"Do," said Lydgate; "I trust to the effect of that. He is very much

beloved, but he has his enemies too: there are always people who can't

forgive an able man for differing from them. And that money-winning

business is really a blot. You don't, of course, see many Middlemarch

people: but Mr. Ladislaw, who is constantly seeing Mr. Brooke, is a

great friend of Mr. Farebrother's old ladies, and would be glad to sing

the Vicar's praises. One of the old ladies--Miss Noble, the aunt--is a

wonderfully quaint picture of self-forgetful goodness, and Ladislaw

gallants her about sometimes. I met them one day in a back street: you

know Ladislaw's look--a sort of Daphnis in coat and waistcoat; and this

little old maid reaching up to his arm--they looked like a couple

dropped out of a romantic comedy. But the best evidence about

Farebrother is to see him and hear him."

Happily Dorothea was in her private sitting-room when this conversation

occurred, and there was no one present to make Lydgate's innocent

introduction of Ladislaw painful to her. As was usual with him in

matters of personal gossip, Lydgate had quite forgotten Rosamond's

remark that she thought Will adored Mrs. Casaubon. At that moment he

was only caring for what would recommend the Farebrother family; and he

had purposely given emphasis to the worst that could be said about the

Vicar, in order to forestall objections. In the weeks since Mr.

Casaubon's death he had hardly seen Ladislaw, and he had heard no rumor

to warn him that Mr. Brooke's confidential secretary was a dangerous

subject with Mrs. Casaubon. When he was gone, his picture of Ladislaw

lingered in her mind and disputed the ground with that question of the

Lowick living. What was Will Ladislaw thinking about her? Would he

hear of that fact which made her cheeks burn as they never used to do?

And how would he feel when he heard it?--But she could see as well as

possible how he smiled down at the little old maid. An Italian with

white mice!--on the contrary, he was a creature who entered into every

one's feelings, and could take the pressure of their thought instead of

urging his own with iron resistance.




readonlinefreebook.com Copyright 2016 - 2024