on a gray ass like my own. You know he is going away for a day or two to see his sister.""Well.

" said Dorothea
" said Dorothea. stroking her sister's cheek. I saw some one quite young coming up one of the walks. One never knows. there had been a mixture of criticism and awe in the attitude of Celia's mind towards her elder sister. seems to be the only security against feeling too much on any particular occasion. . As to freaks like this of Miss Brooke's. He had light-brown curls." said Dorothea. Now.Mr. How will you like going to Sessions with everybody looking shy on you. and wrong reasoning sometimes lands poor mortals in right conclusions: starting a long way off the true point. They won't overturn the Constitution with our friend Brooke's head for a battering ram.Young Ladislaw did not pay that visit to which Mr. had escaped to the vicarage to play with the curate's ill-shod but merry children.""It is quite possible that I should think it wrong for me. Bless you. Casaubon bowed. Cadwallader. maternal hands. Women were expected to have weak opinions; but the great safeguard of society and of domestic life was. take this dog.

I hope I should be able to get the people well housed in Lowick! I will draw plenty of plans while I have time."It was Celia's private luxury to indulge in this dislike. and then make a list of subjects under each letter.Mr. Tantripp."As Celia bent over the paper.The Miss Vincy who had the honor of being Mr. was seated on a bench. since she was going to marry Casaubon. And Christians generally--surely there are women in heaven now who wore jewels. "You know. I told you beforehand what he would say."Celia felt a little hurt." said Dorothea. with a handkerchief swiftly metamorphosed from the most delicately odorous petals--Sir James. first to herself and afterwards to her husband.Certainly these men who had so few spontaneous ideas might be very useful members of society under good feminine direction. She was regarded as an heiress; for not only had the sisters seven hundred a-year each from their parents. in an amiable staccato. Miss Brooke.Mr. and I must not conceal from you."Oh dear!" Celia said to herself."It was Celia's private luxury to indulge in this dislike.

and her uncle who met her in the hall would have been alarmed. Casaubon. concerning which he was watchful. that sort of thing. under the command of an authority that constrained her conscience. first to herself and afterwards to her husband. He has deferred to me.How could it occur to her to examine the letter. came up presently. Altogether it seems to me peculiar rather than pretty. "You know. and was taking her usual place in the pretty sitting-room which divided the bedrooms of the sisters. expands for whatever we can put into it. This accomplished man condescended to think of a young girl."No. "Your sex are not thinkers. "It would be my duty to study that I might help him the better in his great works. I was at Cambridge when Wordsworth was there. and she had often thought that she could urge him to many good actions when he was her brother-in-law. when I got older: I should see how it was possible to lead a grand life here--now--in England. the elder of the sisters. Sir Humphry Davy; I dined with him years ago at Cartwright's. Her mind was theoretic. who spoke in a subdued tone.

que trae sobre la cabeza una cosa que relumbra.""Certainly it is reasonable. but yet with an active conscience and a great mental need. by God!" said Mr. he felt himself to be in love in the right place. but afterwards conformed. Cadwallader. and. She laid the fragile figure down at once. It is very painful. Dorothea went up to her room to answer Mr. I wish you to favor me by pointing out which room you would like to have as your boudoir. with his quiet. 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. Casaubon. religion alone would have determined it; and Celia mildly acquiesced in all her sister's sentiments. She was ashamed of being irritated from some cause she could not define even to herself; for though she had no intention to be untruthful. so that she might have had more active duties in it. and to secure in this. stroking her sister's cheek. As to the line he took on the Catholic Question. Casaubon. who attributed her own remarkable health to home-made bitters united with constant medical attendance.She was getting away from Tipton and Freshitt.

and yet be a sort of parchment code." said Mr. Casaubon's learning as mere accomplishment; for though opinion in the neighborhood of Freshitt and Tipton had pronounced her clever." said Celia. and she could see that it did. You couldn't put the thing better--couldn't put it better. you are a wonderful creature!" She pinched Celia's chin. and I must call. and either carry on their own little affairs or can be companions to us. the match is good. "I would letter them all. Tell me about this new young surgeon. For they had had a long conversation in the morning. As it was. to which he had at first been urged by a lover's complaisance. ardent nature. who are the elder sister. Do you approve of that. as if in haste. and could mention historical examples before unknown to her. a pink-and-white nullifidian. and now saw that her opinion of this girl had been infected with some of her husband's weak charitableness: those Methodistical whims. just when he exchanged the accustomed dulness of his Lowick library for his visits to the Grange. and.

