Lady Mansergh, resplendent in mauve silk, with an enormous picture hat surmounting her red-gold hair, came waddling up to Grafton, her fat good-natured face wreathed in smiles. "Well, it's all over now," she said, "and if you're half as pleased as I am, Mr. Grafton, you're very pleased indeed. What a _sweet_ bride! I've never seen one more lovely. If I'd done what I wanted to I should have broken down and cried. I'm not Dick's mother, but I felt like it. Oh, it's a _perfect_ marriage and I wanted it from the very beginning." "And yet a year ago, you were telling me that I was spoiling the child's life for her because I wouldn't let her marry somebody else," he said with a smile. "Ah, you knew better than me, after all," she said, tapping him confidentially on the arm. "But you _are_ pleased this time, aren't you? Dick says if he hadn't been as much in love with the sweet child as he is, he'd have liked to marry her all the same, because of her family. Now that's what I call a _real_ compliment. You _are_ a nice family, you know, and I'm sure I don't know how we did without you all here so long. You _are_ pleased, aren't you, Mr. Grafton?" "My dear lady, I'm absolutely delighted," he said. "It's just the sort of marriage I should like for all my girls; and Dick is one of the best fellows that ever stepped." Old Sir Alexander also had a word of satisfaction to express. "Always wanted a daughter," he said, "but never expected to get such a pretty one. Lucky fellow, Dick! Arranged for another wedding present for them this morning, Grafton. Given Dick Manor Farm. Want 'em to make their home there, and have the girl near us when she can't be with Dick. Won't have to wait long, I dare say, before they come in for the lot; but it'll be a few years yet if this infernal lumbago doesn't take me." "Manor Farm! That's the old house right the other end of your property, isn't it?" "Yes, it's a pity it isn't this end. Then we could have had her between us. Still, it's one of the prettiest houses I've got, and I'm going to put it back to what it was before it was turned into a farmhouse, and make it all nice for 'em. I've told the child, and she's delighted. She knows how to play the daughter, Grafton. She'll make a lot of difference to me in my old age, bless her!" Grafton had already been bombarded with congratulations from his own and his wife's relations, but they were not over yet, nor would be until the guests had all departed. Lady Grafton, who had remonstrated with him about his refusal to accept Lassigny as the desired husband for Beatrix, had admitted handsomely that this was a far more satisfactory marriage for her, but was never tired of hearing him say so. She came up to him with a glass of champagne in one hand and a piece of wedding cake in the other.