Dick stayed to dinner, and the Prescotts came, and there was an air of excitement and anticipatory pleasure over the whole evening. Beatrix was in much higher spirits than she had been after the news had been broken to Caroline and Miss Waterhouse at tea time. She was flushed and sparkling, and talked continuously. Nor did she withhold from her lover those signs which are so sweet to one who has gained the fulfilment of his hopes, when he has to share his loved one with others, but is made to feel that there is much for him alone. Dick's self-control was not so much in evidence now, however cautiously he seemed to be testing the ice of his happiness and finding it to bear. As a newly engaged couple they fully satisfied Viola Prescott, who said to Caroline in a confidential aside after dinner: "Isn't she adorable over it? I've never seen her look so lovely before. It's happiness that does it all." But Caroline still bore a weight on her heart. She and Beatrix had been alone together for a short time before dinner, and Beatrix had given her some confidences. But they had not been such as to lighten the weight. "He's such a dear!" she had said. "I really had to accept him, though I hadn't meant to just yet. Now I'm glad I have. And I'm sure darling old Dad will be pleased." These were not the confidences that she had given Caroline after her engagement to Lassigny. Their father had not been pleased, but his displeasure had not stemmed the outpourings of love. Now it seemed that to please him was of paramount importance. No answering telegram had come from him, and when Dick and the Prescotts had taken their departure Beatrix showed herself disturbed by this. "Surely he can't be angry this time," she said, "because Dick didn't ask him first, I mean. That's what he didn't like--before. But he must have known that Dick was coming here because of me, and he never tried to stop it, or said anything about it." Caroline and Miss Waterhouse both reassured her. The telegram had gone to the Bank--not very early in the afternoon. He must have left before it came; and it had not been forwarded to him, or else it had not found him before the offices closed. She came to Caroline's room for those preparations for the night which they made together when they wanted to talk. But there were no more confidences of any sort. It was her father whom she still talked of in connection with her engagement and marriage. And she talked of her marriage more than of her engagement, which she seemed to want cut short. With Lassigny she had been quite content to wait. She had talked very little of marriage, and had seemed to have formed no clear picture in her mind of what her life with him would be. She loved him and he loved her, and that was enough.