Page:Eliot - Middlemarch, vol. II, 1872.djvu/133

This page needs to be proofread.
BOOK III.—WAITING FOR DEATH.
123

remedies, which, when Mr Brooke read them, seemed felicitously worded—surprisingly the right thing, and determined a sequel which he had never before thought of. In this case, his pen found it such a pity young Ladislaw should not have come into the neighbourhood just at that time, in order that Mr Brooke might make his acquaintance more fully, and that they might go over the long-neglected Italian drawings together—it also felt such an interest in a young man who was starting in life with a stock of ideas—that by the end of the second page it had persuaded Mr Brooke to invite young Ladislaw, since he could not be received at Lowick, to come to Tipton Grange. Why not? They could find a great many things to do together, and this was a period of peculiar growth—the political horizon was expanding, and—in short, Mr Brooke's pen went off into a little speech which it had lately reported for that imperfectly edited organ the 'Middlemarch Pioneer.' While Mr Brooke was sealing this letter, he felt elated with an influx of dim projects:—a young man capable of putting ideas into form, the 'Pioneer' purchased to clear the pathway for a new candidate, documents utilized—who knew what might come of it all? Since Celia was going to marry immediately, it would be very pleasant