 know, Chettam,« said Mr. Brooke. »You
wanted him shipped off. I told you Ladislaw was not to be done as we liked with:
he had his ideas. He was a remarkable fellow - I always said he was a remarkable
fellow.«
    »Yes,« said Sir James, unable to repress a retort, »it is rather a pity you
formed that high opinion of him. We are indebted to that for his being lodged in
this neighbourhood. We are indebted to that for seeing a woman like Dorothea
degrading herself by marrying him.« Sir James made little stoppages between his
clauses, the words not coming easily. »A man so marked out by her husband's
will, that delicacy ought to have forbidden her from seeing him again - who
takes her out of her proper rank - into poverty - has the meanness to accept
such a sacrifice - has always had an objectionable position - a bad origin -
and, I believe, is a man of little principle and light character. That is my
opinion,« Sir James ended emphatically, turning aside and crossing his leg.
    »I pointed everything out to her,« said Mr. Brooke, apologetically - »I mean
the poverty, and abandoning her position. I said, My dear, you don't know what
it is to live on seven hundred a-year, and have no carriage, and that kind of
thing, and go amongst people who don't know who you are. I put it strongly to
her. But I advise you to talk to Dorothea herself. The fact is, she has a
dislike to Casaubon's property. You will hear what she says, you know.«
    »No - excuse me - I shall not,« said Sir James, with more coolness. »I
cannot bear to see her again; it is too painful. It hurts me too much that a
woman like Dorothea should have done what is wrong.«
    »Be just, Chettam,« said the easy, large-lipped Rector, who objected to all
this unnecessary discomfort. »Mrs. Casaubon may be acting imprudently: she is
giving up a fortune for the sake of a man, and we men have so poor an opinion of
each other that we can hardly call a woman wise who does that. But I think you
should not condemn it as a wrong action, in the strict sense of the word.«
    »Yes, I do,« answered Sir James. »I think that Dorothea commits a wrong
action in marrying Ladislaw.«
    »
