“But, on the contrary, I wish you to tell me.”
She turned her head away, and in a voice that was scarcely perceptible, in a stifled sigh:
“My brother—”
“It is greatly on account of your brother that I wish this marriage.”
Then, suddenly: “Do you think me the man to submit to prejudiced blockheads?”
CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE IMPORTANT QUESTION
Saniel had not waited until this day to acknowledge the salutary influence that Phillis’s presence exercised over him, yet the idea of making her his wife never occurred to him. He thought himself ill-adapted to marriage, and but little desirous of being a husband. Until lately he had had no desire for a home.
This idea came to him suddenly and took strong hold of him; at least as much on account of the calmness he felt in her presence, as by the charm of her manner, her health, happiness, and gayety.
It was not only physical calm that she gave him by a mysterious affinity concerning which his studies told him nothing, but of which he did not the less feel all the force; it was also a moral calm.