presented no obstacles; and as
he was a rector, held an excellent living, occupied a good house, and
was supposed even to have private property (though in that the world was
mistaken; every penny of the L5,000 inherited by him from his father had
been devoted to the building and endowing of a new church at his native
village in Lancashire--for he could show a lordly munificence when he
pleased, and if the end was to his liking, never hesitated about making
a grand sacrifice to attain it)--her parents, I say, would have
delivered Hannah over to his lovingkindness and his tender mercies
without one scruple; and the second Mrs. Helstone, inverting the natural
order of insect existence, would have fluttered through the honeymoon a
bright, admired butterfly, and crawled the rest of her days a sordid,
trampled worm.

Little Mr. Sweeting, seated between Mrs. Sykes and Miss Mary, both of
whom were very kind to him, and having a dish of tarts before him, and
marmalade and crumpet upon his plate, looked and felt more content than
any monarch. He was fond of all the Misses Sykes; they were all fond of
him. He thought them magnificent girls, quite proper to mate with one of
his inches. If he had a cause of regret at this blissful moment, it was
that Miss Dora happened to be absent--Dora being the one whom he
secretly hoped one day to call Mrs. David Sweeting, with whom he dreamt
of taking stately walks, leading her like an empress through the village
of Nunnely; and an empress she would have been, if size could make an
empress. She was vast, ponderous. Seen from behind, she had the air of a
very stout lady of forty; but withal she possessed a good face, and no
unkindly character.

The meal at last drew to a close. It would have been over long ago if
Mr. Donne had not persisted in sitting with his cup half full of cold
tea before him, long after the rest had finished and after he himself
had discussed such allowance of viands as he felt competent to
swallow--long, indeed, after signs of impatience had been manifested
all round the board, till chairs were pushed back, till the talk
flagged, till silence fell. Vainly did Caroline inquire repeatedly if he
would have another cup, if he would take a little hot tea, as that must
be cold, etc.; he would neither drink it nor leave it. He seemed to
think that this isolated position of his gave him somehow a certain
importance, that it was dignified and stately to be the last, that it
was