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Chapter 23: An interview with Joshua

Joshua gazed into the fire. He awaited the arrival of Frederic Ashton Thorpe and considered the situation. So, this was serious courtship. Eleanor had not rebuffed this young man in her usual peremptory fashion, which meant that she did like him. He half-smiled to himself at the tone of the letters she had shown him. Once, at that age, he had written adoring and nonsensical letters to his beloved Maria who had rejected him several times. Nevertheless, he had eventually worn her down. It had taken two proposals of marriage before she had at last agreed. Joshua had always wanted her, certain she was meant for him. Determination had won the day. In Frederic's outpourings, in the tone of his letters, Joshua read the same certainty, the same determination.