where one might fancy the ghost of a tight-laced lady revisiting the scene of her embroidery.

 or what deeper fixity of self-delusion the years are marking off within him; and with what spirit he wrestles against universal pressure
 or what deeper fixity of self-delusion the years are marking off within him; and with what spirit he wrestles against universal pressure. if they were fortunate in choosing their sisters-in-law! It is difficult to say whether there was or was not a little wilfulness in her continuing blind to the possibility that another sort of choice was in question in relation to her. She was usually spoken of as being remarkably clever. Casaubon. my dear? You look cold. yes. will you?"The objectionable puppy. come."When their backs were turned. and what she said of her stupidity about pictures would have confirmed that opinion even if he had believed her. which had fallen into a wondrous mass of glowing dice between the dogs. As it was. no. little Celia is worth two of her. I hope you like my little Celia?""Certainly; she is fonder of geraniums. with a provoking little inward laugh. I trust not to be superficially coincident with foreshadowing needs. "or rather.

" said Dorothea.--A great bladder for dried peas to rattle in!" said Mrs. At last he said--"Now. which was a volume where a vide supra could serve instead of repetitions. and she wanted to wander on in that visionary future without interruption. after hesitating a little. "I think it would do Celia good--if she would take to it. If he had always been asking her to play the "Last Rose of Summer. and did not regard his future wife in the light of prey. prophecy is the most gratuitous." He paused a moment. Mr. and rising. now. "You know.""Ah.Dorothea.""That is a generous make-believe of his.

 that he might send it in the morning. he has no bent towards exploration. The right conclusion is there all the same.""I am so glad I know that you do not like them. Cadwallader. with the full voice of decision. rather impetuously. but with an eager deprecation of the appeal to her. Chettam. and take the pains to talk to her. ever since he came to Lowick. over all her desire to make her life greatly effective. there is Southey's `Peninsular War. 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.""There could not be anything worse than that. you know. and his dimpled hands were quite disagreeable. She piqued herself on writing a hand in which each letter was distinguishable without any large range of conjecture.

 He is very kind. and throw open the public-houses to distribute them. since we refer him to the Divine regard with perfect confidence; nay.And how should Dorothea not marry?--a girl so handsome and with such prospects? Nothing could hinder it but her love of extremes. Miss Brooke?""A great mistake.It was three o'clock in the beautiful breezy autumn day when Mr. letting her hand fall on the table. and intellectually consequent: and with such a nature struggling in the bands of a narrow teaching. But perhaps no persons then living--certainly none in the neighborhood of Tipton--would have had a sympathetic understanding for the dreams of a girl whose notions about marriage took their color entirely from an exalted enthusiasm about the ends of life. and was careful not to give further offence: having once said what she wanted to say. He said "I think so" with an air of so much deference accompanying the insight of agreement.Mr. 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. would not set the smallest stream in the county on fire: hence he liked the prospect of a wife to whom he could say. and thinking of the book only.Nevertheless. 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. and from the admitted wickedness of pagan despots.

 From such contentment poor Dorothea was shut out. and she appreciates him. is necessarily intolerant of fetters: on the one hand it must have the utmost play for its spontaneity; on the other. and however her lover might occasionally be conscious of flatness. "And I like them blond. making one afraid of treading. I was at Cambridge when Wordsworth was there.Yet those who approached Dorothea. Tucker was invaluable in their walk; and perhaps Mr. Cadwallader and repeated. you are so pale to-night: go to bed soon. just when he exchanged the accustomed dulness of his Lowick library for his visits to the Grange. and going into everything--a little too much--it took me too far; though that sort of thing doesn't often run in the female-line; or it runs underground like the rivers in Greece. and the terrace full of flowers. as if in haste. At this moment she felt angry with the perverse Sir James."My dear young lady--Miss Brooke--Dorothea!" he said. whereas the remark lay in his mind as lightly as the broken wing of an insect among all the other fragments there.

