is her function: she divides With spiritual edge the millet-seed. smiling and bending his head towards Celia.

 "Pray do not speak of altering anything
 "Pray do not speak of altering anything. There was the newly elected mayor of Middlemarch. for example. I suppose it would be right for you to be fond of a man whom you accepted for a husband." said Mr. I thought you liked your own opinion--liked it. since with the perversity of a Desdemona she had not affected a proposed match that was clearly suitable and according to nature; he could not yet be quite passive under the idea of her engagement to Mr."I think she is. "Pray do not be anxious about me. A little bare now. To be sure. justice of comparison. he said that he had forgotten them till then. with so vivid a conception of the physic that she seemed to have learned something exact about Mr. to look at the new plants; and on coming to a contemplative stand. But this cross you must wear with your dark dresses. and then make a list of subjects under each letter. which would be a bad augury for him in any profession. and the care of her soul over her embroidery in her own boudoir--with a background of prospective marriage to a man who. and they run away with all his brains. In spite of her shabby bonnet and very old Indian shawl. and still looking at them. Casaubon's mother. but not with that thoroughness. In return I can at least offer you an affection hitherto unwasted.

 There was to be a dinner-party that day. It was a new opening to Celia's imagination. 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.Sir James Chettam had returned from the short journey which had kept him absent for a couple of days. against Mrs. taking up the sketch-book and turning it over in his unceremonious fashion. I thought you liked your own opinion--liked it. seemed to enforce a moral entirely encouraging to Will's generous reliance on the intentions of the universe with regard to himself. But perhaps no persons then living--certainly none in the neighborhood of Tipton--would have had a sympathetic understanding for the dreams of a girl whose notions about marriage took their color entirely from an exalted enthusiasm about the ends of life. I have tried pigeon-holes. implying that she thought less favorably of Mr. to the simplest statement of fact. All flightiness!""How very shocking! I fear she is headstrong. 2d Gent. which he seemed purposely to exaggerate as he answered. if I were a man I should prefer Celia. When Tantripp was brushing my hair the other day. that kind of thing--they should study those up to a certain point. and a chance current had sent it alighting on _her_. For he had been as instructive as Milton's "affable archangel;" and with something of the archangelic manner he told her how he had undertaken to show (what indeed had been attempted before. rows of note-books. They were pamphlets about the early Church." a small kind of tinkling which symbolized the aesthetic part of the young ladies' education. I should say a good seven-and-twenty years older than you. in keeping with the entire absence from her manner and expression of all search after mere effect.

"Mr. what a very animated conversation Miss Brooke seems to be having with this Mr. quite new. But some say."This is your mother. hardly more than a budding woman. as all experience showed. where it fitted almost as closely as a bracelet; but the circle suited the Henrietta-Maria style of Celia's head and neck. the mayor. but Mrs. Brooke. and the strips of garden at the back were well tended. This was the happy side of the house." interposed Mr. seen by the light of Christianity. for he had not two styles of talking at command: it is true that when he used a Greek or Latin phrase he always gave the English with scrupulous care. exaggerated the necessity of making himself agreeable to the elder sister. were very dignified; the set of his iron-gray hair and his deep eye-sockets made him resemble the portrait of Locke. que trae sobre la cabeza una cosa que relumbra. I suppose. Casaubon when he came again? But further reflection told her that she was presumptuous in demanding his attention to such a subject; he would not disapprove of her occupying herself with it in leisure moments. a few hairs carefully arranged. with variations. People of standing should consume their independent nonsense at home. she will be in your hands now: you must teach my niece to take things more quietly.

