Mr. Pole’s fresh allusion to his cook:  “I hope you don’t think I keep a man!  No; no; not in the country.  Wouldn’t do.  Plays the deuce, you know.  My opinion is, Mrs. Mallow’s as clever as any man-cook going.  I’d back her:”  and Mr. Barrett’s speech:  “She is an excellent person!” delivered briefly, with no obtrusion of weariness, confirmed the triumph of the latter; a triumph all the greater, that he seemed unconscious of it.  They leaped at one bound to the conclusion that there was a romance attached to him.  Do not be startled.  An attested tail-coat, clearly out of its element, must contain a story:  that story must be interesting; until its secret is divulged, the subtle essence of it spreads an aureole around the tail.  The ladies declared, in their subsequent midnight conference, that Mr. Barrett was fit for any society.  They had visions of a great family reduced; of a proud son choosing to earn his bread honourably and humbly, by turning an exquisite taste to account.  Many visions of him they had, and were pleased.

Patronage of those beneath, much more than the courting of those above them, delighted the ladies of Brookfield.  They allowed Emilia to give Mr. Barrett invitations, and he became a frequent visitor; always neat, pathetically well-brushed, and a pleasanter pet than Emilia, because he never shocked their niceties.  He was an excellent talker, and was very soon engaged in regular contests with the argumentative Cornelia.  Their political views were not always the same, as Cornelia sometimes had read the paper before he arrived.  Happily, on questions of religion, they coincided.  Theories of education occupied them mainly.  In these contests Mr. Barrett did not fail to acknowledge his errors, when convicted, and his acknowledgment was hearty and ample.  She had many clear triumphs.  Still, he could be positive; a very great charm in him.  Women cannot repose on a man who is not positive; nor have they much gratification in confounding him.  Wouldst thou, man, amorously inclining! attract to thee superior women, be positive.  Be stupidly positive, rather than dubious at all.  Face fearful questions with a vizor of brass.  Array thyself in dogmas.  Show thy decisive judgement on the side of established power, or thy enthusiasm in the rebel ranks, if it must be so; but be firm.  Waver not.  If women could tolerate waverings and weakness, and did not rush to the adoration of decision of mind, we should not behold them turning contemptuously from philosophers in their agony, to find refuge in the arms of smirking orthodoxy.  I do not say that Mr. Barrett ventured to play the intelligent Cornelia like a fish; but such a fish was best secured by the method he adopted:  that of giving her signal victory in trifles, while on vital matters he held his own.