"Well, yes, I have. I'm supposed to be rather a sap at school. But I find it rather jolly to take an intelligent interest in what I'm doing. Saves a lot of trouble with the beaks too."
"You never told me that, old boy. I'm glad to hear it."
"Well, I thought you were keener on my getting my eleven some day, Dad."
Grafton laughed. "Oh, we fathers!" he said. "And then they complain of a public-school education. But I like the idea of your working too, Bunting. I'm afraid I had nobody to string me up to it when I was at school; but I've done some work since, and liked doing it as well as anything. You'll find most men who are worth anything do. And certainly school work is interesting if you make it so for yourself. Maurice is a worker, isn't he? That's something good about him."
"Oh, yes; and he's dead straight too. He's a chap you can't help having a respect for. Of course I like Dick, awfully. He's straight too, and keen on his job. But I think there's even more in Maurice than there is in Dick. He wouldn't have done for B, but he'll do all right for Caroline. He thinks all the world of her, too. I know that."
"Did you see this coming, then, Bunting?"
"Well, no, I didn't. I didn't think she liked him in that sort of way, though she was always jolly decent to him. She seemed a lot older than him, and of course he is a bit different from the men she's made friends with before. But I'm glad she's had the sense to see what a good chap he is. Jimmy says she might have married anybody, and it's a come-down for her. But I don't think so."
"Nor do I, old son," said Grafton. "Nothing that Caroline could possibly do would be a come-down for her. She's one of the people you can always trust to do what's right."
"No, old boy. She gets it from somebody much better than me."
Caroline was married at the beginning of the year. The Abbey was full of guests, as for Beatrix's wedding, but there was no occasion to find other rooms elsewhere; there had not been such a demand for invitations. Caroline had wanted a very quiet wedding. She was not going to marry into a more or less exalted position, as Beatrix had done, and was going to begin, and continue, her married life in a very modest way. But her father had wanted no difference made between her and Beatrix, and she had given way.