Opening her own letter Dorothea saw that it was a lively continuation

of his remonstrance with her fanatical sympathy and her want of sturdy

neutral delight in things as they were--an outpouring of his young

vivacity which it was impossible to read just now. She had immediately

to consider what was to be done about the other letter: there was still

time perhaps to prevent Will from coming to Lowick. Dorothea ended by

giving the letter to her uncle, who was still in the house, and begging

him to let Will know that Mr. Casaubon had been ill, and that his

health would not allow the reception of any visitors.

No one more ready than Mr. Brooke to write a letter: his only

difficulty was to write a short one, and his ideas in this case

expanded over the three large pages and the inward foldings. He had

simply said to Dorothea--

"To be sure, I will write, my dear. He's a very clever young

fellow--this young Ladislaw--I dare say will be a rising young man.

It's a good letter--marks his sense of things, you know. However, I

will tell him about Casaubon."

But the end of Mr. Brooke's pen was a thinking organ, evolving

sentences, especially of a benevolent kind, before the rest of his mind

could well overtake them. It expressed regrets and proposed remedies,

which, when Mr. Brooke read them, seemed felicitously

worded--surprisingly the right thing, and determined a sequel which he

had never before thought of. In this case, his pen found it such a pity

young Ladislaw should not have come into the neighborhood just at

that time, in order that Mr. Brooke might make his acquaintance more

fully, and that they might go over the long-neglected Italian drawings

together--it also felt such an interest in a young man who was starting

in life with a stock of ideas--that by the end of the second page it

had persuaded Mr. Brooke to invite young Ladislaw, since he could not

be received at Lowick, to come to Tipton Grange. Why not? They could

find a great many things to do together, and this was a period of

peculiar growth--the political horizon was expanding, and--in short,

Mr. Brooke's pen went off into a little speech which it had lately

reported for that imperfectly edited organ the "Middlemarch Pioneer."

While Mr. Brooke was sealing this letter, he felt elated with an influx

of dim projects:--a young man capable of putting ideas into form, the

"Pioneer" purchased to clear the pathway for a new candidate, documents

utilized--who knew what might come of it all? Since Celia was going to

marry immediately, it would be very pleasant to have a young fellow at

table with him, at least for a time.




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