"I think she couldn't have fallen in love with him, unless he'd shown himself to her as he has. There wouldn't be anything, for _her_, to fall in love with. It was her heart prompted her all the time. But of course she has tried hard to see it all in the light that you have taught her to follow. She would want to satisfy you that she hadn't given her love lightly. She wouldn't have wanted to satisfy herself. She would have known that she was right." "Do you think she's right, Dragon?" "Yes, I do." "And you're not disappointed that this has come about?" "Not for her sake. I am for yours. You would have expected her to shine in the world you belong to, and that she has belonged to. You must suffer somewhat in your just pride in her. But it's a far bigger thing to be able to sink that, and to want only her happiness, and to trust her to know where it lies. You'll certainly have your reward, though it may take some time to get over the disappointment. She'll love and trust you, as she couldn't have done if you had stood out ever so little." "Well, you're very comforting, Dragon. Stimulating too. I told Worthing something of what I'd gone through about it, last night, and said that I shouldn't say as much to anybody else. But you're different. I shall have to stick up to Katharine Handsworth and Mary Grafton, and all the rest of them, when my own feeling will be much the same as theirs. I want something to support me." "Yes. But I think it will all die down sooner than you think. All women are at heart sympathetic with a love match, you know. And they love Caroline. They won't want to make _her_ feel that she is lowering herself." "What about B?" "Caroline has written to her, and to Barbara and Bunting. Whatever B has to say will be said to you, not to Caroline." "B has been more critical of Maurice than anybody, you know." "She will want that forgotten." He was silent for a time, and then asked: "What are Caroline's ideas about getting married? She hasn't said anything to me about that yet." "She has said very little to me. Having her engagement just on the right footing has been enough for her." "Has she said anything at all?" "She would expect to wait, I think, until he got some sort of place; then she would not mind in how small a way they began." "Well, there's no reason why they should begin in such a very small way. If I accept Maurice as the right husband for her, I should naturally do for her what I did for B." He had settled ten thousand pounds on Beatrix. Miss Waterhouse knew this. So did Caroline. "They could marry at any time on that," she said. "And he will be earning something in a few months. Do you want them to marry soon?" "Well now, I'll make a clean breast of it to you, my dear Dragon. As long as they are not married, I shan't be able to prevent myself having a sort of hope that they won't be, after all." She smiled. "You will have more pleasure of her now," she said, "when she is settled in her new life."