Could I, knowing my mind to be
such as that, conscientiously say that I would take a grave, quiet,
young man like Henry? No, it would have been deceiving him, and
deception of that sort is beneath me. So I wrote a long letter back,
in which I expressed my refusal as gently as I could, and also
candidly avowed my reasons for that refusal. I described to him,
too, the sort of character that would suit him for a wife.--Good-bye,
my dear Ellen.
'C. BRONTE.'
Mr. Nussey was a very good man, with a capacity for making himself
generally esteemed, becoming in turn vicar of Earnley, near Chichester,
and afterwards of Hathersage, in Derbyshire. It was honourable to his
judgment that he had aspired to marry Charlotte Bronte, who, as we know,
had neither money nor much personal attraction, and at the time no
possible prospect of literary fame. Her common-sense letter in reply to
his proposal had the desired effect. He speedily took the proffered
advice, and six months later we find her sending him a letter of
congratulation upon his engagement to be married.
TO REV. HENRY NUSSEY
'HAWORTH, _October_ 28_th_, 1839.
'DEAR SIR,--I have delayed answering your last communication in the
hopes of receiving a letter from Ellen, that I might be able to
transmit to you the latest news from Brookroyd; however, as she does
not write, I think I ought to put off my reply no longer lest you
should begin to think me negligent.
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