"Daddy, darling, how _awful_ this is about Caroline!" was Beatrix's first word upon that subject.
He had not expected quite such a determined expression of opinion, and hardly knew what to reply for the moment. It gave him a slight sinking of heart, he had no time to ask himself why.
"You haven't told her you think it's awful, have you?" he asked.
"Oh, no, of course not. I've written her a very nice letter. So has Dick. And we've both written to Maurice. It seems funny to have to call him Maurice. If she's _got_ to marry him, Dick says we must treat him as if we were pleased about it. And she told us that you had been simply adorable about it. So we knew that was the line you'd like us to take. But you can't really be pleased, are you, Dad?"
"Why do you think it's so awful?" he asked.
"Oh, Daddy, darling, _look_ at him! Look at him beside a man like Dick."
This rather annoyed him, but he did not show it. "Oh, well, look at _anybody_ beside Dick!" he said, pinching her chin.
Dinner was announced at that moment, and the subject was avoided until the servant left them alone together. Then Grafton spoke immediately. "Look here, B darling," he said, "I hope you won't go about crabbing this marriage of Cara's. If you do, she's bound to find it out sooner or later, and it will make her unhappy. It won't alter anything. She won't take your view of him, you know, and it can only divide her from you. It will make a cleavage in our family, and that's just what I don't want. You'll each have your own homes, but your old home will be a centre for all of you too. This chap will be part of the family now, and we've got to accept him, for Caroline's sake."
She laughed at him. "This chap!" she repeated. "You darling transparent old thing! You think it's just as odd as I do--her marrying like that. You didn't talk of Dick as 'this chap!'"
He was annoyed with himself for the slip. He had not meant to excuse or explain himself to Beatrix, but now he would have to. "That's just what I was warning you about," he said. "I don't deny that there are certain things one has to get over, and until you do get over them you're likely to let drop something that shows you haven't quite. That's what you must be careful about."