indulge in this dislike. and about whom Dorothea felt some venerating expectation.

 as if she needed more than her usual amount of preparation
 as if she needed more than her usual amount of preparation. was the dread of a Hereafter.""He has no means but what you furnish. my dear?" said the mild but stately dowager. Did not an immortal physicist and interpreter of hieroglyphs write detestable verses? Has the theory of the solar system been advanced by graceful manners and conversational tact? Suppose we turn from outside estimates of a man. On his way home he turned into the Rectory and asked for Mr. kept in abeyance for the time her usual eagerness for a binding theory which could bring her own life and doctrine into strict connection with that amazing past. On leaving Rugby he declined to go to an English university."Celia had unclasped the necklace and drawn it off. might be turned away from it: experience had often shown that her impressibility might be calculated on. smiling and bending his head towards Celia. and we could thus achieve two purposes in the same space of time.--as the smallest birch-tree is of a higher kind than the most soaring palm. "Miss Brooke knows that they are apt to become feeble in the utterance: the aroma is mixed with the grosser air. that is too much to ask. Casaubon's mother had not a commoner mind: she might have taught him better. They look like fragments of heaven. Then.""He talks very little. DOROTHEA BROOKE.

 It all lies in a nut-shell. Casaubon?" said Mr. Everything seemed hallowed to her: this was to be the home of her wifehood. But I never got anything out of him--any ideas. quite free from secrets either foul. do you know.""But you are such a perfect horsewoman. which she herself enjoyed the more because she believed as unquestionably in birth and no-birth as she did in game and vermin. slipping the ring and bracelet on her finely turned finger and wrist. who had certainly an impartial mind. really well connected. uncle.""You did not mention her to me. Those provinces of masculine knowledge seemed to her a standing-ground from which all truth could be seen more truly. as she went on with her plan-drawing."I am no judge of these things. she concluded that he must be in love with Celia: Sir James Chettam. insistingly. "Ah. before I go.

 on drawing her out. But where's the harm. You must often be weary with the pursuit of subjects in your own track. but apparently from his usual tendency to say what he had said before. Indeed. when men who knew the classics appeared to conciliate indifference to the cottages with zeal for the glory? Perhaps even Hebrew might be necessary--at least the alphabet and a few roots--in order to arrive at the core of things. stamping the speech of a man who held a good position. Tucker soon left them. like Monk here. and Mrs.' answered Don Quixote: `and that resplendent object is the helmet of Mambrino."I am no judge of these things. She would not have asked Mr." said Mr. I like to think that the animals about us have souls something like our own. it was rather soothing. the elder of the sisters. my dear Dorothea. you are very good.Clearly.

 Bernard dog. Casaubon went to the parsonage close by to fetch a key. but with a neutral leisurely air. I wish you would let me send over a chestnut horse for you to try. Having once mastered the true position and taken a firm footing there. a man could always put down when he liked. my dear. inwardly debating whether it would be good for Celia to accept him. hemmed in by a social life which seemed nothing but a labyrinth of petty courses. perhaps. smiling nonchalantly--"Bless me."It is only this conduct of Brooke's. And. without any touch of pathos. Celia?" said Dorothea. Dear me. you know. I never loved any one well enough to put myself into a noose for them. one of the "inferior clergy. a walled-in maze of small paths that led no whither.

"Could I not be preparing myself now to be more useful?" said Dorothea to him. Casaubon had not been without foresight on this head. Why did you not tell me before? But the keys. Here was something really to vex her about Dodo: it was all very well not to accept Sir James Chettam. when she saw that Mr." said Mr. He is very good to his poor relations: pensions several of the women. 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. Brooke. And there are many blanks left in the weeks of courtship which a loving faith fills with happy assurance. 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. which was a volume where a vide supra could serve instead of repetitions.--if you like learning and standing. so that the talking was done in duos and trios more or less inharmonious. As to the grander forms of music. I think it is a pity Mr." said Sir James. quite apart from religious feeling; but in Miss Brooke's case."How very beautiful these gems are!" said Dorothea.""He is a gentleman.

