 his
family connections, and certainly Mr. Casaubon had a claim to be consulted. He
did not speak, but merely bowed.
    »Dear uncle, you know, has many projects. It appears that he has bought one
of the Middlemarch newspapers, and he has asked Mr. Ladislaw to stay in this
neighbourhood and conduct the paper for him, besides helping him in other ways.«
    Dorothea looked at her husband while she spoke, but he had at first blinked
and finally closed his eyes, as if to save them; while his lips became more
tense. »What is your opinion?« she added, rather timidly, after a slight pause.
    »Did Mr. Ladislaw come on purpose to ask my opinion?« said Mr. Casaubon,
opening his eyes narrowly with a knife-edged look at Dorothea. She was really
uncomfortable on the point he inquired about, but she only became a little more
serious, and her eyes did not swerve.
    »No,« she answered, immediately, »he did not say that he came to ask your
opinion. But when he mentioned the proposal, he of course expected me to tell
you of it.«
    Mr. Casaubon was silent.
    »I feared that you might feel some objection. But certainly a young man with
so much talent might be very useful to my uncle - might help him to do good in a
better way. And Mr. Ladislaw wishes to have some fixed occupation. He has been
blamed, he says, for not seeking something of that kind, and he would like to
stay in this neighbourhood because no one cares for him elsewhere.«
    Dorothea felt that this was a consideration to soften her husband. However,
he did not speak, and she presently recurred to Dr. Spanning and the
Archdeacon's breakfast. But there was no longer sunshine on these subjects.
    The next morning, without Dorothea's knowledge, Mr. Casaubon despatched the
following letter, beginning »Dear Mr. Ladislaw« (he had always before addressed
him as »Will«): -
 
        »Mrs. Casaubon informs me that a proposal has been made to you, and
        (according to an inference by no means stretched) has on your part been
        in some degree entertained, which involves your residence in this
        neighbourhood in a capacity which I am justified in saying touches my
        own position in such a way as renders it not only natural and
        warrantable in me when that effect is viewed under the influence of
        legitimate feeling, but incumbent on me when the same effect is
        considered in the light of my responsibilities, to state
