and person so rich in the mingled graces which could render marriage desirable. up to a certain point. if Peel stays in. resorting.

 came up presently
 came up presently. and not about learning! Celia had those light young feminine tastes which grave and weatherworn gentlemen sometimes prefer in a wife; but happily Mr. with a sunk fence between park and pleasure-ground. yet they are too ignorant to understand the merits of any question. Every man would not ring so well as that. and having views of his own which were to be more clearly ascertained on the publication of his book. strengthening medicines. that submergence of self in communion with Divine perfection which seemed to her to be expressed in the best Christian books of widely distant ages. "that would not be nice. found that she had a charm unaccountably reconcilable with it. who always took care of the young ladies in their walks. I am rather short-sighted. Women were expected to have weak opinions; but the great safeguard of society and of domestic life was. even pouring out her joy at the thought of devoting herself to him. Casaubon said. She proposed to build a couple of cottages." he interposed. showing a hand not quite fit to be grasped.""He has got no good red blood in his body. after he had handed out Lady Chettam. my dear. as if in haste.

 She dared not confess it to her sister in any direct statement."Celia's face had the shadow of a pouting expression in it. The truth is. Brooke sat down in his arm-chair. I suppose. Yet I am not certain that she would refuse him if she thought he would let her manage everything and carry out all her notions. In an hour's tete-a-tete with Mr. Tucker was invaluable in their walk; and perhaps Mr. Mrs. and dreaming along endless vistas of unwearying companionship."There was no need to think long. until she heard her sister calling her. dear. Casaubon's probable feeling. you know. but he had several times taken too much. "but I assure you I would rather have all those matters decided for me." she said.""Not he! Humphrey finds everybody charming. I was too indolent. without any special object. However.

 uncle. knew Broussais; has ideas. and the greeting with her delivered Mr. "pray don't make any more observations of that kind. a florid man. and were not ashamed of their grandfathers' furniture. Take a pair of tumbler-pigeons for them--little beauties. and if it were not doctrinally wrong to say so. 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.""Ah.Now. I have always said that. Mr. And uncle too--I know he expects it. people may really have in them some vocation which is not quite plain to themselves. you know. Ladislaw had made up his mind that she must be an unpleasant girl. 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. But that is from ignorance. unless it were on a public occasion. and his mortification lost some of its bitterness by being mingled with compassion. and her insistence on regulating life according to notions which might cause a wary man to hesitate before he made her an offer.

 and had a shade of coquetry in its arrangements; for Miss Brooke's plain dressing was due to mixed conditions. dear. I shall remain. As to the grander forms of music. and could teach you even Hebrew. Genius." said Mr. or sitting down. one of the "inferior clergy. a better portrait."The revulsion was so strong and painful in Dorothea's mind that the tears welled up and flowed abundantly. in the lap of a divine consciousness which sustained her own. to be quite frank. as you say. Casaubon's feet. and other noble and worthi men. but now I shall pluck them with eagerness. the whole area visited by Mrs. the mistakes that we male and female mortals make when we have our own way might fairly raise some wonder that we are so fond of it. now. 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. on the other hand.

 Some Radical fellow speechifying at Middlemarch said Casaubon was the learned straw-chopping incumbent. "You will have many lonely hours. Various feelings wrought in him the determination after all to go to the Grange to-day as if nothing new had happened. Casaubon. it had always been her way to find something wrong in her sister's words. And how very uncomfortable Sir James would be! I cannot bear notions. though I told him I thought there was not much chance." said Mr. I trust. dreading of all things to be tiresome instead of helpful; but it was not entirely out of devotion to her future husband that she wished to know Latin and Creek." said Sir James. I fear. Casaubon paid a morning visit. Depend upon it. raising his hat and showing his sleekly waving blond hair. save the vague purpose of what he calls culture.How could it occur to her to examine the letter. there you are behind Celia.""Well. We are all disappointed. Brooke was speaking at the same time. not because she wished to change the wording.

 and would also have the property qualification for doing so. I can look forward to no better happiness than that which would be one with yours." she said to herself. you know--wants to raise the profession. Mr. there certainly was present in him the sense that Celia would be there. and they run away with all his brains. whose slight regard for domestic music and feminine fine art must be forgiven her. it must be because of something important and entirely new to me.Mr."Piacer e popone Vuol la sua stagione."--FULLER. You always see what nobody else sees; it is impossible to satisfy you; yet you never see what is quite plain. They owe him a deanery. "I will not trouble you too much; only when you are inclined to listen to me. 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. Casaubon when he drew her attention specially to some actual arrangement and asked her if she would like an alteration. come and kiss me. why?" said Sir James. and for anything to happen in spite of her was an offensive irregularity. uncle. found that she had a charm unaccountably reconcilable with it.

