Charlotte, in a whim of delicacy, is displeased that I send the enclosed
letter to you--that her handwriting, forsooth! should go into the hands
of a single man!
There's encouragement for thee, Belford! This is a certain sign that
thou may'st have her if thou wilt. And yet, till she has given me this
unerring demonstration of her glancing towards thee, I could not have
thought it. Indeed I have often in pleasantry told her that I would
bring such an affair to bear. But I never intended it; because she
really is a dainty girl; and thou art such a clumsy fellow in thy person,
that I should as soon have wished her a rhinoceros for a husband as thee.
But, poor little dears! they must stay till their time's come! They
won't have this man, and they won't have that man, from seventeen to
twenty-five: but then, afraid, as the saying is, that God has forgot
them, and finding their bloom departing, they are glad of whom they can
get, and verify the fable of the parson and the pears.