intermarriage, on whom in this
purely agricultural and rural district the social pleasure and comfort
of Miss Boyce and her mother must depend?

He, like Marcella, did not believe that Richard Boyce's offences were of
the quite unpardonable order; although, owing to a certain absent and
preoccupied temper, he had never yet taken the trouble to enquire into
them in detail. As to any real restoration of cordiality between the
owner of Mellor and his father's old friends and connections, that of
course was not to be looked for; but there should be decent social
recognition, and--in the case of Mrs. Boyce and her daughter--there
should be homage and warm welcome, simply because she wished it, and it
was absurd she should not have it! Raeburn, whose mind was ordinarily
destitute of the most elementary capacity for social intrigue, began to
plot in detail how it should be done. He relied first upon winning his
grandfather--his popular distinguished grandfather, whose lightest word
had weight in Brookshire. And then, he himself had two or three women
friends in the county--not more, for women had not occupied much place
in his thoughts till now. But they were good friends, and, from the
social point of view, important. He would set them to work at once.
These things should be chiefly managed by women.

But no patronage! She would never bear that, the glancing proud
creature. She must guess, indeed, let him tread as delicately as he
might, that he and others were at work for her. But oh! she should be
softly handled; as far as he could achieve it, she should, in a very
little while, live and breathe compassed with warm airs of good-will and
consideration.

He felt himself happy, amazingly happy, that at the very beginning of
his love, it should thus be open to him, in these trivial, foolish ways,
to please and befriend her. Her social dilemma and discomfort one
moment, indeed, made him sore for her; the next, they were a kind of
joy, since it was they gave him this opportunity to put out a strong
right arm.

Everything about her at this moment was divine and lovely to him; all
the qualities of her rich uneven youth which she had shown in their
short intercourse--her rashness, her impulsiveness, her generosity. Let
her but trust herself to him, and she should try her social experiments
as she pleased--she should plan Utopias, and he would be her hodman to
build them. The man perplexed with too much thinking remembered the
g