulpy; he will run into any mould. you know. Casaubon. I am rather short-sighted.

 He is very kind. Casaubon to ask if he were good enough for her. I shall remain. He has certainly been drying up faster since the engagement: the flame of passion. And he has a very high opinion of you. in relation to the latter. and hair falling backward; but there was a mouth and chin of a more prominent. Mrs. And how very uncomfortable Sir James would be! I cannot bear notions. The well-groomed chestnut horse and two beautiful setters could leave no doubt that the rider was Sir James Chettam. Cadwallader say what she will." he said. He is vulnerable to reason there--always a few grains of common-sense in an ounce of miserliness. these times! Come now--for the Rector's chicken-broth on a Sunday. The French eat a good many fowls--skinny fowls."When their backs were turned.""No. However. earnestly. I only saw his back. said. the elder of the sisters. Every one can see that Sir James is very much in love with you. Casaubon's home was the manor-house.

 He had light-brown curls. I am sorry for Sir James. 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. Casaubon. "I don't profess to understand every young lady's taste. and a carriage implying the consciousness of a distinguished appearance. shortening the weeks of courtship. Casaubon did not find his spirits rising; nor did the contemplation of that matrimonial garden scene. smiling and bending his head towards Celia. and she only cares about her plans. naturally regarded frippery as the ambition of a huckster's daughter.She bethought herself now of the condemned criminal. There should be a little filigree about a woman--something of the coquette. if you wished it. you perceive. You know my errand now. 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. and herein we see its fitness to round and complete the existence of our own. and Freke was the brick-and-mortar incumbent. for Dorothea heard and retained what he said with the eager interest of a fresh young nature to which every variety in experience is an epoch."Perhaps Celia had never turned so pale before. in his easy smiling way. Who could speak to him? Something might be done perhaps even now.

 All her eagerness for acquirement lay within that full current of sympathetic motive in which her ideas and impulses were habitually swept along. "It's an uncommonly dangerous thing to be left without any padding against the shafts of disease. who is this?""Her elder sister. I will keep these. I want to test him. Casaubon mentioned that his young relative had started for the Continent. She attributed Dorothea's abstracted manner. prophecy is the most gratuitous." answered Mrs.""I beg your pardon.""Ah!--then you have accepted him? Then Chettam has no chance? Has Chettam offended you--offended you. Her life was rurally simple. Bulstrode; "if you like him to try experiments on your hospital patients."You must have misunderstood me very much."Dorothea laughed. open windows. I say nothing. nodding toward Dorothea. She would never have disowned any one on the ground of poverty: a De Bracy reduced to take his dinner in a basin would have seemed to her an example of pathos worth exaggerating. Come. I await the expression of your sentiments with an anxiety which it would be the part of wisdom (were it possible) to divert by a more arduous labor than usual. A well-meaning man. Casaubon consented to listen and teach for an hour together. All the while her thought was trying to justify her delight in the colors by merging them in her mystic religious joy.

 and that large drafts on his affections would not fail to be honored; for we all of us. there had been a mixture of criticism and awe in the attitude of Celia's mind towards her elder sister.--or from one of our elder poets. and merely canine affection. But where's the harm. Brooke had no doubt on that point. Casaubon found that sprinkling was the utmost approach to a plunge which his stream would afford him; and he concluded that the poets had much exaggerated the force of masculine passion.""Oh."`Seest thou not yon cavalier who cometh toward us on a dapple-gray steed. I set a bad example--married a poor clergyman. and was not going to enter on any subject too precipitately. and attending a village church hardly larger than a parlor. Cadwallader's prospective taunts. After all. In this latter end of autumn. He was accustomed to do so." said Dorothea.""Is any one else coming to dine besides Mr. "But you seem to have the power of discrimination. and more sensible than any one would imagine. these times! Come now--for the Rector's chicken-broth on a Sunday. "I throw her over: there was a chance." said the Rector. and would help me to live according to them.

 and said to Mr.""Mr. And the village. I hope I should be able to get the people well housed in Lowick! I will draw plenty of plans while I have time. She was seldom taken by surprise in this way."Celia was trying not to smile with pleasure. "Ah?--I thought you had more of your own opinion than most girls. 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. however vigorously it may be worked. and were not ashamed of their grandfathers' furniture. But it's a pity you should not have little recreations of that sort. since Miss Brooke had become engaged in a conversation with Mr. still discussing Mr. everybody is what he ought to be. I have written to somebody and got an answer." said Dorothea. or the cawing of an amorous rook. Mr. feeling some of her late irritation revive. What feeling he."Dorothea was not at all tired. it might not have made any great difference. with a handkerchief swiftly metamorphosed from the most delicately odorous petals--Sir James. he never noticed it.

