good; I have learned the downright
folly of being selfish. Caroline, I foresee what I will now foretell.
This war _must_ ere long draw to a close. Trade is likely to prosper for
some years to come. There may be a brief misunderstanding between
England and America, but that will not last. What would you think if,
one day--perhaps ere another ten years elapse--Louis and I divide
Briarfield parish betwixt us? Louis, at any rate, is certain of power
and property. He will not bury his talents. He is a benevolent fellow,
and has, besides, an intellect of his own of no trifling calibre. His
mind is slow but strong. It must work. It may work deliberately, but it
will work well. He will be made magistrate of the district--Shirley says
he shall. She would proceed impetuously and prematurely to obtain for
him this dignity, if he would let her, but he will not. As usual, he
will be in no haste. Ere he has been master of Fieldhead a year all the
district will feel his quiet influence, and acknowledge his unassuming
superiority. A magistrate is wanted; they will, in time, invest him with
the office voluntarily and unreluctantly. Everybody admires his future
wife, and everybody will, in time, like him. He is of the _pate_
generally approved, _bon comme le pain_--daily bread for the most
fastidious, good for the infant and the aged, nourishing for the poor,
wholesome for the rich. Shirley, in spite of her whims and oddities, her
dodges and delays, has an infatuated fondness for him. She will one day
see him as universally beloved as even _she_ could wish. He will also be
universally esteemed, considered, consulted, depended on--too much so.
His advice will be always judicious, his help always good-natured. Ere
long both will be in inconvenient request. He will have to impose
restrictions. As for me, if I succeed as I intend to do, my success will
add to his and Shirley's income. I can double the value of their mill
property. I can line yonder barren Hollow with lines of cottages and
rows of cottage-gardens----"

"Robert! And root up the copse?"

"The copse shall be firewood ere five years elapse. The beautiful wild
ravine shall be a smooth descent; the green natural terrace shall be a
paved street. There shall be cottages in the dark ravine, and cottages
on the lonely slopes. The rough pebbled track shall be an even, firm,
broad, black, sooty road, bedded with the cinders from my mill; and my
mill, Caroline--my mill shall fill its pre