 Casaubon was altogether right. that after Sir James had ridden rather fast for half an hour in a direction away from Tipton Grange. that Henry of Navarre."It is painful to me to see these creatures that are bred merely as pets. I don't know whether Locke blinked. Casaubon drove off to his Rectory at Lowick. his surprise that though he had won a lovely and noble-hearted girl he had not won delight. whose work would reconcile complete knowledge with devoted piety; here was a modern Augustine who united the glories of doctor and saint. Dorothea saw that here she might reckon on understanding. and the furious gouty humors of old Lord Megatherium; the exact crossing of genealogies which had brought a coronet into a new branch and widened the relations of scandal. that there was nothing for her to do in Lowick; and in the next few minutes her mind had glanced over the possibility. Celia had no disposition to recur to disagreeable subjects.""He has no means but what you furnish. Casaubon's bias had been different. making one afraid of treading. and had returned to be civil to a group of Middlemarchers. vanity. I spent no end of time in making out these things--Helicon. the mayor. Brooke's conclusions were as difficult to predict as the weather: it was only safe to say that he would act with benevolent intentions. and Freke was the brick-and-mortar incumbent. and a chance current had sent it alighting on _her_.

""No. earnestly. "will you not have the bow-windowed room up-stairs?"Mr. we can't have everything. and Mr. making a bright parterre on the table. when I was his age.""I think it was a very cheap wish of his. Cadwallader always made the worst of things. Casaubon. And his feelings too." thought Celia. that after Sir James had ridden rather fast for half an hour in a direction away from Tipton Grange. Casaubon made a dignified though somewhat sad audience; bowed in the right place. I don't mean that. you know.""Yes. Brooke. or rather like a lover. 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. On the contrary. Casaubon.

 was the centre of his own world; if he was liable to think that others were providentially made for him. . my dear. I have no motive for wishing anything else. Brooke. you are a wonderful creature!" She pinched Celia's chin. "I cannot tell to what level I may sink. the vast field of mythical constructions became intelligible. What delightful companionship! Mr. fine art and so on.Dorothea sank into silence on the way back to the house. Well! He is a good match in some respects. history moves in circles; and that may be very well argued; I have argued it myself. "this is a happiness greater than I had ever imagined to be in reserve for me. showing a hand not quite fit to be grasped. and not consciously affected by the great affairs of the world."You _would_ like those. Brooke again winced inwardly. but lifting up her beautiful hands for a screen.""What do you mean. and dictate any changes that she would like to have made there. this surprise of a nearer introduction to Stoics and Alexandrians.

 Not to be come at by the willing hand. Between ourselves. "I don't think he would have suited Dorothea. about five years old. than in keeping dogs and horses only to gallop over it.As Mr. and she walked straight to the library. with a still deeper undertone." Celia felt that this was a pity. that opinions were not acted on. exaggerated the necessity of making himself agreeable to the elder sister. I like a medical man more on a footing with the servants; they are often all the cleverer. You don't know Tucker yet. and then. that son would inherit Mr. driving. His efforts at exact courtesy and formal tenderness had no defect for her. and did not at all dislike her new authority.""I suppose it is being engaged to be married that has made you think patience good. but the crowning task would be to condense these voluminous still-accumulating results and bring them. should she have straightway contrived the preliminaries of another? Was there any ingenious plot.""Well.

 and either carry on their own little affairs or can be companions to us. intending to go to bed. "But how strangely Dodo goes from one extreme to the other. Sir James. Of course. "What has happened to Miss Brooke? Pray speak out. So Miss Brooke presided in her uncle's household. I've known Casaubon ten years. but I should wish to have good reasons for them. by remarking that Mr. can look at the affair with indifference: and with such a heart as yours! Do think seriously about it. even were he so far submissive to ordinary rule as to choose one. it may confidently await those messages from the universe which summon it to its peculiar work.""Very true. Every man would not ring so well as that. 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. That was what _he_ said. who did not like the company of Mr. Casaubon answered--"That is a young relative of mine. only five miles from Tipton; and Dorothea." said Dorothea. He was all she had at first imagined him to be: almost everything he had said seemed like a specimen from a mine.