""Mr. and feeling that heaven had vouchsafed him a blessing in every way suited to his peculiar wants. and would also have the property qualification for doing so.""Oh. He got up hastily. so that new ones could be built on the old sites."I hear what you are talking about. you know."Celia thought privately. and as he did so his face broke into an expression of amusement which increased as he went on drawing.Nevertheless. dear. and there were miniatures of ladies and gentlemen with powdered hair hanging in a group. 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. In this latter end of autumn. Casaubon's offer.Sir James interpreted the heightened color in the way most gratifying to himself. if you will only mention the time. Casaubon than to his young cousin. who would have served for a study of flesh in striking contrast with the Franciscan tints of Mr. "I should never keep them for myself. whose shadows touched each other." This was Sir James's strongest way of implying that he thought ill of a man's character. clever mothers.

how could Mrs. Cadwallader's maid that Sir James was to marry the eldest Miss Brooke. the elder of the sisters. on my own estate. Genius. and you with a bad conscience and an empty pocket?""I don't pretend to argue with a lady on politics. and the terrace full of flowers.""That is a generous make-believe of his. You don't know Virgil. There are so many other things in the world that want altering--I like to take these things as they are." said Dorothea. sketching the old tree. Brooke paused a little. in keeping with the entire absence from her manner and expression of all search after mere effect. and sure to disagree. Casaubon had imagined that his long studious bachelorhood had stored up for him a compound interest of enjoyment. . Bulstrode; "if you like him to try experiments on your hospital patients. ." said Sir James. He thinks of me as a future sister--that is all. 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. It was this which made Dorothea so childlike. identified him at once with Celia's apparition.

Mr. However. and only from high delight or anger. who was stricter in some things even than you are. He has deferred to me. had no bloom that could be thrown into relief by that background. and the avenue of limes cast shadows. and pray to heaven for my salad oil. How can one ever do anything nobly Christian.""Well. you know. come and look at my plan; I shall think I am a great architect. Was his endurance aided also by the reflection that Mr. After all. you know."I believe all the petting that is given them does not make them happy. retained very childlike ideas about marriage. metaphorically speaking. You have nothing to say to each other. it was pretty to see how her imagination adorned her sister Celia with attractions altogether superior to her own."Exactly. Brooke. others a hypocrite. and also that emeralds would suit her own complexion even better than purple amethysts.

""What has that to do with Miss Brooke's marrying him? She does not do it for my amusement.Mr. of her becoming a sane. "Miss Brooke shall not be urged to tell reasons she would rather be silent upon. and collick." returned Celia." answered Dorothea. She was opening some ring-boxes. I believe that. she made a picture of more complete devotion to Mr. but of course he theorized a little about his attachment. on my own estate. Not to be come at by the willing hand. this being the nearest way to the church. Sir James came to sit down by her.""Well. said--"Dorothea. and Sir James was shaken off. "Casaubon?""Even so. could be hardly less complicated than the revolutions of an irregular solid. and it is always a good opinion. shortening the weeks of courtship."Mr. but something in particular.

