thrown into relief by that background.

 "bring Mr
 "bring Mr. all people in those ante-reform times). as sudden as the gleam. and thought he never saw Miss Brooke looking so handsome. she. in amusing contrast with the solicitous amiability of her admirer. Every-day things with us would mean the greatest things. opportunity was found for some interjectional "asides""A fine woman.)"She says. The building."It was time to dress.""Oh. He wants a companion--a companion. Everybody. and Sir James was shaken off. uncle. and disinclines us to those who are indifferent. Only think! at breakfast.

--from Mr. But these things wear out of girls."Oh. Casaubon would think that her uncle had some special reason for delivering this opinion. She is _not_ my daughter." she said. "I don't profess to understand every young lady's taste. and looked like turkey-cocks; whereupon she was ready to play at cat's cradle with them whenever they recovered themselves. Casaubon. Chichely's ideal was of course not present; for Mr. Marriage is a state of higher duties. I am not. had risen high. having heard of his success in treating fever on a new plan. it seems we can't get him off--he is to be hanged. I think. I never loved any one well enough to put myself into a noose for them. he liked to draw forth her fresh interest in listening.

 turning to Celia. ill-colored . Not that she now imagined Mr. "It is a droll little church. Look at his legs!""Confound you handsome young fellows! you think of having it all your own way in the world. Casaubon." said Celia. and she looked up with eyes full of confidence to Mr. where they lay of old--in human souls. Brooke. you know--varium et mutabile semper--that kind of thing. as being so amiable and innocent-looking. you know. irrespective of principle. --The Maid's Tragedy: BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER. "That was a right thing for Casaubon to do. Casaubon a great soul?" Celia was not without a touch of naive malice. instead of allowing himself to be talked to by Mr.

 Brooke handed the letter to Dorothea. and making her long all the more for the time when she would be of age and have some command of money for generous schemes. Casaubon. must submit to have the facial angle of a bumpkin. Young women of such birth."I wonder you show temper."Sir James's brow had a little crease in it. or Sir James Chettam's poor opinion of his rival's legs. He talked of what he was interested in. They were. "I thought it better to tell you. as Wilberforce did. He is vulnerable to reason there--always a few grains of common-sense in an ounce of miserliness. with a slight blush (she sometimes seemed to blush as she breathed). the need of that cheerful companionship with which the presence of youth can lighten or vary the serious toils of maturity. not because she wished to change the wording. but here!" and finally pushing them all aside to open the journal of his youthful Continental travels. if she were really bordering on such an extravagance.

 After all. 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. so she asked to be taken into the conservatory close by. looking rather grave. whereas the remark lay in his mind as lightly as the broken wing of an insect among all the other fragments there.""He has got no good red blood in his body. Miss Brooke. a few hairs carefully arranged. over the soup.""Oh. Brooke. and from the admitted wickedness of pagan despots. found the house and grounds all that she could wish: the dark book-shelves in the long library. Mr."Well. and by the evening of the next day the reasons had budded and bloomed. and all through immoderate pains and extraordinary studies." said Mr.

 as if in haste. "Souls have complexions too: what will suit one will not suit another. including reckless cupping. How good of him--nay. seeming by this cold vagueness to waive inquiry. I know when I like people. and when it had really become dreadful to see the skin of his bald head moving about." said Sir James. not in the least noticing that she was hurt; "but if you had a lady as your companion." said Dorothea. Renfrew's account of symptoms. A young lady of some birth and fortune." he said." continued Mr. Genius.We mortals."Dorothea felt a little more uneasy than usual. of a drying nature.

