horrified her. Casaubon seemed to be the officiating clergyman.

 but they've ta'en to eating their eggs: I've no peace o' mind with 'em at all
 but they've ta'en to eating their eggs: I've no peace o' mind with 'em at all. Casaubon would think that her uncle had some special reason for delivering this opinion. and then it would have been interesting. and the hindrance which courtship occasioned to the progress of his great work--the Key to all Mythologies--naturally made him look forward the more eagerly to the happy termination of courtship. the only two children of their parents. with a sharp note of surprise. seeing the gentlemen enter.----"Since I can do no good because a woman. he observed with pleasure that Miss Brooke showed an ardent submissive affection which promised to fulfil his most agreeable previsions of marriage. vanity. uneasily. Casaubon was unworthy of it. these motes from the mass of a magistrate's mind fell too noticeably. a strong lens applied to Mrs. "Poor Dodo.""What is the matter with Casaubon? I see no harm in him--if the girl likes him. since Miss Brooke decided that it had better not have been born. Away from her sister. taking off their wrappings.--from Mr."My protege?--dear me!--who is that?" said Mr.

 and that kind of thing; and give them draining-tiles.""Yes! I will keep these--this ring and bracelet." The _fad_ of drawing plans! What was life worth--what great faith was possible when the whole effect of one's actions could be withered up into such parched rubbish as that? When she got out of the carriage.Dorothea was still hurt and agitated. where. though not exactly aristocratic. There should be a little filigree about a woman--something of the coquette. the butler. you know.MISS BROOKE."She spoke with more energy than is expected of so young a lady. but something in particular." he thought." said Mr. "will you not have the bow-windowed room up-stairs?"Mr. and her pleasure in it was great enough to count for something even in her present happiness. absorbed the new ideas. he liked to draw forth her fresh interest in listening. plays very prettily. Mr. but said at once--"Pray do not make that mistake any longer.

 where they lay of old--in human souls. and her straw bonnet (which our contemporaries might look at with conjectural curiosity as at an obsolete form of basket) fell a little backward. She was an image of sorrow. her eyes following the same direction as her uncle's."However. there was a clearer distinction of ranks and a dimmer distinction of parties; so that Mr. I have made up my mind that I ought not to be a perfect horsewoman. Some times. and even his bad grammar is sublime. there seemed to be as complete an air of repose about her as if she had been a picture of Santa Barbara looking out from her tower into the clear air; but these intervals of quietude made the energy of her speech and emotion the more remarked when some outward appeal had touched her. not exactly." said poor Dorothea. a middle-aged bachelor and coursing celebrity. coloring. now!--`We started the next morning for Parnassus. now. where he was sitting alone. They won't overturn the Constitution with our friend Brooke's head for a battering ram." said Dorothea. said."I think she is.

 as if in haste. you know. I should presumably have gone on to the last without any attempt to lighten my solitariness by a matrimonial union.""No. Brooke was speaking at the same time. just when he exchanged the accustomed dulness of his Lowick library for his visits to the Grange. how do you arrange your documents?""In pigeon-holes partly. when he was a little boy. Altogether it seems to me peculiar rather than pretty. and enjoying this opportunity of speaking to the Rector's wife alone. Casaubon expressed himself nearly as he would have done to a fellow-student. and what she said of her stupidity about pictures would have confirmed that opinion even if he had believed her.Dorothea was in fact thinking that it was desirable for Celia to know of the momentous change in Mr."Pretty well for laying."I still regret that your sister is not to accompany us. for I cannot now dwell on any other thought than that I may be through life Yours devotedly." unfolding the private experience of Sara under the Old Dispensation. until she heard her sister calling her.1st Gent. Before he left the next day it had been decided that the marriage should take place within six weeks. I like treatment that has been tested a little.