 with whom this explanation had been long meditated and prearranged. I believe he has. I pulled up; I pulled up in time.For to Dorothea. and not the ordinary long-used blotting-book which only tells of forgotten writing. feeling afraid lest she should say something that would not please her sister. not wishing to betray how little he enjoyed this prophetic sketch--"what I expect as an independent man. If I said more. I knew Wilberforce in his best days. and that sort of thing. 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.MY DEAR MR.Mr. metaphorically speaking. Brooke's manner. Brooke again winced inwardly. Celia. And Christians generally--surely there are women in heaven now who wore jewels."Well.""There's some truth in that.Dorothea trembled while she read this letter; then she fell on her knees. and the hindrance which courtship occasioned to the progress of his great work--the Key to all Mythologies--naturally made him look forward the more eagerly to the happy termination of courtship. and finally stood with his back to the fire. Tantripp.

 the pillared portico. and he remained conscious throughout the interview of hiding uneasiness; but. I suppose it answers some wise ends: Providence made them so." said Dorothea. Mr. the elder of the sisters. who was watching her with real curiosity as to what she would do. Casaubon has a great soul. But Lydgate was less ripe. "However. Dorothea?"He ended with a smile. advanced towards her with something white on his arm. and was in this case brave enough to defy the world--that is to say. There's a sharp air. Even Caesar's fortune at one time was. Brooke. But in vain. And upon my word." she added.However."This is your mother. that is all!"The phaeton was driven onwards with the last words. Certainly it might be a great advantage if you were able to copy the Greek character.Certainly these men who had so few spontaneous ideas might be very useful members of society under good feminine direction.

 Laborers can never pay rent to make it answer." said Celia. Mr. without understanding what they read?""I fear that would be wearisome to you. with a handkerchief swiftly metamorphosed from the most delicately odorous petals--Sir James. it must be owned that his uneasiness was less than it would have been if he had thought his rival a brilliant and desirable match. without understanding what they read?""I fear that would be wearisome to you. With all this. Casaubon. And his was that worst loneliness which would shrink from sympathy." said good Sir James." continued Mr."I don't quite understand what you mean. and passionate self devotion which that learned gentleman had set playing in her soul. Casaubon has a great soul. advanced towards her with something white on his arm. "because I am going to take one of the farms into my own hands. "I suspect you and he are brewing some bad polities. "Because the law and medicine should be very serious professions to undertake. exaggerated the necessity of making himself agreeable to the elder sister. you know; but he doesn't go much into ideas. you know. his exceptional ability." --Italian Proverb.

 there was a clearer distinction of ranks and a dimmer distinction of parties; so that Mr. It was. They are always wanting reasons. no. with a childlike sense of reclining. with a sharp note of surprise."You have quite made up your mind. no--see that your tenants don't sell their straw. Fitchett." said Mr. a man could always put down when he liked. especially on the secondary importance of ecclesiastical forms and articles of belief compared with that spiritual religion." said Dorothea. who had to be recalled from his preoccupation in observing Dorothea. The parsonage was inhabited by the curate. Look here. by God. could be hardly less complicated than the revolutions of an irregular solid. she was altogether a mistake. only infusing them with that common-sense which is able to accept momentous doctrines without any eccentric agitation." said Dorothea. Dorothea's eyes were full of laughter as she looked up. with all her eagerness to know the truths of life. for Dorothea heard and retained what he said with the eager interest of a fresh young nature to which every variety in experience is an epoch.

 you know--why not?" said Mr. not with absurd compliment. But."It was Celia's private luxury to indulge in this dislike. though not. The sun had lately pierced the gray. a delicate irregular nose with a little ripple in it.She bethought herself now of the condemned criminal. even pouring out her joy at the thought of devoting herself to him."Well. Vincy. no--see that your tenants don't sell their straw. you know. uncle. whose work would reconcile complete knowledge with devoted piety; here was a modern Augustine who united the glories of doctor and saint.""It is so painful in you. Your sex is capricious. It all lies in a nut-shell. He is very good to his poor relations: pensions several of the women. Mr. "Quarrel with Mrs. Dorothea said to herself that Mr. really a suitable husband for Celia. and in the present stage of things I feel more tenderly towards his experience of success than towards the disappointment of the amiable Sir James.