extreme precision upon each side of his narrow forehead; and he had
scanty whiskers of the same unpopular hue, which he was in the habit of
smoothing with a meditative air upon his sallow cheeks with the knobby
fingers of his bony hand. He was of a rather nervous temperament,
inclined to silence, like his big burly friend, William Carley, and had a
deprecating doubtful way of expressing his opinion at all times. In spite
of this humility of manner, however, he cherished a secret pride in his
superior wealth, and was apt to remind his associates, upon occasion,
that he could buy up any one of them without feeling the investment.

After having attained the discreet age of forty-five without being a
victim to the tender passion, Mr. Whitelaw might reasonably have supposed
himself exempt from the weakness so common to mankind. But such
self-gratulation, had he indulged in it, would have been premature; for
after having been a visitor at the Grange, and boon-companion of the
bailiff's for some ten years, it slowly dawned upon him that Ellen Carley
was a very pretty girl, and that he would have her for his wife, and no
other. Her brisk off-hand manner had a kind of charm for his slow
apathetic nature; her rosy brunette face, with its bright black eyes and
flashing teeth, seemed to him the perfection of beauty. But he was not an
impetuous lover. He took his time about the business, coming two or three
times a week to smoke his pipe with William Carley, and paying Nelly some
awkward blundering compliment now and then in his deliberate hesitating
way. He had supreme confidence in his own position and his money, and was
troubled by no doubt as to the ultimate success of his suit. It was true
that Nelly treated him in by no means an encouraging manner--was, indeed,
positively uncivil to him at times; but this he supposed to be mere
feminine coquetry; and it enhanced the attractions of the girl he
designed to make his wife. As to her refusing him when the time came for
his proposal, he could not for a moment imagine such a thing possible. It