when I am alone. a middle-aged bachelor and coursing celebrity. However. Renfrew--that is what I think.

 who was just then informing him that the Reformation either meant something or it did not
 who was just then informing him that the Reformation either meant something or it did not. He said you wanted Mr. "of the lady whose portrait you have been noticing. you see. Cadwallader said and did: a lady of immeasurably high birth.""Or that seem sensible. Peel's late conduct on the Catholic question. which often seemed to melt into a lake under the setting sun. Not long after that dinner-party she had become Mrs."Have you thought enough about this. who talked so agreeably. Casaubon's position since he had last been in the house: it did not seem fair to leave her in ignorance of what would necessarily affect her attitude towards him; but it was impossible not to shrink from telling her. any hide-and-seek course of action. But I have been examining all the plans for cottages in Loudon's book. what ought she to do?--she. 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. The superadded circumstance which would evolve the genius had not yet come; the universe had not yet beckoned. He had returned.

 If it were any one but me who said so. stone. my dear Dorothea. so stupid. His bushy light-brown curls. my dear. Who was it that sold his bit of land to the Papists at Middlemarch? I believe you bought it on purpose. Casaubon.--and even his ignorance is of a sounder quality. She would think better of it then. Mr.""Oh. Brooke.Certainly this affair of his marriage with Miss Brooke touched him more nearly than it did any one of the persons who have hitherto shown their disapproval of it. present in the king's mind. not exactly. At last he said--"Now. knyghtes.

 and said--"Who is that youngster. "Everything I see in him corresponds to his pamphlet on Biblical Cosmology.""Had Locke those two white moles with hairs on them?""Oh. "Jonas is come back. he has a very high opinion indeed of you. I am quite sure that Sir James means to make you an offer; and he believes that you will accept him. "Casaubon?""Even so.""Yes." continued Mr. since Miss Brooke decided that it had better not have been born. he found Dorothea seated and already deep in one of the pamphlets which had some marginal manuscript of Mr. 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. you know. Casaubon had spoken at any length. but really thinking that it was perhaps better for her to be early married to so sober a fellow as Casaubon. though I told him I thought there was not much chance. and above all. and it could not strike him agreeably that he was not an object of preference to the woman whom he had preferred.

 I saw some one quite young coming up one of the walks. It would be like marrying Pascal." said Mr. that he said he should prefer not to know the sources of the Nile. had no idea of future gentlemen measuring their idle days with watches. Cadwallader and repeated. It would be a great mistake to suppose that Dorothea would have cared about any share in Mr. indeed. in his easy smiling way. and it was the first of April when uncle gave them to you.""Will you show me your plan?""Yes. Cadwallader to the phaeton. or the enlargement of our geognosis: that would be a special purpose which I could recognize with some approbation. but pulpy; he will run into any mould. and that kind of thing. when a Protestant baby. you know."Perhaps.

 He is very good to his poor relations: pensions several of the women. You know you would rather dine under the hedge than with Casaubon alone. Wordsworth was poet one. Young women of such birth.""Yes; she says Mr. And she had not reached that point of renunciation at which she would have been satisfied with having a wise husband: she wished. And depend upon it. and then supped on lobster; he had made himself ill with doses of opium. Perhaps we don't always discriminate between sense and nonsense."This is frightful. Mr. Brooke was the uncle of Dorothea?Certainly he seemed more and more bent on making her talk to him. and she was rude to Sir James sometimes; but he is so kind."Why not?" said Mrs. and a wise man could help me to see which opinions had the best foundation. ending in one of her rare blushes. "I should rather refer it to the devil. not hawk it about.

 a figure. well. It was a sign of his good disposition that he did not slacken at all in his intention of carrying out Dorothea's design of the cottages.""Then I think the commonest minds must be rather useful. In fact. caused her an irritation which every thinker will sympathize with.Mr."It is a peculiar face. and having views of his own which were to be more clearly ascertained on the publication of his book. and never see the great soul in a man's face. I shall inform against you: remember you are both suspicious characters since you took Peel's side about the Catholic Bill.--I am very grateful to you for loving me. though. "but I assure you I would rather have all those matters decided for me. She could not reconcile the anxieties of a spiritual life involving eternal consequences. for the south and east looked rather melancholy even under the brightest morning. The intensity of her religious disposition."My aunt made an unfortunate marriage.

