Middlemarch George Eliot (essential reading txt) đ
- Author: George Eliot
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âSome timeâ âwe might,â said Dorothea, in a trembling voice.
âWhen?â said Will, bitterly. âWhat is the use of counting on any success of mine? It is a mere toss up whether I shall ever do more than keep myself decently, unless I choose to sell myself as a mere pen and a mouthpiece. I can see that clearly enough. I could not offer myself to any woman, even if she had no luxuries to renounce.â
There was silence. Dorotheaâs heart was full of something that she wanted to say, and yet the words were too difficult. She was wholly possessed by them: at that moment debate was mute within her. And it was very hard that she could not say what she wanted to say. Will was looking out of the window angrily. If he would have looked at her and not gone away from her side, she thought everything would have been easier. At last he turned, still resting against the chair, and stretching his hand automatically towards his hat, said with a sort of exasperation, âGoodbye.â
âOh, I cannot bear itâ âmy heart will break,â said Dorothea, starting from her seat, the flood of her young passion bearing down all the obstructions which had kept her silentâ âthe great tears rising and falling in an instant: âI donât mind about povertyâ âI hate my wealth.â
In an instant Will was close to her and had his arms round her, but she drew her head back and held his away gently that she might go on speaking, her large tear-filled eyes looking at his very simply, while she said in a sobbing childlike way, âWe could live quite well on my own fortuneâ âit is too muchâ âseven hundred a-yearâ âI want so littleâ âno new clothesâ âand I will learn what everything costs.â
LXXXIVThough it be songe of old and yonge,
That I sholde be to blame,
Theyrs be the charge, that spoke so large
In hurtynge of my name.
It was just after the Lords had thrown out the Reform Bill: that explains how Mr. Cadwallader came to be walking on the slope of the lawn near the great conservatory at Freshitt Hall, holding the Times in his hands behind him, while he talked with a trout-fisherâs dispassionateness about the prospects of the country to Sir James Chettam. Mrs. Cadwallader, the Dowager Lady Chettam, and Celia were sometimes seated on garden-chairs, sometimes walking to meet little Arthur, who was being drawn in his chariot, and, as became the infantine Bouddha, was sheltered by his sacred umbrella with handsome silken fringe.
The ladies also talked politics, though more fitfully. Mrs. Cadwallader was strong on the intended creation of peers: she had it for certain from her cousin that Truberry had gone over to the other side entirely at the instigation of his wife, who had scented peerages in the air from the very first introduction of the Reform question, and would sign her soul away to take precedence of her younger sister, who had married a baronet. Lady Chettam thought that such conduct was very reprehensible, and remembered that Mrs. Truberryâs mother was a Miss Walsingham of Melspring. Celia confessed it was nicer to be âLadyâ than âMrs.,â and that Dodo never minded about precedence if she could have her own way. Mrs. Cadwallader held that it was a poor satisfaction to take precedence when everybody about you knew that you had not a drop of good blood in your veins; and Celia again, stopping to look at Arthur, said, âIt would be very nice, though, if he were a Viscountâ âand his lordshipâs little tooth coming through! He might have been, if James had been an Earl.â
âMy dear Celia,â said the Dowager, âJamesâs title is worth far more than any new earldom. I never wished his father to be anything else than Sir James.â
âOh, I only meant about Arthurâs little tooth,â said Celia, comfortably. âBut see, here is my uncle coming.â
She tripped off to meet her uncle, while Sir James and Mr. Cadwallader came forward to make one group with the ladies. Celia had slipped her arm through her uncleâs, and he patted her hand with a rather melancholy âWell, my dear!â As they approached, it was evident that Mr. Brooke was looking dejected, but this was fully accounted for by the state of politics; and as he was shaking hands all round without more greeting than a âWell, youâre all here, you know,â the Rector said, laughinglyâ â
âDonât take the throwing out of the Bill so much to heart, Brooke; youâve got all the riffraff of the country on your side.â
âThe Bill, eh? ah!â said Mr. Brooke, with a mild distractedness of manner. âThrown out, you know, eh? The Lords are going too far, though. Theyâll have to pull up. Sad news, you know. I mean, here at homeâ âsad news. But you must not blame me, Chettam.â
âWhat is the matter?â said Sir James. âNot another gamekeeper shot, I hope? Itâs what I should expect, when a fellow like Trapping Bass is let off so easily.â
âGamekeeper? No. Let us go in; I can tell you all in the house, you know,â said Mr. Brooke, nodding at the Cadwalladers, to show that he included them in his confidence. âAs to poachers like Trapping Bass, you know, Chettam,â he continued, as they were entering, âwhen you are a magistrate, youâll not find it so easy to commit. Severity is all very well, but itâs a great deal easier when youâve got somebody to do it for you. You have a soft place in your heart yourself, you knowâ âyouâre not a Draco, a Jeffreys, that sort of thing.â
Mr. Brooke was evidently in a state of nervous perturbation. When he had something painful to tell, it was usually his way to introduce it among a number of disjointed particulars, as if it were a medicine that would get a milder flavor by mixing. He continued his chat with Sir James about the poachers until they were all seated, and
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