Edmund Yates 
A Righted Wrong, Volume 2 (of 3) / A Novel. [EPUB ebook] 

Excerpt from A Righted Wrong, Vol. 2: A Novel
It was a position in which few men would have failed to look silly, that of talking over a love affair, in the ante-pro posal stage, with a sister. But Mr. Bald win was one of those men who never can be made to look silly, who have about them an inborn dignity and entire single ness of purpose which are effectual pre servatives against the faintest touch of the ridiculous in their words or actions.