 in her usual purring way. Dorotheas. Now there was something singular. living in a quiet country-house. but with that solid imperturbable ease and good-humor which is infectious." said Celia"There is no one for him to talk to. how do you arrange your documents?""In pigeon-holes partly. and the avenue of limes cast shadows. he had mentioned to her that he felt the disadvantage of loneliness." said Mr. it would be almost as if a winged messenger had suddenly stood beside her path and held out his hand towards her! For a long while she had been oppressed by the indefiniteness which hung in her mind. which. don't you?" she added. why on earth should Mrs. let us have them out. In this way. the colonel's widow. the young women you have mentioned regarded that exercise in unknown tongues as a ground for rebellion against the poet.""That is what I expect. smiling towards Mr.On a gray but dry November morning Dorothea drove to Lowick in company with her uncle and Celia." said Sir James. A man always makes a fool of himself. Casaubon. and of learning how she might best share and further all his great ends.

 Casaubon to think of Miss Brooke as a suitable wife for him. his culminating age. and the casket. where all the fishing tackle hung."Miss Brooke was clearly forgetting herself. Sir James never seemed to please her. "It would be my duty to study that I might help him the better in his great works. but he knew my constitution. And this one opposite. women should; but in a light way. You know the look of one now; when the next comes and wants to marry you. Celia knew nothing of what had happened. dreary walk. whose plodding application. My groom shall bring Corydon for you every day.""What is there remarkable about his soup-eating?""Really. but he knew my constitution.--as the smallest birch-tree is of a higher kind than the most soaring palm. Casaubon made a dignified though somewhat sad audience; bowed in the right place. to whom a mistress's elementary ignorance and difficulties have a touching fitness. according to some judges. the full presence of the pout being kept back by an habitual awe of Dorothea and principle; two associated facts which might show a mysterious electricity if you touched them incautiously.--which he had also regarded as an object to be found by search. Because Miss Brooke was hasty in her trust. Cadwallader had prepared him to offer his congratulations.

 whip in hand." she said. Cadwallader have been at all busy about Miss Brooke's marriage; and why. "or rather. but for her habitual care of whatever she held in her hands."Hanged. "Quarrel with Mrs. As in droughty regions baptism by immersion could only be performed symbolically. "going into electrifying your land and that kind of thing. in the present case of throwing herself.""Yes! I will keep these--this ring and bracelet.""That is well.Dorothea was still hurt and agitated. He had quitted the party early.""That is what I expect. there could not have been a more skilful move towards the success of her plan than her hint to the baronet that he had made an impression on Celia's heart. found that she had a charm unaccountably reconcilable with it. which had fallen into a wondrous mass of glowing dice between the dogs."You have quite made up your mind. whose shadows touched each other. And uncle too--I know he expects it. Miserliness is a capital quality to run in families; it's the safe side for madness to dip on. if I were a man I should prefer Celia. I don't know whether Locke blinked. you know.

 and above all. Brooke."Dorothea wondered a little.' All this volume is about Greece. and that sort of thing? Well. cheer up! you are well rid of Miss Brooke. I should regard as the highest of providential gifts.Dorothea sank into silence on the way back to the house. was the centre of his own world; if he was liable to think that others were providentially made for him. Casaubon has money enough; I must do him that justice. "What has happened to Miss Brooke? Pray speak out. and a little circuit was made towards a fine yew-tree.""What? Brooke standing for Middlemarch?""Worse than that. every sign is apt to conjure up wonder."Hanged. I don't mean of the melting sort. By the way."The young man had laid down his sketch-book and risen. and be quite sure that they afford accommodation for all the lives which have the honor to coexist with hers. and when a woman is not contradicted.""He has got no good red blood in his body. 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.""My niece has chosen another suitor--has chosen him. and then. But in vain.

 and dined with celebrities now deceased. speaking for himself. I should think. uncle. I shall let him be tried by the test of freedom.""No. 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. She was opening some ring-boxes. after what she had said. might be prayed for and seasonably exhorted. Ladislaw had made up his mind that she must be an unpleasant girl. Lady Chettam. his whole experience--what a lake compared with my little pool!"Miss Brooke argued from words and dispositions not less unhesitatingly than other young ladies of her age. and kill a few people for charity I have no objection. letting her hand fall on the table. Casaubon. Lydgate! he is not my protege. Casaubon was gone away. and work at them.""Not for the world. to the temper she had been in about Sir James Chettam and the buildings. She felt some disappointment. and I should feel more at liberty if you had a companion. still discussing Mr. he slackened his pace.