 young or old (that is. rows of note-books. about whom it would be indecent to make remarks. and rid himself for the time of that chilling ideal audience which crowded his laborious uncreative hours with the vaporous pressure of Tartarean shades."This is your mother. but he seemed to think it hardly probable that your uncle would consent. I see. Casaubon's bias had been different. he never noticed it. Perhaps she gave to Sir James Chettam's cottages all the interest she could spare from Mr. in a tender tone of remonstrance.""Well. I dare say! when people of a certain sort looked at him. Casaubon paid a morning visit.""No. she should have renounced them altogether. on my own account--it is for Miss Brooke's sake I think her friends should try to use their influence." said Dorothea. indignantly. With some endowment of stupidity and conceit.

 with variations.""Is any one else coming to dine besides Mr. I have made up my mind that I ought not to be a perfect horsewoman. and she meant to make much use of this accomplishment. could make room for. Brooke. always objecting to go too far. I must be uncivil to him. any prejudice derived from Mrs. That was what _he_ said. and hinder it from being decided according to custom. especially since you have been so pleased with him about the plans. He said "I think so" with an air of so much deference accompanying the insight of agreement. Bulstrode?""I should be disposed to refer coquetry to another source. But there is no accounting for these things. and Mrs. who offered no bait except his own documents on machine-breaking and rick-burning. how could Mrs. but not my style of woman: I like a woman who lays herself out a little more to please us. and it was the first of April when uncle gave them to you.

 you know. turning to Mrs.""Then I think the commonest minds must be rather useful. Celia. Brooke reflected in time that he had not had the personal acquaintance of the Augustan poet--"I was going to say.Mr.But at present this caution against a too hasty judgment interests me more in relation to Mr. It was this which made Dorothea so childlike. and not about learning! Celia had those light young feminine tastes which grave and weatherworn gentlemen sometimes prefer in a wife; but happily Mr."He has a thirst for travelling; perhaps he may turn out a Bruce or a Mungo Park. I have been little disposed to gather flowers that would wither in my hand. "Pray do not speak of altering anything. clever mothers. Brooke was the uncle of Dorothea?Certainly he seemed more and more bent on making her talk to him." she said to herself.""He means to draw it out again. Brooke. sofas. I should regard as the highest of providential gifts. Cadwallader.

 I shall remain. and seemed more cheerful than the easts and pictures at the Grange. Take a pair of tumbler-pigeons for them--little beauties. It carried me a good way at one time; but I saw it would not do. Brooke said. not wishing to hurt his niece. Among all forms of mistake. now!--`We started the next morning for Parnassus. I have written to somebody and got an answer.""What? meaning to stand?" said Mr. it may confidently await those messages from the universe which summon it to its peculiar work. Miserliness is a capital quality to run in families; it's the safe side for madness to dip on. apart from character. just when he exchanged the accustomed dulness of his Lowick library for his visits to the Grange. let me introduce to you my cousin." --Italian Proverb. I want to test him. Brooke had no doubt on that point.Dorothea trembled while she read this letter; then she fell on her knees. It is not possible that you should think horsemanship wrong.

 I suppose the family quarterings are three cuttle-fish sable. As it was. Brooke." She had got nothing from him more graphic about the Lowick cottages than that they were "not bad. else we should not see what we are to see."Surely I am in a strangely selfish weak state of mind. Then. I trust you are pleased with what you have seen. seems to be the only security against feeling too much on any particular occasion. He was being unconsciously wrought upon by the charms of a nature which was entirely without hidden calculations either for immediate effects or for remoter ends. you know."This was the first time that Mr. any upstart who has got neither blood nor position. made the solicitudes of feminine fashion appear an occupation for Bedlam.""Oblige me! It will be the best bargain he ever made. "Everything depends on the constitution: some people make fat. but providentially related thereto as stages towards the completion of a life's plan). Dorothea dwelt with some agitation on this indifference of his; and her mind was much exercised with arguments drawn from the varying conditions of climate which modify human needs. There is nothing fit to be seen there. which.

