I begged him not to marry Ellen yet- not at least until he had known
her for a longer time. He would not hear of it; he had given his word,
and if he had not given it he should go and give it at once. I had
hitherto found him upon most matters singularly docile and easy to
manage, but on this point I could do nothing with him. His recent
victory over his father and mother had increased his strength, and I
was nowhere. I would have told him of his true position, but I knew
very well that this would only make him more bent on having his own
way- for with so much money why should he not please himself? I said
nothing, therefore, on this head, and yet all that I could urge went
for very little with one who believed himself to be an artisan or
nothing.
Really from his own standpoint there was nothing very outrageous
in what he was doing. He had known and been very fond of Ellen years
before. He knew her to come of respectable people, and to have borne a
good character, and to have been universally liked at Battersby. She
was then a quick, smart, hard-working girl -and a very pretty one.
When at last they met again she was on her best behaviour- in fact,
she was modesty and demureness itself.
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