He had supreme confidence in his own position and his money, and was
troubled by no doubt as to the ultimate success of his suit. It was true
that Nelly treated him in by no means an encouraging manner--was, indeed,
positively uncivil to him at times; but this he supposed to be mere
feminine coquetry; and it enhanced the attractions of the girl he
designed to make his wife. As to her refusing him when the time came for
his proposal, he could not for a moment imagine such a thing possible. It
was not in the nature of any woman to refuse to be mistress of Wyncomb,
and to drive her own whitechapel cart--a comfortable hooded vehicle of
the wagonette species, which was popular in those parts.
So Stephen Whitelaw took his time, contented to behold the object of his
affection two or three evenings a week, and to gaze admiringly upon her
beauty as he smoked his pipe in the snug little oak-wainscoted parlour at
the Grange, while his passion grew day by day, until it did really become
a very absorbing feeling, second only to his love of money and Wyncomb
Farm. These dull sluggish natures are capable of deeper passions than the
world gives them credit for; and are as slow to abandon an idea as they
are to entertain it.
It was Ellen Carley's delight to tell Marian of her trouble, and to
protest to this kind confidante again and again that no persuasion or
threats of her father's should ever induce her to marry Stephen
Whitelaw--which resolution Mrs.
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