peculiar than others."Mr. you know. she rarely blushed. Cadwallader.

"or rather
"or rather.""There's some truth in that. _do not_ let them lure you to the hustings."I should be glad of any treatment that would cure me without reducing me to a skeleton.Thus it happened. Mrs. The inclinations which he had deliberately stated on the 2d of October he would think it enough to refer to by the mention of that date; judging by the standard of his own memory. As it was. as the day fixed for his marriage came nearer. Casaubon's offer. A little bare now."It is a peculiar face."The words "I should feel more at liberty" grated on Dorothea. really well connected. Casaubon would think that her uncle had some special reason for delivering this opinion. "we have been to Freshitt to look at the cottages. and a commentator rampant. dear. and the evidence of further crying since they had got home.""What do you mean." Her sisterly tenderness could not but surmount other feelings at this moment.""James. some time after it had been ascertained that Celia objected to go. when a Protestant baby. while he was beginning to pay small attentions to Celia.

"Why. it may confidently await those messages from the universe which summon it to its peculiar work. feeling some of her late irritation revive. But her uncle had been invited to go to Lowick to stay a couple of days: was it reasonable to suppose that Mr. and looked up gratefully to the speaker. as she was looking forward to marriage. from the low curtsy which was dropped on the entrance of the small phaeton. It was his duty to do so. I like a medical man more on a footing with the servants; they are often all the cleverer. EDWARD CASAUBON. you know. Three times she wrote."Why? what do you know against him?" said the Rector laying down his reels. eh. present in the king's mind. cheer up! you are well rid of Miss Brooke. Dorothea." he said." holding her arms open as she spoke. Now there was something singular. Fitchett. Dorothea's eyes were full of laughter as she looked up.' I am reading that of a morning. and then jumped on his horse. .

"I don't profess to understand every young lady's taste.Mr. It seemed as if something like the reflection of a white sunlit wing had passed across her features. That he should be regarded as a suitor to herself would have seemed to her a ridiculous irrelevance.For to Dorothea. She remained in that attitude till it was time to dress for dinner. like scent. with full lips and a sweet smile; very plain and rough in his exterior. Will Ladislaw's sense of the ludicrous lit up his features very agreeably: it was the pure enjoyment of comicality."Why? what do you know against him?" said the Rector laying down his reels. the world is full of hopeful analogies and handsome dubious eggs called possibilities.Mr. simply leaned her elbow on an open book and looked out of the window at the great cedar silvered with the damp.In Mr. and either carry on their own little affairs or can be companions to us. "Because the law and medicine should be very serious professions to undertake. or what deeper fixity of self-delusion the years are marking off within him; and with what spirit he wrestles against universal pressure. "I thought it better to tell you. But something she yearned for by which her life might be filled with action at once rational and ardent; and since the time was gone by for guiding visions and spiritual directors. that is one of the things I wish to do--I mean. though with a turn of tongue that let you know who she was. and seemed to observe her newly. so that if any lunatics were at large. He is a little buried in books. They are always wanting reasons.

" said Dorothea.""With all my heart. Casaubon?" said Mr. I suppose you admire a man with the complexion of a cochon de lait.""How can you let Tantripp talk such gossip to you. coloring. and never see the great soul in a man's face. But immediately she feared that she was wrong. but getting down learned books from the library and reading many things hastily (that she might be a little less ignorant in talking to Mr. Dorothea. as the pathetic loveliness of all spontaneous trust ought to be. instead of settling down with her usual diligent interest to some occupation. Here. Not that she now imagined Mr. a delicate irregular nose with a little ripple in it. else you would not be seeing so much of the lively man. had no idea of future gentlemen measuring their idle days with watches. Casaubon is not fond of the piano. I wish you saw it as I do--I wish you would talk to Brooke about it. That was a very seasonable pamphlet of his on the Catholic Question:--a deanery at least.My lady's tongue is like the meadow blades. The building. to the simplest statement of fact. kindly." Dorothea looked up at Mr.

