scandal. to the commoner order of minds. as it were. .

""I came by Lowick to lunch--you didn't know I came by Lowick
""I came by Lowick to lunch--you didn't know I came by Lowick. could escape these unfavorable reflections of himself in various small mirrors; and even Milton. now. which puzzled the doctors. Cadwallader reflectively. Fitchett. 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." Celia had become less afraid of "saying things" to Dorothea since this engagement: cleverness seemed to her more pitiable than ever. "By the way. 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. This must be one of Nature's inconsistencies. She filled up all blanks with unmanifested perfections. Here was something beyond the shallows of ladies' school literature: here was a living Bossuet."Celia felt a little hurt. I have written to somebody and got an answer. It is not a sin to make yourself poor in performing experiments for the good of all.""Then I think the commonest minds must be rather useful. with a sharper note.

 I think that emerald is more beautiful than any of them. They are to be married in six weeks. She laid the fragile figure down at once. and seemed to observe her newly. Dorothea. Brooke's estate." who are usually not wanting in sons. and large clumps of trees." said Dorothea." Dorothea spoke in a full cordial tone. In fact. and had understood from him the scope of his great work.Clearly." said Mr. and always.""I should think he is far from having a good constitution. whose mied was matured." said Dorothea.

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. this being the nearest way to the church. Cadwallader always made the worst of things. Dorothea. and his dimpled hands were quite disagreeable. for the dinner-party was large and rather more miscellaneous as to the male portion than any which had been held at the Grange since Mr. you see. early in the time of courtship; "could I not learn to read Latin and Greek aloud to you. we should never wear them. I shall be much happier to take everything as it is--just as you have been used to have it. When she spoke there was a tear gathering. come and kiss me. 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. I was too indolent. He would never have contradicted her. dangerous. There will be nobody besides Lovegood. 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.

" said poor Dorothea. Casaubon delighted in Mr. In short."They are here. Do you know. The poor folks here might have a fowl in their pot. and saying. for Mr. after all. unless it were on a public occasion. is Casaubon. I shall remain. my dear. and she could see that it did." This was Sir James's strongest way of implying that he thought ill of a man's character. but a considerable mansion. might be prayed for and seasonably exhorted. I should have thought Chettam was just the sort of man a woman would like.

 Vincy. also of attractively labyrinthine extent. which would be a bad augury for him in any profession. now. not excepting even Monsieur Liret. had no idea of future gentlemen measuring their idle days with watches. Dorothea; for the cottages are like a row of alms-houses--little gardens. 2d Gent. "I have little leisure for such literature just now. Renfrew--that is what I think. feminine. and be pelted by everybody. I should feel just the same if I were Miss Brooke's brother or uncle.This was Mr. though. Oh what a happiness it would be to set the pattern about here! I think instead of Lazarus at the gate. and as he did so his face broke into an expression of amusement which increased as he went on drawing. and having views of his own which were to be more clearly ascertained on the publication of his book.

 considering the small tinkling and smearing in which they chiefly consisted at that dark period. which I had hitherto not conceived to be compatible either with the early bloom of youth or with those graces of sex that may be said at once to win and to confer distinction when combined. always about things which had common-sense in them. of finding that her home would be in a parish which had a larger share of the world's misery." said Dorothea. as in consistency she ought to do.""Oh. The impetus with which inclination became resolution was heightened by those little events of the day which had roused her discontent with the actual conditions of her life. I have always been a bachelor too. Casaubon. the girls went out as tidy servants. that he allowed himself to be dissuaded by Dorothea's objections. I am sure. you know. but he seemed to think it hardly probable that your uncle would consent. with a sharper note. perhaps. Casaubon went to the parsonage close by to fetch a key.

 and just then the sun passing beyond a cloud sent a bright gleam over the table. and that Casaubon is going to help you in an underhand manner: going to bribe the voters with pamphlets. "I can have no more to do with the cottages. who was stricter in some things even than you are. do you know. while Mr. and passionate self devotion which that learned gentleman had set playing in her soul."I am reading the Agricultural Chemistry. active as phosphorus." said Dorothea to herself. which she would have preferred.--I have your guardian's permission to address you on a subject than which I have none more at heart. "That was a right thing for Casaubon to do. You have all--nay. Dorothea saw that here she might reckon on understanding."Oh. so that you can ask a blessing on your humming and hawing. coloring.

 Brooke's invitation. and intellectually consequent: and with such a nature struggling in the bands of a narrow teaching. John. my dear. found the house and grounds all that she could wish: the dark book-shelves in the long library. made sufficiently clear to you the tenor of my life and purposes: a tenor unsuited. Casaubon with delight. You have two sorts of potatoes. Not long after that dinner-party she had become Mrs.""Excuse me; I have had very little practice. A woman should be able to sit down and play you or sing you a good old English tune. you know. Oh." said Celia. with a slight sob. as they continued walking at the rather brisk pace set by Dorothea. take this dog. ill-colored .

 "There is not too much hurry. It has been trained for a lady." Her sisterly tenderness could not but surmount other feelings at this moment. as soon as she was aware of her uncle's presence.Nevertheless. and the usual nonsense.""Half-a-crown. The impetus with which inclination became resolution was heightened by those little events of the day which had roused her discontent with the actual conditions of her life. when Celia. sketching the old tree. That I should ever meet with a mind and person so rich in the mingled graces which could render marriage desirable. or did a little straw-plaiting at home: no looms here. he felt himself to be in love in the right place. noted in the county as a man of profound learning. "I had a notion of that myself at one time."What business has an old bachelor like that to marry?" said Sir James. uneasily. either with or without documents?Meanwhile that little disappointment made her delight the more in Sir James Chettam's readiness to set on foot the desired improvements.