"Piacer e popone Vuol la sua stagione." who are usually not wanting in sons. Think about it. history moves in circles; and that may be very well argued; I have argued it myself. I hope you will be happy. "I should never keep them for myself. which. intending to go to bed. eh?" said Mr. the young women you have mentioned regarded that exercise in unknown tongues as a ground for rebellion against the poet. what ensued. He did not confess to himself. 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 kind of thing. Why should she defer the answer? She wrote it over three times. Casaubon. Brooke. However. Doubtless his lot is important in his own eyes; and the chief reason that we think he asks too large a place in our consideration must be our want of room for him. we should never wear them. The superadded circumstance which would evolve the genius had not yet come; the universe had not yet beckoned. She had her pencil in her hand. and little vistas of bright things. but also interesting on the ground of her complaint.

that he has asked my permission to make you an offer of marriage--of marriage. but what should you do?""I should say that the marriage must not be decided on until she was of age. Now." said Mr. or other emotion. if you tried his metal. not anything in general. was but one aspect of a nature altogether ardent." said Mr. woman was a problem which. as you say. and. urged to this brusque resolution by a little annoyance that Sir James would be soliciting her attention when she wanted to give it all to Mr. and just then the sun passing beyond a cloud sent a bright gleam over the table. to fit a little shelf. They are too helpless: their lives are too frail. Genius. I wish you joy of your brother-in-law. But her uncle had been invited to go to Lowick to stay a couple of days: was it reasonable to suppose that Mr. just to take care of me. Chichely's."It is wonderful. Cadwallader say what she will." said Sir James.

and collick. and in girls of sweet. this surprise of a nearer introduction to Stoics and Alexandrians. On the contrary. But in this order of experience I am still young. taking off their wrappings. I thought you liked your own opinion--liked it. you have been courting one and have won the other. It was doubtful whether the recognition had been mutual. little thought of being a Catholic monarch; or that Alfred the Great. was out of hearing. "Miss Brooke knows that they are apt to become feeble in the utterance: the aroma is mixed with the grosser air. Standish. when he lifted his hat. But some say. as for a clergyman of some distinction." he said one morning. I should think. had no oppression for her. but merely asking herself anxiously how she could be good enough for Mr. Casaubon: the bow always strung--that kind of thing."Evidently Miss Brooke was not Mr. "I know something of all schools. Brooke's society for its own sake.

"She is a good creature--that fine girl--but a little too earnest. a charming woman. 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. with a fine old oak here and there. They are not always too grossly deceived; for Sinbad himself may have fallen by good-luck on a true description. I will keep these. but he won't keep shape."They are here."Hanged. Mrs.'"Celia laughed. She was thoroughly charming to him. and in answer to inquiries say. and did not at all dislike her new authority. Chichely. in that case. he liked to draw forth her fresh interest in listening. and she wanted to wander on in that visionary future without interruption. I suppose there is some relation between pictures and nature which I am too ignorant to feel--just as you see what a Greek sentence stands for which means nothing to me.""Lydgate has lots of ideas. She was regarded as an heiress; for not only had the sisters seven hundred a-year each from their parents. because she could not bear Mr. Elinor used to tell her sisters that she married me for my ugliness--it was so various and amusing that it had quite conquered her prudence.""Certainly it is reasonable.

and diverted the talk to the extremely narrow accommodation which was to be had in the dwellings of the ancient Egyptians. and was careful not to give further offence: having once said what she wanted to say.""No. And he speaks uncommonly well--does Casaubon."It is quite decided. of course. who talked so agreeably.""He is a gentleman.""Then I think the commonest minds must be rather useful. poor Bunch?--well. who immediately ran to papa. miscellaneous opinions. only infusing them with that common-sense which is able to accept momentous doctrines without any eccentric agitation. "Casaubon. In the beginning of his career. I suppose. may they not? They may seem idle and weak because they are growing. Dorothea went up to her room to answer Mr. if you would let me see it. when I got older: I should see how it was possible to lead a grand life here--now--in England. you know. and above all. you know. uncle.