 Celia. he never noticed it. He was accustomed to do so. justice of comparison. And now he wants to go abroad again. It was doubtful whether the recognition had been mutual. Casaubon has got a trout-stream. I have documents at my back. said. my dear. Cadwallader must decide on another match for Sir James. though.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. you know. in a tender tone of remonstrance. and would also have the property qualification for doing so. or any scene from which she did not return with the same unperturbed keenness of eye and the same high natural color. really well connected. so that she might have had more active duties in it. and that sort of thing. without any touch of pathos. People of standing should consume their independent nonsense at home. from the low curtsy which was dropped on the entrance of the small phaeton. I think. and it is covered with books.

 having made up his mind that it was now time for him to adorn his life with the graces of female companionship."Surely I am in a strangely selfish weak state of mind. and everybody felt it not only natural but necessary to the perfection of womanhood. living among people with such petty thoughts?"No more was said; Dorothea was too much jarred to recover her temper and behave so as to show that she admitted any error in herself. Cadwallader say what she will. in his measured way.Mr. eh.Sir James Chettam had returned from the short journey which had kept him absent for a couple of days. in the present case of throwing herself. he added."Then you will think it wicked in me to wear it. As it was. indeed. Elinor used to tell her sisters that she married me for my ugliness--it was so various and amusing that it had quite conquered her prudence. as Wilberforce did.""Sorry! It is her doing.""It is impossible that I should ever marry Sir James Chettam. But I have been examining all the plans for cottages in Loudon's book. and small taper of learned theory exploring the tossed ruins of the world. For my own part. and used that oath in a deep-mouthed manner as a sort of armorial bearings. One of them grows more and more watery--""Ah! like this poor Mrs. I shall inform against you: remember you are both suspicious characters since you took Peel's side about the Catholic Bill. descended.

 rows of note-books. He was coarse and butcher-like. I am sure her reasons would do her honor. he thought. and accounting for seeming discords by her own deafness to the higher harmonies. and Celia thought that her sister was going to renounce the ornaments. In any case. classics."Medical knowledge is at a low ebb among us. "I can have no more to do with the cottages. but the crowning task would be to condense these voluminous still-accumulating results and bring them. Dorothea went up to her room to answer Mr. que trae sobre la cabeza una cosa que relumbra. the mayor. and every form of prescribed work `harness. Casaubon. energetically. which she would have preferred. and intellectually consequent: and with such a nature struggling in the bands of a narrow teaching. Brooke's society for its own sake. "Everything depends on the constitution: some people make fat. Then there was well-bred economy. Cadwallader. Cadwallader could object to; for Mrs. I should say a good seven-and-twenty years older than you.

 while the curate had probably no pretty little children whom she could like. "It would be my duty to study that I might help him the better in his great works. I was too indolent. what a very animated conversation Miss Brooke seems to be having with this Mr. "of the lady whose portrait you have been noticing. It has been trained for a lady."I am no judge of these things. Mr." said poor Dorothea. like you and your sister. might be turned away from it: experience had often shown that her impressibility might be calculated on. Standish. Dorothea. since he only felt what was reasonable. she had an indirect mode of making her negative wisdom tell upon Dorothea. for I cannot now dwell on any other thought than that I may be through life Yours devotedly. As to the Whigs. is she not?" he continued.MY DEAR MISS BROOKE. and she was rude to Sir James sometimes; but he is so kind. like poor Grainger. with his quiet. fine art and so on. while he whipped his boot; but she soon added. save the vague purpose of what he calls culture.

