to do so. I should not give access to you, or to any other gentleman
merely because he asked it.'

'Let them make inquiry.'

'Mrs. Bolton probably thinks that she already knows enough. What my
father may say I cannot even surmise.'

'Will you tell him?'

'If you wish it.'

'Tell him also that I will wait upon him at once if he desires it. He
shall know everything about my affairs,--which indeed require no
concealment. I can settle enough upon her for her comfort. If she is to
have anything of her own, that will be over and above. As far as I am
concerned myself, I ask no question about that. I think that a man ought
to earn enough for himself and for his wife too. As to religion----'

'If I were you, I would leave that alone,' said the lawyer.

'Perhaps so.'

'I will tell my father. That is all I can say. Good-bye.'

So they parted; and Caldigate, getting on his horse, rode back to
Folking. Looking back at what he had done that day, he was almost
disposed to be contented with it. The lady's too evident hostility was,
of course, to be deprecated;--but then he had expected it. As Robert
Bolton had explained to him very clearly, it was almost impossible that
he should, at the first, be regarded by her with favourable eyes. But he
thought that the brother had been quite as favourable to him as he could
have expected, and the ice was broken. The Bolton family generally would
know what he was about. Hester would not be told, of course;--at any
rate, not at once. But the first steps had been taken, and it must be
for him now so to press the matter that the ultimate decision should be
made to rest in her hands as soon as possible.

'What did Mr. Bolton say to you?' asked the squire.

'I did not see him.'

'And what did the young lady say?'

'I did not see her.'

'Or the mamma?'

'I did see her, and told her my project.'

'I should think she would be startled?'

'She was not very propitious, sir; but that was not to be expected.'

'She is a poor melancholy half-crazed creature, I take it,' said the
squire; 'at least, that is what I hear. The girl, I should think, would
be glad to get away from such a home. But I am afraid you will find a
good many obstacles.' After that nothing more was said about the matter
at Folking for some days.

But there was a great deal said upon the matter both in Cambridge and at
Chesterton. Robert Bolton found his father at the bank on the same
afternoon, and performed his pro