"Instead I heard a tap, and like lightning it flashed upon me what
was coming. He entered. He stood before me. What his words were you
can imagine; his manner you can hardly realize, nor can I forget
it. He made me for the first time feel what it costs a man to
declare affection when he doubts response.... The spectacle of one
ordinarily so statue-like, thus trembling, stirred, and overcome,
gave me a strange shock. I could only entreat him to leave me then,
and promise a reply on the morrow."
Mr. Bronte, when consulted, was so displeased with the whole proceeding,
and was so weak at this time, that Charlotte, fearing ill consequences
to him, gave Mr. Nichols a refusal, whereupon he resigned his curacy and
left the country. But a year or two after, seeing that Charlotte was
unhappy, and fearing for her health, her father withdrew his opposition;
Mr. Nichols was recalled, and the marriage finally took place. Mrs.
Gaskell says:--
"She expressed herself as thankful to One who had guided her
through much difficulty and much distress and perplexity of mind;
and yet she felt what most thoughtful women do, who marry when the
first flash of careless youth is over, that there was a strange,
half-sad feeling in making announcements of an engagement, for
cares and fears come mingled inextricably with hopes. One great
relief to her mind at this time was derived from the conviction
that her father took a positive pleasure in all the thoughts about
and preparations for her wedding. He was anxious that things should
be expedited, and much interested in preparations for Mr. Nichols's
reception into the household."