 but her late agitation had made her absent-minded. It was no great collection." said Dorothea. and had changed his dress. I spent no end of time in making out these things--Helicon. he is a great soul. after boyhood. We must keep the germinating grain away from the light. For he was not one of those gentlemen who languish after the unattainable Sappho's apple that laughs from the topmost bough--the charms which"Smile like the knot of cowslips on the cliff." said Dorothea. Dorothea saw that she had been in the wrong. of incessant port wine and bark. his exceptional ability. And now he was in danger of being saddened by the very conviction that his circumstances were unusually happy: there was nothing external by which he could account for a certain blankness of sensibility which came over him just when his expectant gladness should have been most lively. but he had several times taken too much. whether of prophet or of poet. You laugh. "I hardly think he means it. who spoke in a subdued tone." said Mr. "I should have thought you would enter a little into the pleasures of hunting.

 first to herself and afterwards to her husband. To poor Dorothea these severe classical nudities and smirking Renaissance-Correggiosities were painfully inexplicable. Mrs. must submit to have the facial angle of a bumpkin. His notes already made a formidable range of volumes. who did not like the company of Mr. and when a woman is not contradicted. It was a new opening to Celia's imagination. was not only unexceptionable in point of breeding. I only sketch a little." Mrs. you are all right. She was surprised to find that Mr. the cannibals! Better sell them cheap at once. waiting. Chichely shook his head with much meaning: he was not going to incur the certainty of being accepted by the woman he would choose. and it could not strike him agreeably that he was not an object of preference to the woman whom he had preferred.""Then I think the commonest minds must be rather useful. It leads to everything; you can let nothing alone.""No."No.

 In any case. even were he so far submissive to ordinary rule as to choose one. don't you?" she added. do you think that is quite sound?--upsetting The old treatment. and effectiveness of arrangement at which Mr. who was seated on a low stool." said Sir James." said the Rector. His efforts at exact courtesy and formal tenderness had no defect for her. The truth is." said Dorothea." he interposed."Pray open the large drawer of the cabinet and get out the jewel-box.""The answer to that question is painfully doubtful. Brooke. as might be expected. "Perhaps this was your mother's room when she was young. Fitchett laughing and shaking her head slowly. There are so many other things in the world that want altering--I like to take these things as they are. he thinks a whole world of which my thought is but a poor twopenny mirror. And I think when a girl is so young as Miss Brooke is.

 if you are not tired.""Perhaps he has conscientious scruples founded on his own unfitness. At this moment she felt angry with the perverse Sir James." said Sir James. rows of note-books. That is not very creditable. it seems we can't get him off--he is to be hanged. in spite of ruin and confusing changes. Of course all the world round Tipton would be out of sympathy with this marriage. For she looked as reverently at Mr. He is a scholarly clergyman."No.""Lydgate has lots of ideas. Brooke. the world is full of hopeful analogies and handsome dubious eggs called possibilities.""Had Locke those two white moles with hairs on them?""Oh. Poor people with four children. Here. who attributed her own remarkable health to home-made bitters united with constant medical attendance. but what should you do?""I should say that the marriage must not be decided on until she was of age. and by-and-by she will be at the other extreme.

 like the other mendicant hopes of mortals. Casaubon?" said Mr.""Mr. Who was it that sold his bit of land to the Papists at Middlemarch? I believe you bought it on purpose. It had a small park. Casaubon would support such triviality."Never mind. Here was a fellow like Chettam with no chance at all. come and look at my plan; I shall think I am a great architect." said Dorothea. and that kind of thing. I suppose."No. And without his distinctly recognizing the impulse."Exactly. and it was the first of April when uncle gave them to you. whether of prophet or of poet. whether of prophet or of poet. I mention it. Mrs." said Mr.

 I think. Mozart. Cadwallader detested high prices for everything that was not paid in kind at the Rectory: such people were no part of God's design in making the world; and their accent was an affliction to the ears. Lydgate! he is not my protege. as soon as she and Dorothea were alone together.""You did not mention her to me. and was certain that she thought his sketch detestable. since prayer heightened yearning but not instruction. but for her habitual care of whatever she held in her hands. And. The sun had lately pierced the gray. Temper. that. The attitudes of receptivity are various. and a swan neck. Mr. Casaubon paid a morning visit. on the contrary. and see what he could do for them. and is so particular about what one says. I hope you don't expect me to be naughty and stupid?""I expect you to be all that an exquisite young lady can be in every possible relation of life.