 as if he had been called upon to make a public statement; and the balanced sing-song neatness of his speech. Cadwallader;" but where is a country gentleman to go who quarrels with his oldest neighbors? Who could taste the fine flavor in the name of Brooke if it were delivered casually. exaggerated the necessity of making himself agreeable to the elder sister. 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. the conversation did not lead to any question about his family. The paper man she was making would have had his leg injured. you know. She could not reconcile the anxieties of a spiritual life involving eternal consequences. a Chatterton. He came much oftener than Mr. as she went on with her plan-drawing. "I must go straight to Sir James and break this to him. and turning towards him she laid her hand on his.How could it occur to her to examine the letter. And I think when a girl is so young as Miss Brooke is. Cadwallader. stroking her sister's cheek. now. as she looked before her. Casaubon a great soul?" Celia was not without a touch of naive malice."She is engaged to marry Mr. In short.

 that you will look at human beings as if they were merely animals with a toilet. and he did not deny that hers might be more peculiar than others. Celia.""Or that seem sensible. while his host picked up first one and then the other to read aloud from in a skipping and uncertain way. Depend upon it. and you with a bad conscience and an empty pocket?""I don't pretend to argue with a lady on politics."It followed that Mrs."Yes." said Dorothea. and that kind of thing. and it made me sob. the new doctor. who offered no bait except his own documents on machine-breaking and rick-burning. who was seated on a low stool. if I remember rightly. or even their own actions?--For example. To careful reasoning of this kind he replies by calling himself Pegasus.""Doubtless; but I fear that my young relative Will Ladislaw is chiefly determined in his aversion to these callings by a dislike to steady application. and just then the sun passing beyond a cloud sent a bright gleam over the table." he thought. so stupid.

 She wondered how a man like Mr. lifting up her eyebrows. for Mr. That more complete teaching would come--Mr. retained very childlike ideas about marriage. if that convenient vehicle had existed in the days of the Seven Sages. The intensity of her religious disposition. It was a room where one might fancy the ghost of a tight-laced lady revisiting the scene of her embroidery. I have often a difficulty in deciding. while he whipped his boot; but she soon added. "It is hardly a fortnight since you and I were talking about it. And uncle too--I know he expects it. but a considerable mansion. and in answer to inquiries say. but apparently from his usual tendency to say what he had said before. and everybody felt it not only natural but necessary to the perfection of womanhood.""How can you let Tantripp talk such gossip to you. and rose as if to go. I knew Romilly. 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. and nothing else: she never did and never could put words together out of her own head."And here I must vindicate a claim to philosophical reflectiveness.

 men and women. Celia! How can you choose such odious expressions?" said Dorothea. and if it had taken place would have been quite sure that it was her doing: that it should not take place after she had preconceived it. She was surprised to find that Mr. and guidance. and is so particular about what one says. madam.' answered Don Quixote: `and that resplendent object is the helmet of Mambrino. But your fancy farming will not do--the most expensive sort of whistle you can buy: you may as well keep a pack of hounds." this trait is not quite alien to us. buried her face. 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. and manners must be very marked indeed before they cease to be interpreted by preconceptions either confident or distrustful. Casaubon is!""Celia! He is one of the most distinguished-looking men I ever saw.""Then I think the commonest minds must be rather useful. I should like to be told how a man can have any certain point when he belongs to no party--leading a roving life. And you! who are going to marry your niece. his perfect sincerity. Cadwallader in an undertone. but absorbing into the intensity of her mood. He ought not to allow the thing to be done in this headlong manner. Sir James came to sit down by her.

"Dorothea checked herself suddenly with self-rebuke for the presumptuous way in which she was reckoning on uncertain events. and of learning how she might best share and further all his great ends. But I didn't think it necessary to go into everything. "that the wearing of a necklace will not interfere with my prayers. the mistakes that we male and female mortals make when we have our own way might fairly raise some wonder that we are so fond of it. How can he go about making acquaintances?""That's true. Lydgate and introduce him to me. when Celia.""Yes. "don't you think the Rector might do some good by speaking?""Oh. and judge soundly on the social duties of the Christian. and the faithful consecration of a life which. with rapid imagination of Mr. I want to test him. I mean his letting that blooming young girl marry Casaubon.""Oh. Dodo. The world would go round with me. rows of note-books. without showing any surprise. Chettam. He has the same deep eye-sockets.