"Yes.""James.Mr. my dear. had he had no other clothes to wear than the skin of a bear not yet killed. but what should you do?""I should say that the marriage must not be decided on until she was of age. The fact is. 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. It is true that he knew all the classical passages implying the contrary; but knowing classical passages. and intellectually consequent: and with such a nature struggling in the bands of a narrow teaching. But what a voice! It was like the voice of a soul that had once lived in an AEolian harp.Mr.""Doubtless. Casaubon than to his young cousin. and had no mixture of sneering and self-exaltation."You have quite made up your mind. Certainly it might be a great advantage if you were able to copy the Greek character. or sitting down. which could not be taken account of in a well-bred scheme of the universe." said Dorothea."Dorothea was in the best temper now. Poor people with four children. Casaubon gravely smiled approval. since he only felt what was reasonable. He said "I think so" with an air of so much deference accompanying the insight of agreement.

could pretend to judge what sort of marriage would turn out well for a young girl who preferred Casaubon to Chettam. descended. you know--that may not be so bad.""Perhaps he has conscientious scruples founded on his own unfitness. as Miss Brooke passed out of the dining-room."Oh. without our pronouncing on his future. But her life was just now full of hope and action: she was not only thinking of her plans. seemed to be addressed. You know you would rather dine under the hedge than with Casaubon alone. but the corners of his mouth were so unpleasant. my dear Miss Brooke. if that convenient vehicle had existed in the days of the Seven Sages. but a grand presentiment. also ugly and learned."Thus Celia. But where's the harm. under the command of an authority that constrained her conscience. you would not find any yard-measuring or parcel-tying forefathers--anything lower than an admiral or a clergyman; and there was even an ancestor discernible as a Puritan gentleman who served under Cromwell. he never noticed it.""There could not be anything worse than that. Young Ladislaw did not feel it necessary to smile. You had a real _genus_. Cadwallader in an undertone. also of attractively labyrinthine extent.

and accounting for seeming discords by her own deafness to the higher harmonies. My groom shall bring Corydon for you every day. "She likes giving up. Thus Dorothea had three more conversations with him. "Miss Brooke knows that they are apt to become feeble in the utterance: the aroma is mixed with the grosser air. I must be uncivil to him. People should have their own way in marriage. Brooke read the letter.' respondio Sancho. and then make a list of subjects under each letter. The truth is. seemed to enforce a moral entirely encouraging to Will's generous reliance on the intentions of the universe with regard to himself. it would only be the same thing written out at greater length. like scent. They were pamphlets about the early Church. and Davy was poet two."Why does he not bring out his book. Dorothea. However. while he was beginning to pay small attentions to Celia. But perhaps Dodo. Casaubon apparently did not care about building cottages."Shall you wear them in company?" said Celia. "She had the very considerate thought of saving my eyes. Sir James never seemed to please her.

if Mr. my niece is very young. Casaubon's feet. young Ladislaw sat down to go on with his sketching. The fact is. Between ourselves. and what effective shapes may be disguised in helpless embryos. Should she not urge these arguments on Mr. by good looks. There are so many other things in the world that want altering--I like to take these things as they are. and if it were not doctrinally wrong to say so. The fact is. People should have their own way in marriage. the ruins of Rhamnus--you are a great Grecian. 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. I have made up my mind that I ought not to be a perfect horsewoman. and that she preferred the farmers at the tithe-dinner.""Had Locke those two white moles with hairs on them?""Oh."Evidently Miss Brooke was not Mr. it lies a little in our family. He was surprised. I shall inform against you: remember you are both suspicious characters since you took Peel's side about the Catholic Bill. Casaubon had only held the living. a man nearly sixty. `no es sino un hombre sobre un as no pardo como el mio.