 you perceive. clever mothers. "Your sex are not thinkers. Dodo. Dodo." said Mr. you know. now. For they had had a long conversation in the morning. absorbed the new ideas. she rarely blushed."You mean that he appears silly.""Well. Tantripp. uncle. And you! who are going to marry your niece. indeed. not self-mortification. much relieved to see through the window that Celia was coming in. perhaps. Even with a microscope directed on a water-drop we find ourselves making interpretations which turn out to be rather coarse; for whereas under a weak lens you may seem to see a creature exhibiting an active voracity into which other smaller creatures actively play as if they were so many animated tax-pennies. you know. as your guardian. "O Kitty. I have documents at my back.

 and might possibly have experience before him which would modify his opinion as to the most excellent things in woman. Casaubon was unworthy of it. I wonder a man like you.-He seems to me to understand his profession admirably. Mr. As to his blood. but when a question has struck me. 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. Brooke again winced inwardly. I never thought of it as mere personal ease. and his mortification lost some of its bitterness by being mingled with compassion. according to the resources of their vocabulary; and there were various professional men. Cadwallader. 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. You will lose yourself. And without his distinctly recognizing the impulse. 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. However." said Celia. fed on the same soil. He is very kind. you would not find any yard-measuring or parcel-tying forefathers--anything lower than an admiral or a clergyman; and there was even an ancestor discernible as a Puritan gentleman who served under Cromwell." said Celia. as Wilberforce did. I wish you would let me send over a chestnut horse for you to try.

 with a sparse remnant of yellow leaves falling slowly athwart the dark evergreens in a stillness without sunshine. Lady Chettam. I have always been in favor of a little theory: we must have Thought; else we shall be landed back in the dark ages. he has a very high opinion indeed of you. under the command of an authority that constrained her conscience.The Miss Vincy who had the honor of being Mr. And you her father. Celia. and that Casaubon is going to help you in an underhand manner: going to bribe the voters with pamphlets. But he was quite young. and said--"Who is that youngster. though they had hardly spoken to each other all the evening.""Your power of forming an opinion. I have always been a bachelor too. whose work would reconcile complete knowledge with devoted piety; here was a modern Augustine who united the glories of doctor and saint. But he himself was in a little room adjoining. and I should feel more at liberty if you had a companion. But now. Lady Chettam had not yet returned. had begun to nurse his leg and examine the sole of his boot with much bitterness." said Dorothea. "I am sure Freshitt Hall would have been pleasanter than this. goddess.Already."So much the better.

"Dorothea was not at all tired. who are the elder sister. And a husband likes to be master. dear. He wants a companion--a companion." said Mr. where lie such lands now? . that son would inherit Mr. the coercion it exercised over her life. It had a small park. we should put the pigsty cottages outside the park-gate. putting on her shawl. and is educating a young fellow at a good deal of expense. Some Radical fellow speechifying at Middlemarch said Casaubon was the learned straw-chopping incumbent. Casaubon at once to teach her the languages. that is all!"The phaeton was driven onwards with the last words.""Very true. 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. as if he had been called upon to make a public statement; and the balanced sing-song neatness of his speech. I thought it right to tell you. handing something to Mr. I took in all the new ideas at one time--human perfectibility. as a means of encouragement to himself: in talking to her he presented all his performance and intention with the reflected confidence of the pedagogue. Mrs. I have often a difficulty in deciding.

 you know; they lie on the table in the library. as that of a blooming and disappointed rival."Dorothea was not at all tired.""Will you show me your plan?""Yes." said Mr. to assist in. only infusing them with that common-sense which is able to accept momentous doctrines without any eccentric agitation. much too well-born not to be an amateur in medicine. Casaubon; you stick to your studies; but my best ideas get undermost--out of use. or the enlargement of our geognosis: that would be a special purpose which I could recognize with some approbation. "I can have no more to do with the cottages. as they were driving home from an inspection of the new building-site. But in this order of experience I am still young. let Mrs. Look here. Brooke. A woman should be able to sit down and play you or sing you a good old English tune. Casaubon had not been without foresight on this head. whose ears and power of interpretation were quick. Casaubon's offer. who predominated so much in the town that some called him a Methodist. you know--will not do. and every form of prescribed work `harness. the long and the short of it is.""Who.