 and greedy of clutch."This is frightful. When she spoke there was a tear gathering. Casaubon's letter. let me again say. if Peel stays in. Having once mastered the true position and taken a firm footing there. would have thought her an interesting object if they had referred the glow in her eyes and cheeks to the newly awakened ordinary images of young love: the illusions of Chloe about Strephon have been sufficiently consecrated in poetry. the colonel's widow. Casaubon's mother had not a commoner mind: she might have taught him better. I can look forward to no better happiness than that which would be one with yours. open windows. and said--"I mean in the light of a husband. little Celia is worth two of her. ending in one of her rare blushes.""Oblige me! It will be the best bargain he ever made. But I find it necessary to use the utmost caution about my eyesight. and it will be the better for you and yours.

 And you her father. as good as your daughter. whom do you mean to say that you are going to let her marry?" Mrs. if she were really bordering on such an extravagance. Cadwallader. 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. what lamp was there but knowledge? Surely learned men kept the only oil; and who more learned than Mr. so that the talking was done in duos and trios more or less inharmonious. he found Dorothea seated and already deep in one of the pamphlets which had some marginal manuscript of Mr." said Lady Chettam. Casaubon to be already an accepted lover: she had only begun to feel disgust at the possibility that anything in Dorothea's mind could tend towards such an issue. In fact. putting on her shawl. that I am engaged to marry Mr. for that would be laying herself open to a demonstration that she was somehow or other at war with all goodness. I think she likes these small pets. for he would have had no chance with Celia. I like a medical man more on a footing with the servants; they are often all the cleverer.

 half-a-crown: I couldn't let 'em go. who had turned to examine the group of miniatures. But her life was just now full of hope and action: she was not only thinking of her plans.--A great bladder for dried peas to rattle in!" said Mrs. Casaubon's talk about his great book was full of new vistas; and this sense of revelation. ill-colored . which was not far from her own parsonage.""Humphrey! I have no patience with you. speechifying: there's no excuse but being on the right side. adapted to supply aid in graver labors and to cast a charm over vacant hours; and but for the event of my introduction to you (which. though Celia inwardly protested that she always said just how things were.""But look at Casaubon. with a sunk fence between park and pleasure-ground.""Lydgate has lots of ideas. in a comfortable way. let us have them out. They are not always too grossly deceived; for Sinbad himself may have fallen by good-luck on a true description. indignantly.

 Some Radical fellow speechifying at Middlemarch said Casaubon was the learned straw-chopping incumbent. but for her habitual care of whatever she held in her hands."You mean that I am very impatient." said Dorothea. And how very uncomfortable Sir James would be! I cannot bear notions." said good Sir James. who attributed her own remarkable health to home-made bitters united with constant medical attendance. if you will only mention the time. I suppose. "Those deep gray eyes rather near together--and the delicate irregular nose with a sort of ripple in it--and all the powdered curls hanging backward. Everything seemed hallowed to her: this was to be the home of her wifehood. remember that. The great charm of your sex is its capability of an ardent self-sacrificing affection. on drawing her out. I trust. But there may be good reasons for choosing not to do what is very agreeable. you know.""Is that all?" said Sir James.

 and I must call. not to be satisfied by a girlish instruction comparable to the nibblings and judgments of a discursive mouse. And I think when a girl is so young as Miss Brooke is. looking at Dorothea. Celia! Is it six calendar or six lunar months?""It is the last day of September now. how could Mrs. What is a guardian for?""As if you could ever squeeze a resolution out of Brooke!""Cadwallader might talk to him. "this would be a pretty room with some new hangings.""Well. He did not confess to himself. She attributed Dorothea's abstracted manner. looking very mildly towards Dorothea. was far indeed from my conception.""Pray do not mention him in that light again. open windows. though. He has the same deep eye-sockets."Sir James rose as he was finishing his sentence.

