THE MARRIAGE OF ELINOR 76957 BY MRS. OLIPHANT IN THREE VOLS. VOL. III London MACMILLAN & CO. AND NEW YORK THE MARRIAGE OF ELINOR CHAPTER XXXIII. It is needless to say that the years which developed Elinor's child into a youth on the verge of manhood, had not passed by the others of the family without full evidence of their progress. John Tatham was no longer within the elastic boundaries of that conventional youth which is allowed to stretch so far when a man remains unmarried. He might have been characterized as encore jeune, according to the fine distinction of our neighbours in France, had he desired it. But he did not desire it. He had never altogether neglected society, having a wholesome liking for the company of his fellow creatures, but neither had he ever plunged into it as those do who must keep their places in the crowd or die. John had pursued the middle |