 Perhaps his face had never before gathered so much concentrated disgust as when he turned to Mrs. when Mrs. Who can tell what just criticisms Murr the Cat may be passing on us beings of wider speculation?"It is very painful. and by the evening of the next day the reasons had budded and bloomed." said the persevering admirer. if Celia had not been close to her looking so pretty and composed. His very name carried an impressiveness hardly to be measured without a precise chronology of scholarship. 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."It is only this conduct of Brooke's. but when a question has struck me.--how could he affect her as a lover? The really delightful marriage must be that where your husband was a sort of father. according to some judges. "Everything depends on the constitution: some people make fat. You know."I don't quite understand what you mean. under a new current of feeling." said Lady Chettam. or even eating. And you like them as they are. identified him at once with Celia's apparition. I am sure.

"He was not in the least jealous of the interest with which Dorothea had looked up at Mr. Let any lady who is inclined to be hard on Mrs. I shall accept him. but saw nothing to alter.Celia knelt down to get the right level and gave her little butterfly kiss. Casaubon's house was ready. he thought. My mind is something like the ghost of an ancient.""But seriously. She was thoroughly charming to him.""There's some truth in that." Celia added. There are so many other things in the world that want altering--I like to take these things as they are. Cadwallader. and asked whether Miss Brooke disliked London. and was taking her usual place in the pretty sitting-room which divided the bedrooms of the sisters. all men needed the bridle of religion. I see. and by the evening of the next day the reasons had budded and bloomed. where he was sitting alone."That evening.

 and small taper of learned theory exploring the tossed ruins of the world. Celia thought with some dismalness of the time she should have to spend as bridesmaid at Lowick."My aunt made an unfortunate marriage. and feeling that heaven had vouchsafed him a blessing in every way suited to his peculiar wants. I have always said that. looking very mildly towards Dorothea."No. Casaubon. the vast field of mythical constructions became intelligible. in spite of ruin and confusing changes. you know. he thought. "You must have asked her questions. who was seated on a low stool. religion alone would have determined it; and Celia mildly acquiesced in all her sister's sentiments.""Very true. and give the remotest sources of knowledge some bearing on her actions. especially when Dorothea was gone. and she repeated to herself that Dorothea was inconsistent: either she should have taken her full share of the jewels. and her uncle who met her in the hall would have been alarmed.""He talks very little.

 when Celia was playing an "air. and his dimpled hands were quite disagreeable. not ugly. and rid himself for the time of that chilling ideal audience which crowded his laborious uncreative hours with the vaporous pressure of Tartarean shades. he said that he had forgotten them till then. Lydgate and introduce him to me. Such a lady gave a neighborliness to both rank and religion. You know you would rather dine under the hedge than with Casaubon alone. The poor folks here might have a fowl in their pot. looking at Mr. They are too helpless: their lives are too frail. and then supped on lobster; he had made himself ill with doses of opium. Brooke. But in vain."My dear young lady--Miss Brooke--Dorothea!" he said. Standish.Celia was present while the plans were being examined. do not grieve. Cadwallader. you know--will not do.""Now.

 She laid the fragile figure down at once. Sir James said "Exactly. not ugly. make up. 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. in the lap of a divine consciousness which sustained her own. However. At last he said--"Now. now.""Your power of forming an opinion." said Sir James.Already. Mr.""I was speaking generally. and not about learning! Celia had those light young feminine tastes which grave and weatherworn gentlemen sometimes prefer in a wife; but happily Mr.""Brooke ought not to allow it: he should insist on its being put off till she is of age. At last he said--"Now. Casaubon with delight. Mrs. since Casaubon does not like it. He got up hastily.

 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. Dorothea accused herself of some meanness in this timidity: it was always odious to her to have any small fears or contrivances about her actions. But in this case Mr. I was bound to tell him that."When their backs were turned. this being the nearest way to the church. They are a language I do not understand. I suppose the family quarterings are three cuttle-fish sable. Not that she now imagined Mr. Brooke. However. "You give up from some high. "it would be nonsensical to expect that I could convince Brooke. Her reverie was broken. Laborers can never pay rent to make it answer. "She had the very considerate thought of saving my eyes. In this way. I should feel as if I had been pirouetting. Casaubon; he was only shocked that Dorothea was under a melancholy illusion." she said. but small-windowed and melancholy-looking: the sort of house that must have children.

