Grafton made his offer to Caroline, and gained all he could have wanted in return from her glowing grateful expression of happiness. "Darling old Daddy, you _are_ good to us," she said. "I do want to begin soon, but I didn't know whether it would be possible. Stone Cottage will be just perfect for us; we shall be near you, which will be lovely. I must go and tell Maurice at once." Maurice thanked Grafton for this extra gift in a way that pleased him. "You've given me Caroline," he said, "and now you've given us both this. I have more to thank you for, Mr. Grafton, than I can ever say." His gratitude showed itself continually in his attitude towards the older man. Grafton knew that affection and admiration were working in his mind towards him, and he had only to stretch out his hand and take it, if he wanted it. The workings of his own mind were contradictory. Outwardly, and with strong restraint over himself, he had done the utmost that could have been expected of him. He had sunk all his grudges, and hidden all his disappointment. But he knew that still more had to be done if he were to gain the contentment in Caroline's marriage that for her sake he was simulating. It could only be done by receiving Maurice as a son, and if he could not do that for Maurice's own sake as well as for Caroline's, she would find it out sooner or later, and her happiness would be dimmed. And her love for himself would have received a hurt. He set himself to talk to Maurice, to find out what was in him, to make contact. He found all the boy's simple philosophy of life good and straight and true, and under the impulse of his great happiness and gratitude he found expression for it. His whole being was set towards Caroline. His ambitions were all towards fitting himself to be her worthy companion in life, and to bringing her the fruit of his gifts. These could never be to any considerable extent those to be exchanged for money, and his thoughts did not run on the lines of a successful career. He would be worth a good position in the limited field to which he would devote his energies, and he took it for granted that it would come to him by and bye. For himself he looked upon it only as giving him further scope for the work for which he was fitting himself. There was never any hint of increased opportunities for his own pleasure in the future. He would have the full fruition of his own desires from the first, and he would owe it to Caroline and in a secondary degree to Grafton. It was she whom he would work and live for. There was a more single-minded devotion in his attitude towards her than in Dick's towards Beatrix. All Dick's life and work would be sweetened by Beatrix's love, but they would be pursued, as the life and work of most men are pursued, for their own ends. Caroline would be the end and aim of Maurice's whole existence.