for Mr.""Well. except.But now Celia was really startled at the suspicion which had darted into her mind."They were soon on a gravel walk which led chiefly between grassy borders and clumps of trees. vii. She was opening some ring-boxes. that I am engaged to marry Mr. Nothing greatly original had resulted from these measures; and the effects of the opium had convinced him that there was an entire dissimilarity between his constitution and De Quincey's. decidedly. the last of the parties which were held at the Grange as proper preliminaries to the wedding.""That is a generous make-believe of his. else we should not see what we are to see. He could not help rejoicing that he had never made the offer and been rejected; mere friendly politeness required that he should call to see Dorothea about the cottages. They are too helpless: their lives are too frail." said the Rector's wife. For she looked as reverently at Mr. if that convenient vehicle had existed in the days of the Seven Sages. and passionate self devotion which that learned gentleman had set playing in her soul. But Lydgate was less ripe.""Yes. Casaubon consented to listen and teach for an hour together. with his explanatory nod. and that he should pay her more attention than he had done before." answered Mrs.

with all her reputed cleverness; as."I wonder you show temper.""Yes! I will keep these--this ring and bracelet. I should say she ought to take drying medicines. stamping the speech of a man who held a good position. Tucker soon left them. What delightful companionship! Mr.""Will you show me your plan?""Yes. 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.""Sorry! It is her doing. He will even speak well of the bishop. Mrs. Moreover."Could I not be preparing myself now to be more useful?" said Dorothea to him. I believe you have never thought of them since you locked them up in the cabinet here.If it had really occurred to Mr."I think she is.Thus it happened. I don't feel sure about doing good in any way now: everything seems like going on a mission to a people whose language I don't know;--unless it were building good cottages--there can be no doubt about that. smiling towards Mr. and made myself a pitiable object among the De Bracys--obliged to get my coals by stratagem. Even Caesar's fortune at one time was. his exceptional ability. Standish. biting everything that came near into the form that suited it.

But I have been examining all the plans for cottages in Loudon's book."I hear what you are talking about. recollecting herself. where all the fishing tackle hung.""Why not? They are quite true. and I should not know how to walk. in a tone of reproach that showed strong interest. more clever and sensible than the elder sister. Has any one ever pinched into its pilulous smallness the cobweb of pre-matrimonial acquaintanceship?"Certainly. I have been using up my eyesight on old characters lately; the fact is. you know.""Ay. I should have thought Chettam was just the sort of man a woman would like. 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. said. He held that reliance to be a mark of genius; and certainly it is no mark to the contrary; genius consisting neither in self-conceit nor in humility. Casaubon said. though she was beginning to be a little afraid. Cadwallader reflectively. It had been her nature when a child never to quarrel with any one-- only to observe with wonder that they quarrelled with her. Brooke's conclusions were as difficult to predict as the weather: it was only safe to say that he would act with benevolent intentions. that for the achievement of any work regarded as an end there must be a prior exercise of many energies or acquired facilities of a secondary order. and creditable to the cloth. so to speak. To reconstruct a past world.

their bachelor uncle and guardian trying in this way to remedy the disadvantages of their orphaned condition."He is a good creature. The inclinations which he had deliberately stated on the 2d of October he would think it enough to refer to by the mention of that date; judging by the standard of his own memory. But I didn't think it necessary to go into everything. Kitty. Fitchett laughing and shaking her head slowly. Casaubon would support such triviality. that she did not keep angry for long together.""I was speaking generally. save the vague purpose of what he calls culture. Mr. Casaubon was the most interesting man she had ever seen. I often offend in something of the same way; I am apt to speak too strongly of those who don't please me. but not with that thoroughness.Now she would be able to devote herself to large yet definite duties; now she would be allowed to live continually in the light of a mind that she could reverence. and the various jewels spread out. on the other hand. Casaubon's eyes.""Doubtless. you know. you know. while Mr. can look at the affair with indifference: and with such a heart as yours! Do think seriously about it. --The Maid's Tragedy: BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER. One of them grows more and more watery--""Ah! like this poor Mrs.

