"Oh, do let's go away."However, though he had never deceived himself that Rose's sympathetic tendernesses meant any real sharing of his ambition, he was soon convinced that to marry her[Pg 253] would be materially to help himself in the battle which was now dragging a little on his side. He wanted ready money��her settlements would provide that; and her heirship of Lardner held out dazzling hopes for the future. He wanted children��where could he find a healthier mother? He wanted to raise the dignity of Odiam, and could hardly have thought of a better means than marriage with the niece of one of the wealthiest and most important farmers in the parish. To crown all, he gave himself an adorable woman, young, lovely, tender, and gay. This consideration could not have dragged him contrary to his ambition, but combined with it, it could give to an otherwise very practical and material plan all the heats of passion and the glories of romance.
FORE:Reuben was paralysed with horror. In another minute they would break down his hedge��a good young hedge that had cost him a pretty penny��and be all over his roots. For a moment he stood as if fixed to the spot, then suddenly he pulled himself together. At all costs he must save his roots. He could not tackle the women single-handed, so he must go for the madman."Gone!"
Holgrave, struck with awe, relinquished his hold, and Black Jack and his jurors instantly fled."Oh, do let's go away."Throw your bonds to the winds, ye Electors��for knowIn the autumn Reuben bought ten more acres of Boarzell��a better piece of land than the first, more sheltered, with more clay in the soil. Hops would do well on the lower part of it down by the brook.