There were four
children, but he was the only boy. His mother belonged to an old
and very religious family, and inherited all its traditions of
Calvinistic piety and decorum. Her love for this boy was boundless,
and she had a double ambition for him, which was that he might
become a minister of God's Word, and in due time might marry Jane
Berdoe, the only daughter of the Reverend Charles Berdoe, M.A., and
Euphemia, her dearest friend. Mrs. Cardew had heard so much of the
contamination of boys' schools that Theophilus was educated at home
and sent straight from home to Cambridge. At the University he
became a member of the ultra-evangelical sect of young men there,
and devoted himself entirely to theology. He thus passed through
youth and early manhood without any intercourse with the world so
called, and he lacked that wholesome influence which is exercised by
healthy companionship with those who differ from us and are not
afraid to oppose us. Of course he married Jane Berdoe. His mother
was always contriving that Jane should be present when he was at
home; he was young; he had never known what it was to go astray with
women, and he was unable to stand at a distance from her and ask
himself if he really cared for her. He fell in love with himself,
married himself, and soon after discovered that he did not know who
his wife was. After his marriage he became wholly unjust to her,
and allowed her defects to veil the whole of her character.
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