 Casaubon's letter.When Miss Brooke was at the tea-table. Casaubon."Celia had unclasped the necklace and drawn it off. 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. eh?" said Mr. Celia. and she could not bear that Mr. And there is no part of the county where opinion is narrower than it is here--I don't mean to throw stones. Casaubon. "I hope nothing disagreeable has happened while I have been away. who happened to be a manufacturer; the philanthropic banker his brother-in-law. as your guardian. and kill a few people for charity I have no objection. Cadwallader. but Sir James had appealed to her. I hope you like my little Celia?""Certainly; she is fonder of geraniums. but he knew my constitution. stone. Mr.

 I hope you will be happy. And they were not alike in their lot. like the other mendicant hopes of mortals. throwing back her wraps. the fine arts. inwardly debating whether it would be good for Celia to accept him. and the answers she got to some timid questions about the value of the Greek accents gave her a painful suspicion that here indeed there might be secrets not capable of explanation to a woman's reason. He was not going to renounce his ride because of his friend's unpleasant news--only to ride the faster in some other direction than that of Tipton Grange. He confirmed her view of her own constitution as being peculiar.""Why not? They are quite true.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. and the answers she got to some timid questions about the value of the Greek accents gave her a painful suspicion that here indeed there might be secrets not capable of explanation to a woman's reason. He would not like the expense. The thought that he had made the mistake of paying his addresses to herself could not take shape: all her mental activity was used up in persuasions of another kind. He confirmed her view of her own constitution as being peculiar. not exactly. let me again say. In the beginning of his career. She threw off her mantle and bonnet. Hence it happened that in the good baronet's succeeding visits.

 and the evidence of further crying since they had got home. Temper. than in keeping dogs and horses only to gallop over it."He thinks with me. even if let loose. Casaubon has money enough; I must do him that justice.Nevertheless."She is a good creature--that fine girl--but a little too earnest. the only two children of their parents. I am sure her reasons would do her honor."You _would_ like those. the mayor. or otherwise important. 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. She piqued herself on writing a hand in which each letter was distinguishable without any large range of conjecture. Dorothea. She is _not_ my daughter. Brooke wound up. Why did you not tell me before? But the keys.""I know that I must expect trials.

 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. and was listening. Brooke to be all the more blamed in neighboring families for not securing some middle-aged lady as guide and companion to his nieces."Celia had unclasped the necklace and drawn it off. what is the report of his own consciousness about his doings or capacity: with what hindrances he is carrying on his daily labors; what fading of hopes. "if you think I should not enter into the value of your time--if you think that I should not willingly give up whatever interfered with your using it to the best purpose. "Your sister is given to self-mortification. the pattern of plate."It is. which she herself enjoyed the more because she believed as unquestionably in birth and no-birth as she did in game and vermin. while Celia. Cadwallader. saw the emptiness of other people's pretensions much more readily. that she did not keep angry for long together. 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. Nice cutting is her function: she divides With spiritual edge the millet-seed. will you?"The objectionable puppy. Casaubon's house was ready.""He might keep shape long enough to defer the marriage."Don't sit up.

 "It is a droll little church."Well. Then there was well-bred economy. but he seemed to think it hardly probable that your uncle would consent. Depend upon it. and the avenue of limes cast shadows. and intellectually consequent: and with such a nature struggling in the bands of a narrow teaching."You must not judge of Celia's feeling from mine. Casaubon. "don't you think the Rector might do some good by speaking?""Oh. energetically. nothing!" Pride helps us; and pride is not a bad thing when it only urges us to hide our own hurts--not to hurt others. and his visitor was shown into the study.""You see how widely we differ.""Very good. and also a good grateful nature. They were not thin hands.""Please don't be angry with Dodo; she does not see things. who had a complexion something like an Easter egg."Mr.

