Last words of Thomas Carlyle - Warburg Institute

142 WOTTON REINFREDmyself, which she had at first doubted, but nowknew to be generous. As she saw me shrink fromsuch applications, she did not pursue them, buttalked in general of the charms of wealth and highstation, and how precious it was to be loved for one'sown sake. The drift of all this I could not butdivine ; in fact, her whole being seemed possessedwith the project; a glad animation sparkled in herlooks when she spoke of it, a hope and ardour such asI had never seen there before.'Of my own feelings on the matter I could givelittle account. By such influence, with which hisown treatment of me skilfully co-operated, a sort offalse glory had been thrown round this man ;yetsurely, thought I, this is not love ? For I felt, ormight have felt, that I feared and did not trust him,that we were still divided, must for ever be divided.The thought of wedding him was frightful to me, buthis asking me to wed him seemed a thing, with allthe hints I had heard of it,so utterly unlikely that itgave me little trouble. On the whole I was mazed,dazzled, and knew only that in this bewilderment Iknew nothing.'Walter disappointed my calculations ; in a letterfull of cunning rhetoric he declared himself my lover,and offered me his hand ; my aunt had already givenher consent, and he waited only for mine to be thehappiest of living mortals ! What could I do ? whatcould I say ? I wept and sobbed, for there was a