"It was rather tiresome to have them all turning up their noses at him," he said. "It reflected on Caroline, and I felt it because of that. For myself I don't mind much. I took my own line long ago, and I've no reason to regret it. If you've done what you think is right, you're not much affected by the opinion of other people, especially when they don't judge by your standards. Do you think my poor little Caroline noticed it?" "Noticed the sort of atmosphere of disapproval, do you mean?" "She can hardly have helped noticing it. Did she mind?" "I expect she would rather not have had him subjected to that test. It's the worst he'll ever have to go through, poor boy. But she would look upon it in the same way as you do--only more so. She would know that they couldn't judge him as she does. I expect it would make her feel all the more tender towards him. What he is is for her alone." "Then I don't think we need worry. And it's all over for her now. All over for me, too. Ella, I'm feeling it damnably. I came out to get myself straight. As you've come with me you must allow me to be purely egoistic. I want to go back rather happier than I came out. You helped me before; I believe you can help me now." "I'll try," she said. "I expect I know something about it." "I don't think you can know much, my dear. It will be a good many years yet before you have to face the fact that you're getting old." She laughed lightly. "If that's what's the matter with you," she said, "I can sweep the trouble away altogether. You've always seemed to me about as young as any of us, and you'll go on being young till you die. It isn't a question of years. I thought it was the reaction of the last few months." "Well, I suppose it is. But what do you mean by that?" "I think you've behaved most awfully well," she said. "I've admired you very much for it, and I'm glad I can say so." "Oh, you mean about accepting Maurice. But that's all over long ago. It was a bit difficult at first, but it hasn't been difficult lately. No, it isn't that, except that the late performance hasn't cheered me up exactly. I think I should feel just the same if Caroline had married somebody that all the world would have accepted as suited to her. It has brought my life as I've lived it to an end. That's what's the matter with me, Ella. I've got to rearrange it for myself, and it's rather a bleak prospect." "Tell me about it," she said. "I don't quite see." "Well, I suppose most men of my sort, who have work that suits them, and enough money to get all the pleasures they want, are more or less content with that when they get to my age, even if their children mean a good deal to them. But I'm not. Family life has been the best thing I've had, and I don't know what I shall do without it." "You haven't lost them all, have you? And when you come down here you'll have Caroline almost as much as before."