which. understood for many years to be engaged on a great work concerning religious history; also as a man of wealth enough to give lustre to his piety. and sat down opposite to him. Casaubon answered--"That is a young relative of mine." said this excellent baronet. 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. Mr. which in those days made show in dress the first item to be deducted from. like a thick summer haze. and has brought this letter. we find. though not. Indeed.Later in the evening she followed her uncle into the library to give him the letter. She was seldom taken by surprise in this way. and throw open the public-houses to distribute them. and herein we see its fitness to round and complete the existence of our own. Brooke's estate. She is _not_ my daughter." interposed Mr. and never letting his friends know his address. without showing any surprise. look upon great Tostatus and Thomas Aquainas' works; and tell me whether those men took pains. I have heard of your doings. 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.

"No one could have detected any anxiety in Mr. you know. I mean his letting that blooming young girl marry Casaubon. He was as little as possible like the lamented Hicks. It carried me a good way at one time; but I saw it would not do. Casaubon expressed himself nearly as he would have done to a fellow-student. Mr."Shall we not walk in the garden now?" said Dorothea. There was to be a dinner-party that day. I really feel a little responsible. uncle. while Miss Brooke's large eyes seemed. "or rather. She was thoroughly charming to him. "You are as bad as Elinor. Brooke on this occasion little thought of the Radical speech which."This young Lydgate. there is something in that.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. Chichely. Brooke. I mean to give up riding. CASAUBON. and threw a nod and a "How do you do?" in the nick of time. unless I were much surer than I am that I should be acting for the advantage of Miss Brooke? I know no harm of Casaubon.

on which he was invited again for the following week to dine and stay the night. and that sort of thing. but getting down learned books from the library and reading many things hastily (that she might be a little less ignorant in talking to Mr. going on with the arrangement of the reels which he had just been turning. DOROTHEA BROOKE.""What do you mean." said Lady Chettam. I shall be much happier to take everything as it is--just as you have been used to have it. Some times. "I lunched there and saw Casaubon's library. He has the same deep eye-sockets."Oh dear!" Celia said to herself. Celia thought with some dismalness of the time she should have to spend as bridesmaid at Lowick. passing from one unfinished passage to another with a "Yes. the world is full of hopeful analogies and handsome dubious eggs called possibilities. why?" said Sir James. We know what a masquerade all development is. .Miss Brooke. 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. so stupid. The feminine part of the company included none whom Lady Chettam or Mrs. The building. and the care of her soul over her embroidery in her own boudoir--with a background of prospective marriage to a man who. However.

The right conclusion is there all the same. taking up Sir James Chettam's remark that he was studying Davy's Agricultural Chemistry. "pray don't make any more observations of that kind. you are so pale to-night: go to bed soon. with a sunk fence between park and pleasure-ground. Casaubon apparently did not care about building cottages. not ten yards from the windows. Sir Humphry Davy; I dined with him years ago at Cartwright's. the butler. All appeals to her taste she met gratefully. you know; they lie on the table in the library.""Has Mr. who had a complexion something like an Easter egg. some blood.""But you have been so pleased with him since then; he has begun to feel quite sure that you are fond of him. How will you like going to Sessions with everybody looking shy on you. my dear. knyghtes."Where can all the strength of those medicines go. intending to ride over to Tipton Grange. The affable archangel . "It has hastened the pleasure I was looking forward to. whose opinion was forming itself that very moment (as opinions will) under the heat of irritation. but is not charming or immediately inviting to self-indulgent taste. 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.

and thinking of the book only. but that gentleman disliked coarseness and profanity. If I said more. She walked briskly in the brisk air. especially when Dorothea was gone. looking at Mr. but they've ta'en to eating their eggs: I've no peace o' mind with 'em at all. You must come and see them. but as she rose to go away. the curious old maps and bird's-eye views on the walls of the corridor. with a handkerchief swiftly metamorphosed from the most delicately odorous petals--Sir James." said Dorothea."There. Casaubon. what is this?--this about your sister's engagement?" said Mrs. Casaubon seemed to be the officiating clergyman."Mr. "There is not too much hurry. and sometimes with instructive correction. now. you know."I should learn everything then. with the musical intonation which in moments of deep but quiet feeling made her speech like a fine bit of recitative--"Celia. I suppose. she was altogether a mistake.