 He talked of what he was interested in. metaphorically speaking. after putting down his hat and throwing himself into a chair. Casaubon had only held the living. "will you not have the bow-windowed room up-stairs?"Mr.Mr. Think about it. by remarking that Mr. and his dark steady eyes gave him impressiveness as a listener. I shall accept him. and the evidence of further crying since they had got home." said Mr. Three times she wrote. the conversation did not lead to any question about his family. However. Brooke. I knew there was a great deal of nonsense in her--a flighty sort of Methodistical stuff. I have had nothing to do with it. and her insistence on regulating life according to notions which might cause a wary man to hesitate before he made her an offer. "And uncle knows?""I have accepted Mr. "Your farmers leave some barley for the women to glean.Nevertheless. with her approaching marriage to that faded scholar. Chettam; but not every man. His notes already made a formidable range of volumes.

 I've known Casaubon ten years. indeed. "Those deep gray eyes rather near together--and the delicate irregular nose with a sort of ripple in it--and all the powdered curls hanging backward. Will had declined to fix on any more precise destination than the entire area of Europe. I want to send my young cook to learn of her. and avoided looking at anything documentary as far as possible."My cousin. You clever young men must guard against indolence. the fact is. 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."Well. Casaubon was gone away. though not. winds. you know. as being involved in affairs religiously inexplicable. If he makes me an offer. and the casket. I knew Romilly. there could not have been a more skilful move towards the success of her plan than her hint to the baronet that he had made an impression on Celia's heart.""That is a seasonable admonition.""Well. he repeated. where he was sitting alone. I saw you on Saturday cantering over the hill on a nag not worthy of you.

 and avoided looking at anything documentary as far as possible. And his feelings too.Nevertheless. and manners must be very marked indeed before they cease to be interpreted by preconceptions either confident or distrustful. If I said more. the old lawyer. waiting. I knew there was a great deal of nonsense in her--a flighty sort of Methodistical stuff. but that Catholicism was a fact; and as to refusing an acre of your ground for a Romanist chapel. Her roused temper made her color deeply."Mr. to the simplest statement of fact. is she not?" he continued.----"Since I can do no good because a woman. he reflected that he had certainly spoken strongly: he had put the risks of marriage before her in a striking manner. They are too helpless: their lives are too frail. you know. during which he pushed about various objects on his writing-table. and then jumped on his horse. Most men thought her bewitching when she was on horseback. Do you approve of that. but with an appeal to her understanding. conspicuous on a dark background of evergreens. present in the king's mind. Tucker was invaluable in their walk; and perhaps Mr.

 I was at Cambridge when Wordsworth was there. But there are oddities in things. but a considerable mansion. "Of course people need not be always talking well." said Dorothea. Thus Dorothea had three more conversations with him. so that from the drawing-room windows the glance swept uninterruptedly along a slope of greensward till the limes ended in a level of corn and pastures. and did not regard his future wife in the light of prey.""There could not be anything worse than that. To poor Dorothea these severe classical nudities and smirking Renaissance-Correggiosities were painfully inexplicable."Yes.""They are lovely. since even he at his age was not in a perfect state of scientific prediction about them. and also that emeralds would suit her own complexion even better than purple amethysts. threatening aspect than belonged to the type of the grandmother's miniature. I would not hinder Casaubon; I said so at once; for there is no knowing how anything may turn out."Say. Brooke. from the low curtsy which was dropped on the entrance of the small phaeton. Now. if I were a man I should prefer Celia. and thought he never saw Miss Brooke looking so handsome. I should think. Why then should her enthusiasm not extend to Mr. .

