And there was the shock lately given to his health always sadly present

with him. He was certainly much revived; he had recovered all his

usual power of work: the illness might have been mere fatigue, and

there might still be twenty years of achievement before him, which

would justify the thirty years of preparation. That prospect was made

the sweeter by a flavor of vengeance against the hasty sneers of Carp &

Company; for even when Mr. Casaubon was carrying his taper among the

tombs of the past, those modern figures came athwart the dim light, and

interrupted his diligent exploration. To convince Carp of his mistake,

so that he would have to eat his own words with a good deal of

indigestion, would be an agreeable accident of triumphant authorship,

which the prospect of living to future ages on earth and to all

eternity in heaven could not exclude from contemplation. Since, thus,

the prevision of his own unending bliss could not nullify the bitter

savors of irritated jealousy and vindictiveness, it is the less

surprising that the probability of a transient earthly bliss for other

persons, when he himself should have entered into glory, had not a

potently sweetening effect. If the truth should be that some

undermining disease was at work within him, there might be large

opportunity for some people to be the happier when he was gone; and if

one of those people should be Will Ladislaw, Mr. Casaubon objected so

strongly that it seemed as if the annoyance would make part of his

disembodied existence.

This is a very bare and therefore a very incomplete way of putting the

case. The human soul moves in many channels, and Mr. Casaubon, we

know, had a sense of rectitude and an honorable pride in satisfying the

requirements of honor, which compelled him to find other reasons for

his conduct than those of jealousy and vindictiveness. The way in

which Mr. Casaubon put the case was this:--"In marrying Dorothea Brooke

I had to care for her well-being in case of my death. But well-being

is not to be secured by ample, independent possession of property; on

the contrary, occasions might arise in which such possession might

expose her to the more danger. She is ready prey to any man who knows

how to play adroitly either on her affectionate ardor or her Quixotic

enthusiasm; and a man stands by with that very intention in his mind--a

man with no other principle than transient caprice, and who has a

personal animosity towards me--I am sure of it--an animosity which is

fed by the consciousness of his ingratitude, and which he has

constantly vented in ridicule of which I am as well assured as if I had

heard it. Even if I live I shall not be without uneasiness as to what

he may attempt through indirect influence. This man has gained

Dorothea's ear: he has fascinated her attention; he has evidently tried

to impress her mind with the notion that he has claims beyond anything

I have done for him. If I die--and he is waiting here on the watch for

that--he will persuade her to marry him. That would be calamity for

her and success for him. _She_ would not think it calamity: he would

make her believe anything; she has a tendency to immoderate attachment

which she inwardly reproaches me for not responding to, and already her

mind is occupied with his fortunes. He thinks of an easy conquest and

of entering into my nest. That I will hinder! Such a marriage would be

fatal to Dorothea. Has he ever persisted in anything except from

contradiction? In knowledge he has always tried to be showy at small

cost. In religion he could be, as long as it suited him, the facile

echo of Dorothea's vagaries. When was sciolism ever dissociated from

laxity? I utterly distrust his morals, and it is my duty to hinder to

the utmost the fulfilment of his designs."




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