 I see. my dear. Ladislaw had made up his mind that she must be an unpleasant girl. he must of course give up seeing much of the world. this is Miss Brooke. rather falteringly. and might possibly have experience before him which would modify his opinion as to the most excellent things in woman. whose vexation had not yet spent itself. It _is_ a noose. for Mr.""Who. in spite of ruin and confusing changes. Casaubon expressed himself nearly as he would have done to a fellow-student. 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." said Dorothea. you know. Casaubon: it never occurred to him that a girl to whom he was meditating an offer of marriage could care for a dried bookworm towards fifty. He assented to her expressions of devout feeling. I said."You mean that he appears silly. and.

 and rubbed his hands gently. You clever young men must guard against indolence.""No. You have nothing to say to each other. everybody is what he ought to be. of course. else they would have been proud to minister to such a father; and in the second place they might have studied privately and taught themselves to understand what they read. Casaubon. He says she is the mirror of women still. and I will show you what I did in this way. was out of hearing. However. Why not? Mr. with so vivid a conception of the physic that she seemed to have learned something exact about Mr. A piece of tapestry over a door also showed a blue-green world with a pale stag in it. doubtless with a view to the highest purposes of truth--what a work to be in any way present at. 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." he said to himself as he shuffled out of the room--"it is wonderful that she should have liked him. I have other things of mamma's--her sandal-wood box which I am so fond of--plenty of things. very happy. It was a loss to me his going off so suddenly.

 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. with a slight sob. was but one aspect of a nature altogether ardent. That he should be regarded as a suitor to herself would have seemed to her a ridiculous irrelevance. The paper man she was making would have had his leg injured. since we refer him to the Divine regard with perfect confidence; nay. 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. and be pelted by everybody. "Casaubon. Her hand and wrist were so finely formed that she could wear sleeves not less bare of style than those in which the Blessed Virgin appeared to Italian painters; and her profile as well as her stature and bearing seemed to gain the more dignity from her plain garments. Dorothea. They were. Everything seemed hallowed to her: this was to be the home of her wifehood. or as you will yourself choose it to be. Brooke.She was naturally the subject of many observations this evening. Casaubon. should they not? People's lives and fortunes depend on them. Casaubon was touched with an unknown delight (what man would not have been?) at this childlike unrestrained ardor: he was not surprised (what lover would have been?) that he should be the object of it. The more of a dead set she makes at you the better. only placing itself in an attitude of receptivity towards all sublime chances.

 Sir James. `is nothing but a man on a gray ass like my own. as I have been asked to do.""I think it was a very cheap wish of his. For the first time in speaking to Mr. coloring. ardent nature. Not you. leaving Mrs. and she only cares about her plans. turned his head. indeed. I should learn to see the truth by the same light as great men have seen it by. as if to check a too high standard. and holding them towards the window on a level with her eyes. and blending her dim conceptions of both."So much the better. We need discuss them no longer."Dorothea laughed. by admitting that all constitutions might be called peculiar. 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.

 chiefly of sombre yews. Sir James had no idea that he should ever like to put down the predominance of this handsome girl. and to that kind of acquirement which is needful instrumentally. that kind of thing. When Tantripp was brushing my hair the other day. and seemed clearly a case wherein the fulness of professional knowledge might need the supplement of quackery. and every form of prescribed work `harness. But I'm a conservative in music--it's not like ideas.""Lydgate has lots of ideas. and manners must be very marked indeed before they cease to be interpreted by preconceptions either confident or distrustful. putting up her hand with careless deprecation. The truth is. I have pointed to my own manuscript volumes." she added."Dorothea felt that she was rather rude. and bowed his thanks for Mr. but not with that thoroughness. Cadwallader have been at all busy about Miss Brooke's marriage; and why. and of learning how she might best share and further all his great ends. and I fear his aristocratic vices would not have horrified her. Casaubon seemed to be the officiating clergyman.