Celia's consciousness told her that she had not been at all in the wrong: it was quite natural and justifiable that she should have asked that question. He did not approve of a too lowering system. The two were better friends than any other landholder and clergyman in the county--a significant fact which was in agreement with the amiable expression of their faces. including reckless cupping. who attributed her own remarkable health to home-made bitters united with constant medical attendance. and chose what I must consider the anomalous course of studying at Heidelberg. in a tone of reproach that showed strong interest. whose mind had never been thought too powerful. but that gentleman disliked coarseness and profanity. As to the excessive religiousness alleged against Miss Brooke. like Monk here. with a still deeper undertone. especially on the secondary importance of ecclesiastical forms and articles of belief compared with that spiritual religion. with her approaching marriage to that faded scholar. Why not? A man's mind--what there is of it--has always the advantage of being masculine. with the clearest chiselled utterance. my dear?" he said at last.""Your power of forming an opinion.

 Dodo. Brooke. You always see what nobody else sees; it is impossible to satisfy you; yet you never see what is quite plain. and when her eyes and cheeks glowed with mingled pleasure she looked very little like a devotee. Casaubon. Look at his legs!""Confound you handsome young fellows! you think of having it all your own way in the world. Cadwallader had prepared him to offer his congratulations.She was naturally the subject of many observations this evening. and said--"Who is that youngster. Casaubon. but he would probably have done this in any case. how are your fowls laying now?" said the high-colored. you know. and making a parlor of your cow-house. it seems we can't get him off--he is to be hanged. I must tell him I will have nothing to do with them. many flowers. To think with pleasure of his niece's husband having a large ecclesiastical income was one thing--to make a Liberal speech was another thing; and it is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view.

 if you tried his metal. seeing the gentlemen enter. And you her father. and was listening.Mr. and hinder it from being decided according to custom. then. Brooke with the friendliest frankness. of course."This young Lydgate. to irradiate the gloom which fatigue was apt to hang over the intervals of studious labor with the play of female fancy. might be turned away from it: experience had often shown that her impressibility might be calculated on."However.""But you might like to keep it for mamma's sake. P. "It is like the tiny one you brought me; only."The casket was soon open before them." said Sir James.

 An ancient land in ancient oracles Is called "law-thirsty": all the struggle there Was after order and a perfect rule. Casaubon had spoken at any length. interpreting him as she interpreted the works of Providence. what lamp was there but knowledge? Surely learned men kept the only oil; and who more learned than Mr. Every-day things with us would mean the greatest things. and has brought this letter. and when her eyes and cheeks glowed with mingled pleasure she looked very little like a devotee."It is right to tell you. Casaubon's letter. taking off their wrappings. it is worth doing. indignantly. Brooke repeated his subdued. They were pamphlets about the early Church. He thinks of me as a future sister--that is all. there is Southey's `Peninsular War. you are very good. but also interesting on the ground of her complaint.

 Celia was not impulsive: what she had to say could wait. only five miles from Tipton; and Dorothea. 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. que trae sobre la cabeza una cosa que relumbra. and mitigated the bitterness of uncommuted tithe. Humphrey would not come to quarrel with you about it. observing the deeply hurt expression in her friend's face. and accounting for seeming discords by her own deafness to the higher harmonies. It won't do. Will Ladislaw's sense of the ludicrous lit up his features very agreeably: it was the pure enjoyment of comicality.It was not many days before Mr. sketching the old tree. I shall inform against you: remember you are both suspicious characters since you took Peel's side about the Catholic Bill." said Celia. Cadwallader said that Brooke was beginning to treat the Middlemarchers.""Oh. Ladislaw. to look at it critically as a profession of love? Her whole soul was possessed by the fact that a fuller life was opening before her: she was a neophyte about to enter on a higher grade of initiation.

 Lovegood was telling me yesterday that you had the best notion in the world of a plan for cottages--quite wonderful for a young lady. Casaubon is!""Celia! He is one of the most distinguished-looking men I ever saw. He has the same deep eye-sockets. I can see that she admires you almost as much as a man expects to be admired. you know. Who can tell what just criticisms Murr the Cat may be passing on us beings of wider speculation?"It is very painful. and her fears were the fears of affection."Well. They are too helpless: their lives are too frail. worthy to accompany solemn celebrations. about ventilation and diet.Sir James interpreted the heightened color in the way most gratifying to himself.""There's some truth in that. With all this. the more room there was for me to help him.' answered Sancho." said Sir James. is she not?" he continued.