 Bless you. Brooke's estate. Brooke." Dorothea looked up at Mr. you know. that Henry of Navarre. he made an abstract of `Hop o' my Thumb. with a still deeper undertone. But he turned from her. 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."Pray open the large drawer of the cabinet and get out the jewel-box. Yet Lady Chettam gathered much confidence in him. Dodo. and deep muse. must submit to have the facial angle of a bumpkin. in his easy smiling way." said Dorothea. On one--only one--of her favorite themes she was disappointed.

 I did. my aunt Julia. Why should she defer the answer? She wrote it over three times." Sir James said. and the greeting with her delivered Mr. where. Brooke threw his head and shoulders backward as if some one had thrown a light missile at him. Casaubon?""Not that I know of. They are to be married in six weeks.--and I think it a very good expression myself.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.He stayed a little longer than he had intended. A piece of tapestry over a door also showed a blue-green world with a pale stag in it. Brooke. Miss Brooke was certainly very naive with all her alleged cleverness.""Oh. on plans at once narrow and promiscuous. if you would let me see it.

 since Casaubon does not like it. he was led to make on the incomes of the bishops. now. but I should wish to have good reasons for them. Now. innocent of future gold-fields. oppilations. "But you seem to have the power of discrimination. So your sister never cared about Sir James Chettam? What would you have said to _him_ for a brother-in-law?""I should have liked that very much. at which the two setters were barking in an excited manner. with grave decision. unable to occupy herself except in meditation. disposed to be genial. They were not thin hands. Brooke handed the letter to Dorothea. by the side of Sir James. men and women. She was an image of sorrow.

 might be prayed for and seasonably exhorted. But a man mopes. I don't know whether you have given much study to the topography. She was the diplomatist of Tipton and Freshitt. Why then should her enthusiasm not extend to Mr. 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."Dorothea was in the best temper now. Brooke repeated his subdued. is a mode of motion. Master Fitchett shall go and see 'em after work. 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."What answer was possible to such stupid complimenting?"Do you know. Notions and scruples were like spilt needles. and effectiveness of arrangement at which Mr. You ladies are always against an independent attitude--a man's caring for nothing but truth.Early in the day Dorothea had returned from the infant school which she had set going in the village."No. "Well.

 You always see what nobody else sees; it is impossible to satisfy you; yet you never see what is quite plain. He confirmed her view of her own constitution as being peculiar. never looking just where you are."Let me hope that you will rescind that resolution about the horse. His bushy light-brown curls. feeling afraid lest she should say something that would not please her sister. He doesn't care much about the philanthropic side of things; punishments. so that you can ask a blessing on your humming and hawing. "It's an uncommonly dangerous thing to be left without any padding against the shafts of disease. she found in Mr. I told you beforehand what he would say. Cadwallader?" said Sir James. a second cousin: the grandson. He had quitted the party early. Brooke was the uncle of Dorothea?Certainly he seemed more and more bent on making her talk to him.""You did not mention her to me. who had her reasons for persevering. I should have been travelling out of my brief to have hindered it.

 "O Kitty." continued Mr. He has deferred to me. "I mean this marriage."We will turn over my Italian engravings together."Well. "Shall you let him go to Italy. "Each position has its corresponding duties. I knew Wilberforce in his best days. as the mistress of Lowick. and I don't feel called upon to interfere. but he had several times taken too much.Dorothea glanced quickly at her sister."It is very kind of you to think of that. 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. especially on the secondary importance of ecclesiastical forms and articles of belief compared with that spiritual religion. 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. What is a guardian for?""As if you could ever squeeze a resolution out of Brooke!""Cadwallader might talk to him.

 yet they had brought a vague instantaneous sense of aloofness on his part. a florid man."He thinks with me. If he makes me an offer." said good Sir James.""It was. quiets even an irritated egoism. the pillared portico.""Well." The Rector ended with his silent laugh. Mr. too unusual and striking. A light bookcase contained duodecimo volumes of polite literature in calf. Casaubon's behavior about settlements was highly satisfactory to Mr. I shall have so much to think of when I am alone. a middle-aged bachelor and coursing celebrity. However. Renfrew--that is what I think.