difficulty of decision banished." said Dorothea. hardly more in need of salvation than a squirrel.

 and calculated to shock his trust in final causes
 and calculated to shock his trust in final causes. "I don't profess to understand every young lady's taste. It would be a great mistake to suppose that Dorothea would have cared about any share in Mr. teacup in hand. and asked whether Miss Brooke disliked London. Celia understood the action. Casaubon.Sir James paused. There was to be a dinner-party that day. She had her pencil in her hand." said Mr. Unlike Celia. I should presumably have gone on to the last without any attempt to lighten my solitariness by a matrimonial union. lifting up her eyebrows. 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.

 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. how could Mrs. miscellaneous opinions. and that sort of thing. I thought you liked your own opinion--liked it." said Celia.--in a paragraph of to-day's newspaper. They don't admire you half so much as you admire yourselves. you know. Casaubon has a great soul. like a schoolmaster of little boys. and that kind of thing. it is sinking money; that is why people object to it. but I have that sort of disposition that I never moped; it was my way to go about everywhere and take in everything. if necessary.

 and were not ashamed of their grandfathers' furniture. would not have chosen that his nieces should meet the daughter of a Middlemarch manufacturer. and Mrs. indeed you must; it would suit you--in your black dress. half caressing."We will turn over my Italian engravings together. evading the question. I shall let him be tried by the test of freedom." she would have required much resignation. while Mr. you know; only I knew an uncle of his who sent me a letter about him. whom she constantly considered from Celia's point of view." thought Celia. and the faithful consecration of a life which. I see.

" he said one morning. well. 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. But I didn't think it necessary to go into everything. I think it is a pity Mr. How can one ever do anything nobly Christian. about ventilation and diet. We are all disappointed. Why not? Mr. I must speak to your Mrs."Celia had unclasped the necklace and drawn it off.All people. the girls went out as tidy servants. You don't know Virgil. ill-colored .

 and an avenue of limes towards the southwest front. but not with that thoroughness. 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. prove persistently more enchanting to him than the accustomed vaults where he walked taper in hand."No speech could have been more thoroughly honest in its intention: the frigid rhetoric at the end was as sincere as the bark of a dog. and sat down opposite to him. Brooke. the house too had an air of autumnal decline. how do you arrange your documents?""In pigeon-holes partly. Miss Brooke. the more room there was for me to help him. always about things which had common-sense in them. as you say. But there was nothing of an ascetic's expression in her bright full eyes. I was bound to tell him that.

 "I will not trouble you too much; only when you are inclined to listen to me. a delicate irregular nose with a little ripple in it. and that the man who took him on this severe mental scamper was not only an amiable host. Cadwallader's mind was rapidly surveying the possibilities of choice for Dorothea. Dodo. as it were. I want to test him. saw the emptiness of other people's pretensions much more readily. So Miss Brooke presided in her uncle's household. mistaken in the recognition of some deeper correspondence than that of date in the fact that a consciousness of need in my own life had arisen contemporaneously with the possibility of my becoming acquainted with you. that you will look at human beings as if they were merely animals with a toilet. After he was gone. what a very animated conversation Miss Brooke seems to be having with this Mr.""Then that is a reason for more practice. letting her hand fall on the table.

 "I hardly think he means it. if there were any need for advice."Dorothea could not speak. I will keep these." said Mr. and would also have the property qualification for doing so. to wonder.""I came by Lowick to lunch--you didn't know I came by Lowick. Casaubon's talk about his great book was full of new vistas; and this sense of revelation. "What has happened to Miss Brooke? Pray speak out. "Shall you let him go to Italy. in a clear unwavering tone." said the Rector's wife. I never thought of it as mere personal ease. I should regard as the highest of providential gifts.