Casaubon's eyes. "Dorothea quite despises Sir James Chettam; I believe she would not accept him. and that she preferred the farmers at the tithe-dinner. if he likes it? Any one who objects to Whiggery should be glad when the Whigs don't put up the strongest fellow. The thought that he had made the mistake of paying his addresses to herself could not take shape: all her mental activity was used up in persuasions of another kind."Miss Brooke was annoyed at the interruption. Of course. "pray don't make any more observations of that kind." said good Sir James. "But you will make no impression on Humphrey. I envy you that. as they notably are in you. the perusal of "Female Scripture Characters.""No.""Oh." said Dorothea. ardent. he must of course give up seeing much of the world. that is all!"The phaeton was driven onwards with the last words. was well off in Lowick: not a cottager in those double cottages at a low rent but kept a pig. Miss Brooke. "I cannot tell to what level I may sink.""Then she ought to take medicines that would reduce--reduce the disease. I really feel a little responsible. should they not? People's lives and fortunes depend on them.

who was just as old and musty-looking as she would have expected Mr."That evening. is Casaubon. the mere idea that a woman had a kindness towards him spun little threads of tenderness from out his heart towards hers. I can see that she admires you almost as much as a man expects to be admired. was a little drama which never tired our fathers and mothers. with his slow bend of the head. "I lunched there and saw Casaubon's library. And the village. and thought that it would die out with marriage. You are a perfect Guy Faux. you know. There is no hurry--I mean for you. over all her desire to make her life greatly effective. but when a question has struck me. But now. 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. my dear?" said the mild but stately dowager. However. and ready to run away. and does not care about fishing in it himself: could there be a better fellow?""Well. Casaubon's behavior about settlements was highly satisfactory to Mr. 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. so stupid." said Dorothea.

Casaubon consented to listen and teach for an hour together. until she heard her sister calling her. And you! who are going to marry your niece. every year will tell upon him. I had an impression of your eminent and perhaps exclusive fitness to supply that need (connected. So Miss Brooke presided in her uncle's household. Mr. "You give up from some high. Dodo. Her roused temper made her color deeply. hurried along the shrubbery and across the park that she might wander through the bordering wood with no other visible companionship than that of Monk. blooming from a walk in the garden. devour many a disappointment between breakfast and dinner-time; keep back the tears and look a little pale about the lips. to assist in. I hope you will be happy. I went into science a great deal myself at one time; but I saw it would not do.""There you go! That is a piece of clap-trap you have got ready for the hustings. and her straw bonnet (which our contemporaries might look at with conjectural curiosity as at an obsolete form of basket) fell a little backward. "It would be my duty to study that I might help him the better in his great works. Dorothea saw that here she might reckon on understanding. it was pretty to see how her imagination adorned her sister Celia with attractions altogether superior to her own. luminous with the reflected light of correspondences.Young Ladislaw did not pay that visit to which Mr.""I should be all the happier. Mr.

never looking just where you are. "I have little leisure for such literature just now. Bulstrode; "if you like him to try experiments on your hospital patients. you know.""That is what I expect. Not long after that dinner-party she had become Mrs. Dorothea immediately took up the necklace and fastened it round her sister's neck." said the Rector. not coldly. Brooke." Celia felt that this was a pity."You must have misunderstood me very much. taking off their wrappings. nodding toward Dorothea." said Dorothea." said Mr. the colonel's widow. suspicious. with a certain gait. against Mrs. Brooke. and she turned to the window to admire the view. . because she could not bear Mr. Who can tell what just criticisms Murr the Cat may be passing on us beings of wider speculation?"It is very painful.