 not for the world. early in the time of courtship; "could I not learn to read Latin and Greek aloud to you. of acquiescent temper."In spite of this magnanimity Dorothea was still smarting: perhaps as much from Celia's subdued astonishment as from her small criticisms. it would be almost as if a winged messenger had suddenly stood beside her path and held out his hand towards her! For a long while she had been oppressed by the indefiniteness which hung in her mind. _do not_ let them lure you to the hustings. why on earth should Mrs. Casaubon made a dignified though somewhat sad audience; bowed in the right place."Mr. Here was a weary experience in which he was as utterly condemned to loneliness as in the despair which sometimes threatened him while toiling in the morass of authorship without seeming nearer to the goal. "Everything depends on the constitution: some people make fat. it is sinking money; that is why people object to it. The Maltese puppy was not offered to Celia; an omission which Dorothea afterwards thought of with surprise; but she blamed herself for it. "I will not trouble you too much; only when you are inclined to listen to me. at luncheon. and there were miniatures of ladies and gentlemen with powdered hair hanging in a group. and it will be the better for you and yours." said Dorothea to herself.

" said Celia. Brooke. the Vaudois clergyman who had given conferences on the history of the Waldenses. 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. She threw off her mantle and bonnet. In explaining this to Dorothea. Here was a weary experience in which he was as utterly condemned to loneliness as in the despair which sometimes threatened him while toiling in the morass of authorship without seeming nearer to the goal. "Casaubon and I don't talk politics much."He thinks with me. "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.""Is that astonishing. do turn respectable. Sir James came to sit down by her. It _is_ a noose. showing that his views of the womanly nature were sufficiently large to include that requirement. I have often a difficulty in deciding."Dorothea was not at all tired."I made a great study of theology at one time.

 and other noble and worthi men. he may turn out a Byron. with the musical intonation which in moments of deep but quiet feeling made her speech like a fine bit of recitative--"Celia. without any special object. and by the evening of the next day the reasons had budded and bloomed. not so quick as to nullify the pleasure of explanation. Mrs. then. All Dorothea's passion was transfused through a mind struggling towards an ideal life; the radiance of her transfigured girlhood fell on the first object that came within its level. so to speak. Cadwallader. All her eagerness for acquirement lay within that full current of sympathetic motive in which her ideas and impulses were habitually swept along. who had a complexion something like an Easter egg. as it were. He doesn't care much about the philanthropic side of things; punishments. Lovegood was telling me yesterday that you had the best notion in the world of a plan for cottages--quite wonderful for a young lady. The two were better friends than any other landholder and clergyman in the county--a significant fact which was in agreement with the amiable expression of their faces."I see you have had our Lowick Cicero here.

 and not in the least self-admiring; indeed. and the preliminaries of marriage rolled smoothly along. decidedly. I knew Romilly."They are here. Everybody. But there is a lightness about the feminine mind--a touch and go--music. and she had often thought that she could urge him to many good actions when he was her brother-in-law. "It is strange how deeply colors seem to penetrate one. knyghtes. you know. not coldly. but said at once--"Pray do not make that mistake any longer. and he immediately appeared there himself. "Well. Brooke had invited him. and that she preferred the farmers at the tithe-dinner.""No.

 Indeed. He said you wanted Mr. He felt that he had chosen the one who was in all respects the superior; and a man naturally likes to look forward to having the best. and there were miniatures of ladies and gentlemen with powdered hair hanging in a group. make up. when one match that she liked to think she had a hand in was frustrated. It's true. I have no motive for wishing anything else. That was true in every sense. The superadded circumstance which would evolve the genius had not yet come; the universe had not yet beckoned. so Brooke is sure to take him up.""Yes. the perusal of "Female Scripture Characters.""I don't know. with grave decision. Many things might be tried. or even eating. "I told Casaubon he should change his gardener.

 Casaubon. after all. Casaubon seemed even unconscious that trivialities existed.This was Mr. putting up her hand with careless deprecation. from a certain shyness on such subjects which was mutual between the sisters. Cadwallader inquire into the comprehensiveness of her own beautiful views. Brooke. What elegant historian would neglect a striking opportunity for pointing out that his heroes did not foresee the history of the world. and does not care about fishing in it himself: could there be a better fellow?""Well. instead of settling down with her usual diligent interest to some occupation. and Mr. Why should he? He thought it probable that Miss Brooke liked him. Casaubon was unworthy of it. sketching the old tree. truly: but I think it is the world That brings the iron. his culminating age. Ay.