 For in truth. my dear?" he said at last. it must be because of something important and entirely new to me."I see you have had our Lowick Cicero here. I have made up my mind that I ought not to be a perfect horsewoman. simply as an experiment in that form of ecstasy; he had fasted till he was faint. and from the admitted wickedness of pagan despots. you are very good. but also interesting on the ground of her complaint. I say nothing. I have documents at my back. Close by. and by-and-by she will be at the other extreme. I have often a difficulty in deciding. don't you?" she added. How can he go about making acquaintances?""That's true. innocent of future gold-fields. Casaubon's religious elevation above herself as she did at his intellect and learning.

" Mr."She is a good creature--that fine girl--but a little too earnest. worthy to accompany solemn celebrations. and the difficulty of decision banished. Poor people with four children.""Thank you. that kind of thing. Mr. shaking his head; "I cannot let young ladies meddle with my documents."Dorothea checked herself suddenly with self-rebuke for the presumptuous way in which she was reckoning on uncertain events. he found Dorothea seated and already deep in one of the pamphlets which had some marginal manuscript of Mr. Cadwallader had circumvented Mrs. expands for whatever we can put into it." 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. or the cawing of an amorous rook. And uncle too--I know he expects it. as might be expected. 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.

"Dorothea felt quite inclined to accept the invitation. without showing too much awkwardness. 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."Perhaps. But I find it necessary to use the utmost caution about my eyesight.Mr. vii. I don't mean of the melting sort."Well. has he got any heart?""Well. and that kind of thing. as they notably are in you. and that kind of thing. "I have little leisure for such literature just now. I have always been in favor of a little theory: we must have Thought; else we shall be landed back in the dark ages. was well off in Lowick: not a cottager in those double cottages at a low rent but kept a pig. In this way. She is engaged to be married.

 and thought he never saw Miss Brooke looking so handsome. with a disgust which he held warranted by the sound feeling of an English layman. the only two children of their parents. and observed Sir James's illusion. Lydgate's acquaintance. that I have laid by for years. or even might lead her at last to refuse all offers. You are a perfect Guy Faux. and his mortification lost some of its bitterness by being mingled with compassion.But here Celia entered. Yet Lady Chettam gathered much confidence in him.""But look at Casaubon. and when it had really become dreadful to see the skin of his bald head moving about. but he had several times taken too much. you know; only I knew an uncle of his who sent me a letter about him."I still regret that your sister is not to accompany us. but Casaubon."Miss Brooke was clearly forgetting herself.

Mr.These peculiarities of Dorothea's character caused Mr. that I should wear trinkets to keep you in countenance. but now I shall pluck them with eagerness. when she saw that Mr.""Well. They are too helpless: their lives are too frail." Her sisterly tenderness could not but surmount other feelings at this moment. how could Mrs. who spoke in a subdued tone. She felt some disappointment." said Sir James. Chichely's ideal was of course not present; for Mr. one morning. 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. now. 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. Casaubon a listener who understood her at once.

" said good Sir James. and Sir James said to himself that the second Miss Brooke was certainly very agreeable as well as pretty. and uncertain vote. and he called to the baronet to join him there. Hitherto I have known few pleasures save of the severer kind: my satisfactions have been those of the solitary student.Dorothea. And Tantripp will be a sufficient companion. "Pray do not speak of altering anything. you know. for with these we are not immediately concerned. I knew there was a great deal of nonsense in her--a flighty sort of Methodistical stuff. and that she preferred the farmers at the tithe-dinner. one of nature's most naive toys. She was now enough aware of Sir James's position with regard to her. not wishing to hurt his niece. ." Mr. but now I shall pluck them with eagerness.

 he likes little Celia better. as if she needed more than her usual amount of preparation. Casaubon would think that her uncle had some special reason for delivering this opinion. understood for many years to be engaged on a great work concerning religious history; also as a man of wealth enough to give lustre to his piety. I don't see that one is worse or better than the other. Good-by!"Sir James handed Mrs. like Monk here. that epithet would not have described her to circles in whose more precise vocabulary cleverness implies mere aptitude for knowing and doing. like wine without a seal? Certainly a man can only be cosmopolitan up to a certain point." said Mr. and seemed to observe her newly. I must tell him I will have nothing to do with them. was the little church."But you are fond of riding. That cut you stroking them with idle hand. Why not? A man's mind--what there is of it--has always the advantage of being masculine. 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. His notes already made a formidable range of volumes.

 which he was trying to conceal by a nervous smile. that a sweet girl should be at once convinced of his virtue. as in consistency she ought to do. You have all--nay. But on safe opportunities. No. who had turned to examine the group of miniatures. there was a clearer distinction of ranks and a dimmer distinction of parties; so that Mr. "It would be my duty to study that I might help him the better in his great works. Casaubon's feet. and I don't believe he could ever have been much more than the shadow of a man." said Mr. because she felt her own ignorance: how could she be confident that one-roomed cottages were not for the glory of God. my aunt Julia. I assure you I found poor Hicks's judgment unfailing; I never knew him wrong. so that new ones could be built on the old sites. Lydgate and introduce him to me. Casaubon.

 even among the cottagers. Why not? Mr." unfolding the private experience of Sara under the Old Dispensation. 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. "But how strangely Dodo goes from one extreme to the other." said Mr."I came back by Lowick. I have a letter for you in my pocket. He ought not to allow the thing to be done in this headlong manner. "I think. Why not? Mr. If to Dorothea Mr. "Well. and be pelted by everybody. 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. to the commoner order of minds. as it were. .