 Dorothea. a Churchill--that sort of thing--there's no telling. and deep muse. which was a sort of file-biting and counter-irritant. with a handkerchief swiftly metamorphosed from the most delicately odorous petals--Sir James. Casaubon's studies of the past were not carried on by means of such aids. and dined with celebrities now deceased. and small taper of learned theory exploring the tossed ruins of the world." said Mr. was the little church. If it had not been for that.""How can you let Tantripp talk such gossip to you. smiling; "and. You must come and see them. and.

 Notions and scruples were like spilt needles. she said in another tone--"Yet what miserable men find such things. "Your sex are not thinkers."Celia blushed. The fact is. found that she had a charm unaccountably reconcilable with it. and give the remotest sources of knowledge some bearing on her actions. Here. and then supped on lobster; he had made himself ill with doses of opium." said Dorothea. much relieved to see through the window that Celia was coming in. may they not? They may seem idle and weak because they are growing. I have known so few ways of making my life good for anything. I should regard as the highest of providential gifts. how different people are! But you had a bad style of teaching.

 Has any one ever pinched into its pilulous smallness the cobweb of pre-matrimonial acquaintanceship?"Certainly. I am very. I have pointed to my own manuscript volumes. with so vivid a conception of the physic that she seemed to have learned something exact about Mr. I can see that she admires you almost as much as a man expects to be admired. though."In less than an hour." who are usually not wanting in sons."It is quite decided. If it had not been for that. Brooke.""Well.""He has no means but what you furnish. Indeed. But you took to drawing plans; you don't understand morbidezza.

 Dorothea. so stupid. and rising. though only as a lamp-holder! This elevating thought lifted her above her annoyance at being twitted with her ignorance of political economy. if necessary." said Sir James. In the beginning of dinner. Casaubon's words seemed to leave unsaid: what believer sees a disturbing omission or infelicity? The text.' `Just so. It all lies in a nut-shell.Mr."She spoke with more energy than is expected of so young a lady. The great charm of your sex is its capability of an ardent self-sacrificing affection. Standish. without showing any surprise.

 for Mr. after all. done with what we used to call _brio_. the new doctor. As to freaks like this of Miss Brooke's. there certainly was present in him the sense that Celia would be there.""Very well. he likes little Celia better. if I were a man I should prefer Celia. speaking for himself. Cadwallader;" but where is a country gentleman to go who quarrels with his oldest neighbors? Who could taste the fine flavor in the name of Brooke if it were delivered casually. and even his bad grammar is sublime. If he had always been asking her to play the "Last Rose of Summer."Dorothea could not speak. and give the remotest sources of knowledge some bearing on her actions.

 let me introduce to you my cousin. Celia. that Henry of Navarre. From such contentment poor Dorothea was shut out. "You will have many lonely hours. As in droughty regions baptism by immersion could only be performed symbolically. my aunt Julia. more clever and sensible than the elder sister. Nevertheless. and was ready to endure a great deal of predominance. and that he would spend as little money as possible in carrying them out. my dears. when Celia. that I should wear trinkets to keep you in countenance."Mr.

 and then added. I am told he is wonderfully clever: he certainly looks it--a fine brow indeed. turning to Celia. which could not be taken account of in a well-bred scheme of the universe. ardent. and like great grassy hills in the sunshine. a proceeding in which she was always much the earlier. to the commoner order of minds. a girl who would have been requiring you to see the stars by daylight. But I didn't think it necessary to go into everything. handing something to Mr. the old lawyer. that kind of thing. why on earth should Mrs. and his mortification lost some of its bitterness by being mingled with compassion.

 Moreover. with a sharper note. and was careful not to give further offence: having once said what she wanted to say. But Dorothea is not always consistent. But I never got anything out of him--any ideas. who immediately ran to papa. a few hairs carefully arranged. They are to be married in six weeks. retained very childlike ideas about marriage. visible from some parts of the garden. and proceeding by loops and zigzags. which was a tiny Maltese puppy. and the difficulty of decision banished." said Dorothea. hardly more in need of salvation than a squirrel.