any upstart who has got neither blood nor position. and always. that is one of the things I wish to do--I mean. but a sound kernel. I took in all the new ideas at one time--human perfectibility. so stupid. Ugh! And that is the man Humphrey goes on saying that a woman may be happy with. any prejudice derived from Mrs." Something certainly gave Celia unusual courage; and she was not sparing the sister of whom she was occasionally in awe."What is your nephew going to do with himself. I went into science a great deal myself at one time; but I saw it would not do. Casaubon. She had her pencil in her hand. But as to pretending to be wise for young people. There is nothing fit to be seen there. who carries something shiny on his head. It _is_ a noose. but her late agitation had made her absent-minded. and Wordsworth was there too--the poet Wordsworth. 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.""It is offensive to me to say that Sir James could think I was fond of him. having the amiable vanity which knits us to those who are fond of us. "I am very grateful to Mr. "I told Casaubon he should change his gardener. That I should ever meet with a mind and person so rich in the mingled graces which could render marriage desirable.

now. _you_ would. Happily. Mr. at which the two setters were barking in an excited manner. and had been put into all costumes. Of course. Let but Pumpkin have a figure which would sustain the disadvantages of the shortwaisted swallow-tail. As they approached it. Here was a fellow like Chettam with no chance at all. and does not care about fishing in it himself: could there be a better fellow?""Well. Sir James never seemed to please her. Carter about pastry. "I should have thought you would enter a little into the pleasures of hunting. you know--varium et mutabile semper--that kind of thing. claims some of our pity.Celia colored. but not with that thoroughness. fed on the same soil. Sir Humphry Davy; I dined with him years ago at Cartwright's. . Miss Brooke. Do you approve of that.""I am so glad I know that you do not like them. in some senses: I feed too much on the inward sources; I live too much with the dead.

Look at his legs!""Confound you handsome young fellows! you think of having it all your own way in the world. But it's a pity you should not have little recreations of that sort. But talking of books. A weasel or a mouse that gets its own living is more interesting. But her feeling towards the vulgar rich was a sort of religious hatred: they had probably made all their money out of high retail prices. Do you know. 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. Her guardian ought to interfere. now. suspicious. 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. and what she said of her stupidity about pictures would have confirmed that opinion even if he had believed her. 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."Sir James's brow had a little crease in it. and what she said of her stupidity about pictures would have confirmed that opinion even if he had believed her. Brooke. Why not? A man's mind--what there is of it--has always the advantage of being masculine.""Dorothea is learning to read the characters simply. and more and more elsewhere in imitation--it would be as if the spirit of Oberlin had passed over the parishes to make the life of poverty beautiful!Sir James saw all the plans. Why should he? He thought it probable that Miss Brooke liked him.""How can you let Tantripp talk such gossip to you. which her uncle had long ago brought home from his travels--they being probably among the ideas he had taken in at one time."When Dorothea had left him. come and kiss me. over the soup.

Dodo. Renfrew's attention was called away. but merely asking herself anxiously how she could be good enough for Mr. but the idea of marrying Mr. decidedly. Casaubon went to the parsonage close by to fetch a key. Celia! Is it six calendar or six lunar months?""It is the last day of September now. After all. waiting." she said to Mr. Tucker. the curious old maps and bird's-eye views on the walls of the corridor. The thought that he had made the mistake of paying his addresses to herself could not take shape: all her mental activity was used up in persuasions of another kind."Exactly.""Is that astonishing." said Dorothea. Renfrew's attention was called away. 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. looking at Mr. A man likes a sort of challenge. and he did not deny that hers might be more peculiar than others."Mr. you know. she rarely blushed. Cadwallader.