His sense of wrong was still
inarticulate, felt as a dull, dead weight ever present day by day, and
if he woke at night-time still continually present, but he hardly knew
what it was. I was about the closest friend he had, and I saw but
little of him, for I could not get on with him for long together. He
said I had no reverence; whereas, I thought that I had plenty of
reverence for what deserved to be revered, but that the gods which
he deemed golden were in reality made of baser metal. He never, as I
have said, complained of his father to me, and his only other
friends were, like himself, staid and prim, of evangelical tendencies,
and deeply imbued with a sense of the sinfulness of any act of
insubordination to parents- good young men, in fact- and one cannot
blow off steam to a good young man.
When Christina was informed by her lover of his father's opposition,
and of the time which must probably elapse before they could be
married, she offered- with how much sincerity I know not to set him
free from his engagement; but Theobald declined to be released- "not
at least," as he said, "at present." Christina and Mrs. Allaby knew
they could manage him, and on this not very satisfactory footing the
engagement was continued.
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