Philippa was an ecstatic, heart-thumping maiden, and could not
understand how she had deserved to have sent to her such an
illustrious lover, such a travelled personage, such a handsome man.
When he put the question, it was in no clumsy language, such as the
ordinary bucolic county landlords were wont to use on like quivering
occasions, but as elegantly as if he had been taught it in Enfield's
Speaker. Yet he hesitated a little--for he had something to add.
'My pretty Philippa,' he said (she was not very pretty by the way),
'I have, you must know, a little girl dependent upon me: a little
waif I found one day in a patch of wild oats [such was this worthy
baronet's humour] when I was riding home: a little nameless
creature, whom I wish to take care of till she is old enough to take
care of herself; and to educate in a plain way. She is only fifteen
months old, and is at present in the hands of a kind villager's wife
in my parish. Will you object to give some attention to the little
thing in her helplessness?'
It need hardly be said that our innocent young lady, loving him so
deeply and joyfully as she did, replied that she would do all she
could for the nameless child; and, shortly afterwards, the pair were
married in the same cathedral that had echoed the whispers of his
declaration, the officiating minister being the Bishop himself; a
venerable and experienced man, so well accomplished in uniting
people who had a mind for that sort of experiment, that the couple,
with some sense of surprise, found themselves one while they were
still vaguely gazing at each other as two independent beings.
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