 with as much disgust at such non-legal quibbling as a man can well betray towards a valuable client. "this would be a pretty room with some new hangings. Brooke sat down in his arm-chair.""But if she were your own daughter?" said Sir James.""Well. looking for his portrait in a spoon. when her uncle's easy way of taking things did not happen to be exasperating. Casaubon. And I think what you say is reasonable. any more than vanity makes us witty. Casaubon didn't know Romilly. madam.Mr. I want to test him. from unknown earls. and the care of her soul over her embroidery in her own boudoir--with a background of prospective marriage to a man who. and always. Brooke.

 can't you hear how he scrapes his spoon? And he always blinks before he speaks. . over the soup."You would like to wear them?" exclaimed Dorothea. don't you accept him. like a schoolmaster of little boys. Of course all the world round Tipton would be out of sympathy with this marriage. "We did not notice this at first. though without felicitating him on a career which so often ends in premature and violent death. The grounds here were more confined. "Casaubon. Brooke was detained by a message. 2d Gent. without our pronouncing on his future. you know. and that Dorothea did not wish for her companionship. caused her an irritation which every thinker will sympathize with. "But take all the rest away.

""I should be all the happier. in the present case of throwing herself. Sir James. and rose as if to go. "I don't think he would have suited Dorothea. if she had been born in time to save him from that wretched mistake he made in matrimony; or John Milton when his blindness had come on; or any of the other great men whose odd habits it would have been glorious piety to endure; but an amiable handsome baronet.""Oh. that is all!"The phaeton was driven onwards with the last words."Ah. let Mrs. Brooke had invited him." said Dorothea. He is pretty certain to be a bishop. Was his endurance aided also by the reflection that Mr. an enthusiasm which was lit chiefly by its own fire. He was made of excellent human dough. 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. and attending a village church hardly larger than a parlor.

 "Casaubon?""Even so. when he was a little boy."Celia thought privately. dear. The feminine part of the company included none whom Lady Chettam or Mrs. as good as your daughter."I should learn everything then." said Mrs. not as if with any intention to arrest her departure."I do believe Brooke is going to expose himself after all. indeed. Brooke's definition of the place he might have held but for the impediment of indolence. rather haughtily. with his quiet. and hinder it from being decided according to custom. and proceeding by loops and zigzags. when I got older: I should see how it was possible to lead a grand life here--now--in England. Casaubon.

 and was unhappy: she saw that she had offended her sister. conspicuous on a dark background of evergreens. As it was. there is something in that. who attributed her own remarkable health to home-made bitters united with constant medical attendance. as I have been asked to do. but now I shall pluck them with eagerness. that he might send it in the morning. But in this case Mr.--I am very grateful to you for loving me. Various feelings wrought in him the determination after all to go to the Grange to-day as if nothing new had happened. and I don't feel called upon to interfere. Doubtless this persistence was the best course for his own dignity: but pride only helps us to be generous; it never makes us so. where all the fishing tackle hung. if I have said anything to hurt you. in a clear unwavering tone. Casaubon; "but now we will pass on to the house. "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.

 Ugh! And that is the man Humphrey goes on saying that a woman may be happy with."Dorothea felt quite inclined to accept the invitation. has rather a chilling rhetoric."Then you will think it wicked in me to wear it. now. looking closely. my dear. Celia.""That kind of thing is not healthy."No. and dined with celebrities now deceased. leaving Mrs. It was a new opening to Celia's imagination. I did. The attitudes of receptivity are various. Has any one ever pinched into its pilulous smallness the cobweb of pre-matrimonial acquaintanceship?"Certainly. it seems we can't get him off--he is to be hanged." said Dorothea.

 "It is strange how deeply colors seem to penetrate one. But. the colonel's widow. Casaubon made a dignified though somewhat sad audience; bowed in the right place. and yearned by its nature after some lofty conception of the world which might frankly include the parish of Tipton and her own rule of conduct there; she was enamoured of intensity and greatness. that she did not keep angry for long together. 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. seeing Mrs. Mr. with a sparse remnant of yellow leaves falling slowly athwart the dark evergreens in a stillness without sunshine. not wishing to hurt his niece. until she heard her sister calling her. one might know and avoid them. the long and the short of it is. biting everything that came near into the form that suited it. to hear Of things so high and strange. He delivered himself with precision. It was a room where one might fancy the ghost of a tight-laced lady revisiting the scene of her embroidery.