"I am no enthusiast," he next averred,--Rosa would have said, very
unnecessarily--"the tricks of sighing lovers are beyond--or
beneath--my imitation. I could not 'write a sonnet to my mistress'
eyebrow,' or move her to tearful pity by sounding declarations of my
adoration of her peerless charms, and my anguish at the bare
imagination of the possibility that these would ever be another's.
But, so far as the earnest affection and sincere esteem of an honest
man can satisfy the requirements of a good woman's heart, yours
shall be filled, Mabel, if you will be my wife. I have admired you
from the first day of our meeting. For six months I have been truly
attached to you, and seriously meditated this declaration. Your
brother is satisfied with the exhibit I have made of my affairs and
my prospects, and sanctions my addresses. I can maintain you more
than comfortably, and it shall be one of the principal aims of my
life to consult your welfare in all my plans for my own advancement.
I have been settled in the large and flourishing city of Albany
about seven years, and--ignoring the trammels of mock humility, let
me say to you--have, within that period, gained to a flattering
extent the confidence of the most respectable portion of the
community; have built up an excellent and growing business
connection, and secured the entree of the best society there. These
are the pecuniary and social aspects of the alliance I propose for
your consideration. Through my sister, and by means of the intimate
association into which her marriage with your brother has drawn you
and myself, you have been enabled, within the twelvemonth that has
elapsed since our introduction, one to the other, to learn whatever
you wished to know with respect to my personal character, my tastes,
temper, and habits. It has given me heartfelt pleasure to discover
that these are, in the main, analogous to your own. I have built
upon this similarity--or harmony would be the better word--sanguine
hopes of our future happiness, should you see your way clear to
accept my proffered hand, consent to link your future with mine."
"I beg to lay the 'ouse in Walcot Square, the business and myself,
before Miss Summerson, for her acceptance," said magnanimous Mr.
Guppy, thus clinching his declaration that "the image he had
supposed was eradicated from his 'art was NOT eradicated."
It was more in keeping with Rosa's character than Mabel's to
recollect the comic scene in the book they had read together lately,
but the latter did remember it at this instant, and despite the
momentous issues involved in her immediate action, was strongly
tempted to laugh in her wooer's solemn face.