Page 521 - middlemarch

ous, but our tongues are little triggers which have usually
been pulled before general intentions can be brought to
bear. And it was too intolerable that Casaubon’s dislike of
him should not be fairly accounted for to Dorothea. Yet
when he had spoken he was rather uneasy as to the effect
on her.
But Dorothea was strangely quiet—not immediately in-
dignant, as she had been on a like occasion in Rome. And
the cause lay deep. She was no longer struggling against the
perception of facts, but adjusting herself to their clearest per-
ception; and now when she looked steadily at her husband’s
failure, still more at his possible consciousness of failure,
she seemed to be looking along the one tract where duty be-
came tenderness. Will’s want of reticence might have been
met with more severity, if he had not already been recom-
mended to her mercy by her husband’s dislike, which must
seem hard to her till she saw better reason for it.
She did not answer at once, but after looking down ru-
minatingly she said, with some earnestness, ‘Mr. Casaubon
must have overcome his dislike of you so far as his actions
were concerned: and that is admirable.’
‘Yes; he has shown a sense of justice in family matters.
It was an abominable thing that my grandmother should
have been disinherited because she made what they called
a mesalliance, though there was nothing to be said against
her husband except that he was a Polish refugee who gave
lessons for his bread.’
‘I wish I knew all about her!’ said Dorothea. ‘I wonder
how she bore the change from wealth to poverty: I won-

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