I need hardly say that such a connection would gladden my heart. I
am all for marriage, Howard, for early marriage, the simplest and
best of human experiences; of course it has more sides than one to
it. I should not like it to be supposed that a country parson like
myself had in the smallest degree inveigled a young man of the
highest prospects into a match--there is nothing of the matchmaker
about me; but Maud is in a degree well-connected; and, as you know,
she will be what the country people here call 'well-left'--a terse
phrase, but expressive! I do not see that she would be in any way
unworthy of the position--and I feel that her life here is a little
secluded--I should like her to have a little richer material, so to
speak, to work in. Well, well, we mustn't be too diplomatic about
these things. 'Man proposes'--no humorous suggestion intended--'and
God disposes'--but if it should so turn out, without any scheming
or management--things which I cordially detest--if it should open
out naturally, why, I should be lacking in candour if I pretended
it would not please me. I believe in early engagements, and
romance, and all that--I fear I am terribly sentimental--and it is
just the thing to keep a young man straight. Sir Henry Guthrie
might be disposed to view it in that light--what do you think?"
This ingenuous statement had a very distressing effect on Howard.
It is one thing to dally with a thought, however seriously, in
one's own mind, and something quite different to have it presented
in black and white through the frank conjecture of another.
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