Grafton was soothed in his spirit by this whole-hearted homage paid to his girl. She was worth every bit of it, but a lover does not always honour his mistress for what she is; it is often enough for him if she is what he wants her to be. Grafton would have been up in arms at once if Maurice had shown himself merely overjoyed at winning Caroline, and holding himself as if he had only gained his deserts. He was not prepared to look upon her as fulfilling her destiny in decorating and solacing Maurice's unimportant life, however she might think of herself and her duties towards him. But if Maurice looked upon himself as owing her life-long devotion and service, his relationship towards her brought no sense of assumption to her father. It was the right relationship in his view, and he could rest himself upon it, as the conviction strengthened itself that it was based upon something stable and sure in Maurice's character.
Taking pains to find qualities in him that he had not troubled to look for before, he was inclined to wonder that he had thought him dull and uninteresting in conversation. When he had something real to talk about he could talk as well as another, if he were encouraged to do so. The difference that had always hampered him with Grafton, as a much older man, most of whose experiences and interests were beyond his reach, was being solved by the affection that was reaching out for expression. The most learned of men find pleasure in the conversation of those who are not learned, if it is natural, and especially if there is affection to influence it. And Grafton was not learned; his brains were no better than Maurice's, though expression of them came easier to him.
He knew, by the end of those two days, before he went back to his work in London, that he had only to open his heart to Maurice, and he would gain from him all that a man who loved his daughter could want from her husband. He had Dick's affection and friendship. Maurice's was just as well worth having, and it would be given him in still greater measure.
As he travelled up to London he smiled to himself as he remembered the way the Prescotts had received the news. They were the only people, except Miss Waterhouse and Worthing, who knew of it yet.