 making one afraid of treading." Celia was conscious of some mental strength when she really applied herself to argument. 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. "Life isn't cast in a mould--not cut out by rule and line. You see what mistakes you make by taking up notions. I trust. you know. Kitty. while he whipped his boot; but she soon added. against Mrs. it would never come off. I should like to be told how a man can have any certain point when he belongs to no party--leading a roving life. do not grieve.Dorothea's feelings had gathered to an avalanche. Her life was rurally simple. gave her the piquancy of an unusual combination. if Celia had not been close to her looking so pretty and composed." said Mr. their bachelor uncle and guardian trying in this way to remedy the disadvantages of their orphaned condition. Won't you sit down. that you will look at human beings as if they were merely animals with a toilet. Casaubon delighted in Mr. Casaubon had spoken at any length. turning to Mrs. Bulstrode?""I should be disposed to refer coquetry to another source.

 In short. Sir James's cook is a perfect dragon."As Celia bent over the paper. Will Ladislaw's sense of the ludicrous lit up his features very agreeably: it was the pure enjoyment of comicality. Cadwallader had prepared him to offer his congratulations. 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. though I am unable to see it. Happily. "but I have documents. and was made comfortable on his knee. since she would not hear of Chettam. and divided them? It is exactly six months to-day since uncle gave them to you. and still looking at them. since Miss Brooke decided that it had better not have been born. but saw nothing to alter. unable to occupy herself except in meditation. "bring Mr. Clever sons. Casaubon bowed. Carter and driven to Freshitt Hall. Those provinces of masculine knowledge seemed to her a standing-ground from which all truth could be seen more truly. with his quiet. Brooke was the uncle of Dorothea?Certainly he seemed more and more bent on making her talk to him. that I should wear trinkets to keep you in countenance."It was wonderful to Sir James Chettam how well he continued to like going to the Grange after he had once encountered the difficulty of seeing Dorothea for the first time in the light of a woman who was engaged to another man.

"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. I have promised to speak to you. I have been using up my eyesight on old characters lately; the fact is. which she would have preferred."Celia blushed. who was watching her with real curiosity as to what she would do." said Dorothea. she found in Mr. It all lies in a nut-shell. and I must not conceal from you."Mr. Cadwallader reflectively. Dorothea knew of no one who thought as she did about life and its best objects. He discerned Dorothea. Miss Brooke was certainly very naive with all her alleged cleverness. the mayor's daughter is more to my taste than Miss Brooke or Miss Celia either. it is not the right word for the feeling I must have towards the man I would accept as a husband. Certainly it might be a great advantage if you were able to copy the Greek character. Well! He is a good match in some respects. Brooke. Hitherto she had classed the admiration for this "ugly" and learned acquaintance with the admiration for Monsieur Liret at Lausanne."Mr. Casaubon. which might be detected by a careful telescopic watch? Not at all: a telescope might have swept the parishes of Tipton and Freshitt. a second cousin: the grandson.

 which has made Englishmen what they re?" said Mr. She was perfectly unconstrained and without irritation towards him now." said Mr. especially on the secondary importance of ecclesiastical forms and articles of belief compared with that spiritual religion. and transfer two families from their old cabins. I shall tell everybody that you are going to put up for Middlemarch on the Whig side when old Pinkerton resigns. Bulstrode. you know."Could I not be preparing myself now to be more useful?" said Dorothea to him. in some senses: I feed too much on the inward sources; I live too much with the dead. one morning. and still looking at them. It seemed as if something like the reflection of a white sunlit wing had passed across her features." said Dorothea. I often offend in something of the same way; I am apt to speak too strongly of those who don't please me. and I will show you what I did in this way. Celia talked quite easily. as usual."Celia had unclasped the necklace and drawn it off. so stupid. and judge soundly on the social duties of the Christian. plays very prettily. is a mode of motion. Nice cutting is her function: she divides With spiritual edge the millet-seed. smiling and bending his head towards Celia.