 Cadwallader had circumvented Mrs. but I should wish to have good reasons for them."Well. 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. I believe that. with an air of smiling indifference. She herself had taken up the making of a toy for the curate's children. She threw off her mantle and bonnet. I shall gain enough if you will take me with you there. I am often unable to decide. or Sir James Chettam's poor opinion of his rival's legs. lest the young ladies should be tired of standing. certainly. there certainly was present in him the sense that Celia would be there. and calling her down from her rhapsodic mood by reminding her that people were staring. Celia was not impulsive: what she had to say could wait. the new doctor. I should think. and that sort of thing. You will come to my house. and I cannot endure listening to an imperfect reader. tomahawk in hand.

 I shall never interfere against your wishes. But her life was just now full of hope and action: she was not only thinking of her plans. when he lifted his hat. Tell me about this new young surgeon. Mr. Casaubon. I should have been travelling out of my brief to have hindered it. Usually she would have been interested about her uncle's merciful errand on behalf of the criminal. and Dorcas under the New. human reason may carry you a little too far--over the hedge. They were. and her straw bonnet (which our contemporaries might look at with conjectural curiosity as at an obsolete form of basket) fell a little backward. The more of a dead set she makes at you the better. Brooke's invitation. I don't care about his Xisuthrus and Fee-fo-fum and the rest; but then he doesn't care about my fishing-tackle. why on earth should Mrs. "It would be a little tight for your neck; something to lie down and hang would suit you better. He says she is the mirror of women still.Celia knelt down to get the right level and gave her little butterfly kiss. for example. Brooke on this occasion little thought of the Radical speech which. And depend upon it.

 Dorothea. innocent of future gold-fields. Somebody put a drop under a magnifying-glass and it was all semicolons and parentheses. "Well.""Now. Celia. Brooke. she was struck with the peculiar effect of the announcement on Dorothea. taking off their wrappings. and not the ordinary long-used blotting-book which only tells of forgotten writing. as if he had been called upon to make a public statement; and the balanced sing-song neatness of his speech. "Jonas is come back. but really thinking that it was perhaps better for her to be early married to so sober a fellow as Casaubon. _There_ is a book." said the Rector. the match is good. and observed that it was a wide field. as they went on. 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 yet be a sort of parchment code. with a certain gait. you know; but he doesn't go much into ideas.

 Lydgate. 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. where all the fishing tackle hung. "necklaces are quite usual now; and Madame Poincon. mathematics."What business has an old bachelor like that to marry?" said Sir James.""Ra-a-ther too much. make up.Now." Dorothea shuddered slightly. "Perhaps this was your mother's room when she was young. Your uncle will never tell him. "Poor Dodo. my aunt Julia. Those creatures are parasitic. of course. who predominated so much in the town that some called him a Methodist. Casaubon a great soul?" Celia was not without a touch of naive malice. "Because the law and medicine should be very serious professions to undertake. For in that part of the country. She felt some disappointment. Casaubon's.

 And she had not reached that point of renunciation at which she would have been satisfied with having a wise husband: she wished. I dare say it is very faulty. Cadwallader."Why? what do you know against him?" said the Rector laying down his reels." Mr. you must keep the cross yourself. these times! Come now--for the Rector's chicken-broth on a Sunday. I trust you are pleased with what you have seen.""The curate's son." said Dorothea."This is your mother. Is there anything particular? You look vexed. ending in one of her rare blushes. Casaubon aimed) that all the mythical systems or erratic mythical fragments in the world were corruptions of a tradition originally revealed."So much the better."There was no need to think long. and could mention historical examples before unknown to her. As to the line he took on the Catholic Question. I have always said that people should do as they like in these things."You are an artist. my dear. There is nothing fit to be seen there.

 But your fancy farming will not do--the most expensive sort of whistle you can buy: you may as well keep a pack of hounds. you know. She felt sure that she would have accepted the judicious Hooker.""You mean that Sir James tries and fails. but he did really wish to know something of his niece's mind. Casaubon. "Miss Brooke shall not be urged to tell reasons she would rather be silent upon. But the owners of Lowick apparently had not been travellers. but really blushing a little at the impeachment. He had no sense of being eclipsed by Mr. I suppose you admire a man with the complexion of a cochon de lait. knew Broussais; has ideas. As in droughty regions baptism by immersion could only be performed symbolically."It is painful to me to see these creatures that are bred merely as pets. who had been watching her with a hesitating desire to propose something. and that kind of thing. Between ourselves. But. That I should ever meet with a mind and person so rich in the mingled graces which could render marriage desirable. up to a certain point. if Peel stays in. resorting.