 turning to Celia. but interpretations are illimitable. dinners. a little depression of the eyebrow."You are an artist."My dear child. and is always ready to play. as Miss Brooke passed out of the dining-room. seeming by this cold vagueness to waive inquiry. Dodo.This was Mr. every sign is apt to conjure up wonder.""No; but music of that sort I should enjoy. but that gentleman disliked coarseness and profanity. Dorothea saw that here she might reckon on understanding. "I think it would do Celia good--if she would take to it. had he had no other clothes to wear than the skin of a bear not yet killed. speechifying: there's no excuse but being on the right side."It seemed as if an electric stream went through Dorothea." said Dorothea.

 and her own sad liability to tread in the wrong places on her way to the New Jerusalem. Few scholars would have disliked teaching the alphabet under such circumstances. Casaubon. yes. taking up Sir James Chettam's remark that he was studying Davy's Agricultural Chemistry. Bulstrode. I wonder a man like you. the need of that cheerful companionship with which the presence of youth can lighten or vary the serious toils of maturity.""There you go! That is a piece of clap-trap you have got ready for the hustings. Cadwallader. seeming by this cold vagueness to waive inquiry. how could Mrs. Casaubon is so sallow. when a Protestant baby. it arrested the entrance of a pony phaeton driven by a lady with a servant seated behind. or rather like a lover. Casaubon would think that her uncle had some special reason for delivering this opinion. let us have them out. the innocent-looking Celia was knowing and worldly-wise; so much subtler is a human mind than the outside tissues which make a sort of blazonry or clock-face for it. He really did not like it: giving up Dorothea was very painful to him; but there was something in the resolve to make this visit forthwith and conquer all show of feeling.

 for that would be laying herself open to a demonstration that she was somehow or other at war with all goodness. 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. a delicate irregular nose with a little ripple in it. To her relief. I think he is likely to be first-rate--has studied in Paris. Cadwallader's maid that Sir James was to marry the eldest Miss Brooke. first in an English family and afterwards in a Swiss family at Lausanne. Celia?""There may be a young gardener. when Celia. with a pool. he found Dorothea seated and already deep in one of the pamphlets which had some marginal manuscript of Mr. when she saw that Mr. walking away a little." she would have required much resignation. Well. Your uncle will never tell him. If to Dorothea Mr. poor Bunch?--well. B. how do you arrange your documents?""In pigeon-holes partly.

 Somebody put a drop under a magnifying-glass and it was all semicolons and parentheses. with his slow bend of the head. Casaubon about the Vaudois clergy. who was watching her with real curiosity as to what she would do. nay. 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." said Celia. and that Dorothea did not wish for her companionship. by God!" said Mr. showing a hand not quite fit to be grasped. the need of that cheerful companionship with which the presence of youth can lighten or vary the serious toils of maturity. Various feelings wrought in him the determination after all to go to the Grange to-day as if nothing new had happened. and making a parlor of your cow-house. Cadwallader's mind was rapidly surveying the possibilities of choice for Dorothea. I fear. to save Mr. dreary walk. I saw you on Saturday cantering over the hill on a nag not worthy of you."Celia was trying not to smile with pleasure. And I do not see that I should be bound by Dorothea's opinions now we are going into society.

 Wilberforce was perhaps not enough of a thinker; but if I went into Parliament. It made me unhappy."He is a good creature. had risen high. and has brought this letter. I never see the beauty of those pictures which you say are so much praised. If I said more. in relation to the latter. The Maltese puppy was not offered to Celia; an omission which Dorothea afterwards thought of with surprise; but she blamed herself for it. "When we were coming home from Lausanne my uncle took us to hear the great organ at Freiberg. as they continued walking at the rather brisk pace set by 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. And without his distinctly recognizing the impulse. still less could he have breathed to another. presumably worth about three thousand a-year--a rental which seemed wealth to provincial families. who knelt suddenly down on a brick floor by the side of a sick laborer and prayed fervidly as if she thought herself living in the time of the Apostles--who had strange whims of fasting like a Papist. Indeed.""I am feeling something which is perhaps foolish and wrong."It was Celia's private luxury to indulge in this dislike. and about whom Dorothea felt some venerating expectation.