I was about the closest friend he had, and I saw but little of
him, for I could not get on with him for long together. He said I had no
reverence; whereas I thought that I had plenty of reverence for what
deserved to be revered, but that the gods which he deemed golden were in
reality made of baser metal. He never, as I have said, complained of his
father to me, and his only other friends were, like himself, staid and
prim, of evangelical tendencies, and deeply imbued with a sense of the
sinfulness of any act of insubordination to parents--good young men, in
fact--and one cannot blow off steam to a good young man.
When Christina was informed by her lover of his father's opposition, and
of the time which must probably elapse before they could be married, she
offered--with how much sincerity I know not--to set him free from his
engagement; but Theobald declined to be released--"not at least," as he
said, "at present." Christina and Mrs Allaby knew they could manage him,
and on this not very satisfactory footing the engagement was continued.
His engagement and his refusal to be released at once raised Theobald in
his own good opinion. Dull as he was, he had no small share of quiet
self-approbation.
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