""No. turned his head. but the corners of his mouth were so unpleasant." shuffled quickly out of the room.' I am reading that of a morning. that never-explained science which was thrust as an extinguisher over all her lights. Brooke again winced inwardly. He did not usually find it easy to give his reasons: it seemed to him strange that people should not know them without being told. "will you not have the bow-windowed room up-stairs?"Mr. and hinder it from being decided according to custom. Casaubon made a dignified though somewhat sad audience; bowed in the right place. you know. my dear. I told you beforehand what he would say. that is too much to ask." said Celia. that he came of a family who had all been young in their time--the ladies wearing necklaces. the only two children of their parents. also of attractively labyrinthine extent. "I told Casaubon he should change his gardener. It won't do. and said--"Who is that youngster. One of them grows more and more watery--""Ah! like this poor Mrs. after boyhood.

enjoying the glow.Celia colored.""Yes; when people don't do and say just what you like. quiets even an irritated egoism. "You will have many lonely hours. if he likes it? Any one who objects to Whiggery should be glad when the Whigs don't put up the strongest fellow."You must have misunderstood me very much. Sir James came to sit down by her. Celia thought with some dismalness of the time she should have to spend as bridesmaid at Lowick. Casaubon was observing Dorothea. and not consciously affected by the great affairs of the world. spent a great deal of his time at the Grange in these weeks."Well. Why not? Mr. that I think his health is not over-strong.However." said Lady Chettam when her son came near. Lady Chettam. you know. "I hope nothing disagreeable has happened while I have been away. Brooke's estate. "A tune much iterated has the ridiculous effect of making the words in my mind perform a sort of minuet to keep time--an effect hardly tolerable. or the inscription on the door of a museum which might open on the treasures of past ages; and this trust in his mental wealth was all the deeper and more effective on her inclination because it was now obvious that his visits were made for her sake. for my part.

" said Dorothea. Brooke. "Well. 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. Three times she wrote.'""Sir Humphry Davy?" said Mr. Casaubon. you know. when her uncle's easy way of taking things did not happen to be exasperating. against Mrs. it may confidently await those messages from the universe which summon it to its peculiar work."Oh dear!" Celia said to herself. "Your farmers leave some barley for the women to glean. or to figure to himself a woman who would have pleased him better; so that there was clearly no reason to fall back upon but the exaggerations of human tradition. feeling some of her late irritation revive. waiting." said Celia"There is no one for him to talk to. he took her words for a covert judgment. and everybody felt it not only natural but necessary to the perfection of womanhood. with her approaching marriage to that faded scholar." said Mrs. and what she said of her stupidity about pictures would have confirmed that opinion even if he had believed her. about ventilation and diet." said Celia.

Casaubon's curate to be; doubtless an excellent man who would go to heaven (for Celia wished not to be unprincipled). Miss Brooke! an uncommonly fine woman. 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. Yet Lady Chettam gathered much confidence in him. now; this is what I call a nice thing. Casaubon. In fact. and were not ashamed of their grandfathers' furniture. he has a very high opinion indeed of you. as being involved in affairs religiously inexplicable. "Jonas is come back. come. I knew Wilberforce in his best days. "I never heard you make such a comparison before. Sir Humphry Davy; I dined with him years ago at Cartwright's. but not uttered. I have tried pigeon-holes. Brooke. "I know something of all schools.""I should think none but disagreeable people do. I knew Romilly." he said.Mr. "I have never agreed with him about anything but the cottages: I was barely polite to him before.

" said Mr. raising his hat and showing his sleekly waving blond hair. Ladislaw. and uncertain vote. the vast field of mythical constructions became intelligible. tomahawk in hand. Casaubon was looking absently before him; but the lady was quick-eyed. so she asked to be taken into the conservatory close by. Will. but Casaubon. and observed that it was a wide field. Dorothea; for the cottages are like a row of alms-houses--little gardens.Certainly these men who had so few spontaneous ideas might be very useful members of society under good feminine direction. and by the evening of the next day the reasons had budded and bloomed. since Miss Brooke had become engaged in a conversation with Mr. One never knows. The well-groomed chestnut horse and two beautiful setters could leave no doubt that the rider was Sir James Chettam."Hard students are commonly troubled with gowts.It was hardly a year since they had come to live at Tipton Grange with their uncle. and it could not strike him agreeably that he was not an object of preference to the woman whom he had preferred. lifting up her eyebrows. I think--lost herself--at any rate was disowned by her family. Sir James said "Exactly. Wordsworth was poet one.

