There was in her a quality essentially maternal . It was Saturday night and he did not often go calling on Saturday night , which was supposed to be dedicated to a thoughtful revision of Sunday 's sermon . But he had chosen this night because he had learned that Ellen West was going to be away and Rosemary would be alone . Often as he had spent pleasant evenings in the house on the hill he had never , since that first meeting at the spring , seen Rosemary alone . Ellen had always been there . He did not precisely object to Ellen being there . He liked Ellen West very much and they were the best of friends . Ellen had an almost masculine understanding and a sense of humour which his own shy , hidden appreciation of fun found very agreeable . He liked her interest in politics and world events . There was no man in the Glen , not even excepting Dr. Blythe , who had a better grasp of such things . `` I think it is just as well to be interested in things as long as you live , '' she had said . `` If you 're not , it does n't seem to me that there 's much difference between the quick and the dead . '' He liked her pleasant , deep , rumbly voice ; he liked the hearty laugh with which she always ended up some jolly and well-told story . She never gave him digs about his children as other Glen women did ; she never bored him with local gossip ; she had no malice and no pettiness . She was always splendidly sincere . Mr. Meredith , who had picked up Miss Cornelia 's way of classifying people , considered that Ellen belonged to the race of Joseph . Altogether , an admirable woman for a sister-in-law . Nevertheless , a man did not want even the most admirable of women around when he was proposing to another woman . And Ellen was always around . She did not insist on talking to Mr. Meredith herself all the time .
She let Rosemary have a fair share XXXXX him .
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