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He did not think it necessary to reply to these letters immediately,
nor did he even allude to their contents in his to Ellinor. Mr.
Wilkins, who had been very well satisfied with his own letter to the
young man, and had thought that it must be equally agreeable to every
one, was not at all suspicious of any disapproval, because the fact
of a distinct sanction on the part of Mr. Ralph Corbet's friends to
his engagement was not communicated to him.
As for Ellinor, she trembled all over with happiness. Such a summer
for the blossoming of flowers and ripening of fruit had not been
known for years; it seemed to her as if bountiful loving Nature
wanted to fill the cup of Ellinor's joy to overflowing, and as if
everything, animate and inanimate, sympathised with her happiness.
Her father was well, and apparently content. Miss Monro was very
kind. Dixon's lameness was quite gone off. Only Mr. Dunster came
creeping about the house, on pretence of business, seeking out her
father, and disturbing all his leisure with his dust-coloured
parchment-skinned careworn face, and seeming to disturb the smooth
current of her daily life whenever she saw him.
Ellinor made her appearance at the Hamley assemblies, but with less
eclat than either her father or her lover expected. Her beauty and
natural grace were admired by those who could discriminate; but to
the greater number there was (what they called) "a want of style"--
want of elegance there certainly was not, for her figure was perfect,
and though she moved shyly, she moved well. Perhaps it was not a
good place for a correct appreciation of Miss Wilkins; some of the
old dowagers thought it a piece of presumption in her to be there at
all--but the Lady Holster of the day (who remembered her husband's
quarrel with Mr. Wilkins, and looked away whenever Ellinor came near)
resented this opinion. "Miss Wilkins is descended from Sir Frank's
family, one of the oldest in the county; the objection might have
been made years ago to the father, but as he had been received, she
did not know why Miss Wilkins was to be alluded to as out of her
place." Ellinor's greatest enjoyment in the evening was to hear her
father say, after all was over, and they were driving home -
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