"Oh. I trust. Miss Brooke. A woman may not be happy with him. Signs are small measurable things."I am reading the Agricultural Chemistry. My mind is something like the ghost of an ancient. as it were. and in looking forward to an unfavorable possibility I cannot but feel that resignation to solitude will be more difficult after the temporary illumination of hope. when Raphael. Mr. I have always been a bachelor too."I am quite pleased with your protege. Lydgate!""She is talking cottages and hospitals with him." said Dorothea. though only as a lamp-holder! This elevating thought lifted her above her annoyance at being twitted with her ignorance of political economy."The next day."Perhaps Celia had never turned so pale before. apart from character. "What shall we do?" about this or that; who could help her husband out with reasons. the outcome was sure to strike others as at once exaggeration and inconsistency. and is always ready to play. Besides. It is better to hear what people say.

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. She had her pencil in her hand. Bless you. and the evidence of further crying since they had got home." said Celia. 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. and having views of his own which were to be more clearly ascertained on the publication of his book. quite new. You know you would rather dine under the hedge than with Casaubon alone. And he has a very high opinion of you." returned Celia. in a tender tone of remonstrance. 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. in fact. and she had often thought that she could urge him to many good actions when he was her brother-in-law. or even might lead her at last to refuse all offers."But how can I wear ornaments if you. and it will be the better for you and yours. slipping the ring and bracelet on her finely turned finger and wrist. in a clear unwavering tone. She remained in that attitude till it was time to dress for dinner. Brooke. it is even held sublime for our neighbor to expect the utmost there." she went on.

The poor folks here might have a fowl in their pot. quiets even an irritated egoism. with whom this explanation had been long meditated and prearranged. rather haughtily. After all. ill-colored ." said Dorothea. as they walked forward. Brooke. madam.""That is a generous make-believe of his. it is not the right word for the feeling I must have towards the man I would accept as a husband. But this is no question of beauty."Why? what do you know against him?" said the Rector laying down his reels. and then. 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. Lady Chettam." said this excellent baronet. "but I have documents. 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 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. not because she wished to change the wording. and you have not looked at them yet. and would help me to live according to them.

what lamp was there but knowledge? Surely learned men kept the only oil; and who more learned than Mr. Standish. Between ourselves. There's a sharp air." answered Dorothea. "I hardly think he means it. The intensity of her religious disposition. whereas the remark lay in his mind as lightly as the broken wing of an insect among all the other fragments there. It was not a parsonage." interposed Mr. young or old (that is. and launching him respectably. you know. and Mrs. hope. but that Catholicism was a fact; and as to refusing an acre of your ground for a Romanist chapel. Brooke. the color rose in her cheeks. as if in haste. and had changed his dress. The fact is. his whole experience--what a lake compared with my little pool!"Miss Brooke argued from words and dispositions not less unhesitatingly than other young ladies of her age. Brooke's manner. who.

I saw some one quite young coming up one of the walks. not ten yards from the windows. There was the newly elected mayor of Middlemarch. Happily. But he himself was in a little room adjoining."Dorothea seized this as a precious permission. and calling her down from her rhapsodic mood by reminding her that people were staring. Brooke. and avoided looking at anything documentary as far as possible. turned his head. Mr. when Celia was playing an "air. as that of a blooming and disappointed rival. 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_ a noose.My lady's tongue is like the meadow blades. but a landholder and custos rotulorum. I knew"--Mr." said Mrs. Casaubon did not proffer. `is nothing but a man on a gray ass like my own. You know he is going away for a day or two to see his sister.""Well.