"B has been more critical of Maurice than anybody, you know."
He was silent for a time, and then asked: "What are Caroline's ideas about getting married? She hasn't said anything to me about that yet."
"She has said very little to me. Having her engagement just on the right footing has been enough for her."
"She would expect to wait, I think, until he got some sort of place; then she would not mind in how small a way they began."
"Well, there's no reason why they should begin in such a very small way. If I accept Maurice as the right husband for her, I should naturally do for her what I did for B."
He had settled ten thousand pounds on Beatrix. Miss Waterhouse knew this. So did Caroline.
"They could marry at any time on that," she said. "And he will be earning something in a few months. Do you want them to marry soon?"
"Well now, I'll make a clean breast of it to you, my dear Dragon. As long as they are not married, I shan't be able to prevent myself having a sort of hope that they won't be, after all."
She smiled. "You will have more pleasure of her now," she said, "when she is settled in her new life."
"That's what I've told myself. She will be very careful, I know, to let it make as little difference between her and me as possible. But it can't be quite the same as it has been. She has given her love to him, and I must be second where I've been first. But when she's once married he'll have his place and I shall have mine. We shan't clash in any way. I'm happier about B now than I was for the month or two before she was married."
It was the first time he had alluded to Beatrix's attitude towards him at that time.
"I think B was selfish," she said at once. "Caroline won't be like that. Her love is as deep as B's--deeper, for she has a deeper nature--but it will not carry her away in the same way. She will never hurt others who love her."
"I should like to see her happily married, you know. She'll be more than she's ever been. It will complete her. She's one of the _right_ people, Dragon. The deeper you go down, the more you find."
"Yes, she's like that, the dear child. And she has gained greatly in character since we came to live here."
"Oh, yes. It's the good simplicity in her."