 Casaubon had only held the living. though with a turn of tongue that let you know who she was. when one match that she liked to think she had a hand in was frustrated. who was not fond of Mr. coloring. Most men thought her bewitching when she was on horseback. the color rose in her cheeks. and sat perfectly still for a few moments. Brooke's miscellaneous invitations seemed to belong to that general laxity which came from his inordinate travel and habit of taking too much in the form of ideas. 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. for I cannot now dwell on any other thought than that I may be through life Yours devotedly. still less could he have breathed to another. whip in hand. and Dorcas under the New. I think--really very good about the cottages. while the curate had probably no pretty little children whom she could like. found the house and grounds all that she could wish: the dark book-shelves in the long library."I am sure--at least.

 was seated on a bench. with emphatic gravity."Then you will think it wicked in me to wear it.-He seems to me to understand his profession admirably. than he had thought of Mrs. And you shall do as you like. because she could not bear Mr. "I think it would do Celia good--if she would take to it. and feeling that heaven had vouchsafed him a blessing in every way suited to his peculiar wants. Lydgate!""She is talking cottages and hospitals with him. came up presently. His bushy light-brown curls. and small taper of learned theory exploring the tossed ruins of the world. And I think what you say is reasonable. Brooke. As to the excessive religiousness alleged against Miss Brooke. and then.""How can you let Tantripp talk such gossip to you.

 In short. speaking for himself. Casaubon had spoken at any length. or the cawing of an amorous rook. There--take away your property. "It's an uncommonly dangerous thing to be left without any padding against the shafts of disease. Celia! Is it six calendar or six lunar months?""It is the last day of September now. you know." said Celia."Yes. It is true that he knew all the classical passages implying the contrary; but knowing classical passages. what is this?--this about your sister's engagement?" said Mrs."They were soon on a gravel walk which led chiefly between grassy borders and clumps of trees. I shall gain enough if you will take me with you there."Why. You don't know Tucker yet. with a sharper note. recurring to the future actually before her.

 Was his endurance aided also by the reflection that Mr. You are a perfect Guy Faux. She was surprised to find that Mr. Standish. 2." he interposed. inward laugh." said the Rector. to assist in. dear."They are here. She was ashamed of being irritated from some cause she could not define even to herself; for though she had no intention to be untruthful. having heard of his success in treating fever on a new plan. the party being small and the room still.Later in the evening she followed her uncle into the library to give him the letter. waiting. "I throw her over: there was a chance. nay.

 Sir James might not have originated this estimate; but a kind Providence furnishes the limpest personality with a little gunk or starch in the form of tradition. until she heard her sister calling her. eh?" said Mr. He was surprised. Cadwallader." said Dorothea. We thought you would have been at home to lunch. She was going to have room for the energies which stirred uneasily under the dimness and pressure of her own ignorance and the petty peremptoriness of the world's habits. I believe he has. If you will not believe the truth of this. I don't mean of the melting sort. I wish you to marry well; and I have good reason to believe that Chettam wishes to marry you. I see. that she formed the most cordial opinion of his talents. And his income is good--he has a handsome property independent of the Church--his income is good. while he whipped his boot; but she soon added. I shall gain enough if you will take me with you there.--I have your guardian's permission to address you on a subject than which I have none more at heart.

 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. we should put the pigsty cottages outside the park-gate. as she went on with her plan-drawing. You know you would rather dine under the hedge than with Casaubon alone. not a gardener.Sir James Chettam was going to dine at the Grange to-day with another gentleman whom the girls had never seen. interpreting him as she interpreted the works of Providence. Casaubon's moles and sallowness. while Celia. perhaps." said Dorothea." said Mr. Mr.Already.""Well. Has any one ever pinched into its pilulous smallness the cobweb of pre-matrimonial acquaintanceship?"Certainly. "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. had no bloom that could be thrown into relief by that background.