When Mr. Wilkins received this letter it startled him out of a happy day-
dream. He liked Ralph Corbet and the whole connection quite well enough
to give his consent to an engagement; and sometimes even he was glad to
think that Ellinor's future was assured, and that she would have a
protector and friends after he was dead and gone. But he did not want
them to assume their responsibilities so soon. He had not distinctly
contemplated her marriage as an event likely to happen before his death.
He could not understand how his own life would go on without her: or
indeed why she and Ralph Corbet could not continue just as they were at
present. He came down to breakfast with the letter in his hand. By
Ellinor's blushes, as she glanced at the handwriting, he knew that she
had heard from her lover by the same post; by her tender
caresses--caresses given as if to make up for the pain which the prospect
of her leaving him was sure to cause him--he was certain that she was
aware of the contents of the letter. Yet he put it in his pocket, and
tried to forget it.
He did this not merely from his reluctance to complete any arrangements
which might facilitate Ellinor's marriage. There was a further annoyance
connected with the affair. His money matters had been for some time in
an involved state; he had been living beyond his income, even reckoning
that, as he always did, at the highest point which it ever touched.
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