"Well, I'm going to give you up, my darling," he said. "I shan't have you alone again before I go. Give me one more kiss all to myself."
She lifted her veil carefully, and held up her sweet, happy face for his kiss. "Mind my hair, Dad," she said.
The church clock struck. "Now we'll go over," he said. "You're not nervous, are you?"
She laughed. "Not a bit," she said. But her hand on his arm trembled a little as they got into the crowded church, and walked up the aisle with all the faces turned or half-turned towards them. That was all the emotion she showed, or had shown. It was all pure untroubled happiness with her.
The reception was held in the drawing-room and morning-room, which opened into one another, and both of them into the formal garden. The broad path which ran along this side of the house had been paved with stone some months before, and the whole space available, indoors and outdoors, permitted of free circulation among the guests.
Lady Mansergh, resplendent in mauve silk, with an enormous picture hat surmounting her red-gold hair, came waddling up to Grafton, her fat good-natured face wreathed in smiles. "Well, it's all over now," she said, "and if you're half as pleased as I am, Mr. Grafton, you're very pleased indeed. What a sweet bride! I've never seen one more lovely. If I'd done what I wanted to I should have broken down and cried. I'm not Dick's mother, but I felt like it. Oh, it's a perfect marriage and I wanted it from the very beginning."
"And yet a year ago, you were telling me that I was spoiling the child's life for her because I wouldn't let her marry somebody else," he said with a smile.
"Ah, you knew better than me, after all," she said, tapping him confidentially on the arm. "But you are pleased this time, aren't you? Dick says if he hadn't been as much in love with the sweet child as he is, he'd have liked to marry her all the same, because of her family. Now that's what I call a real compliment. You are a nice family, you know, and I'm sure I don't know how we did without you all here so long. You are pleased, aren't you, Mr. Grafton?"
"My dear lady, I'm absolutely delighted," he said. "It's just the sort of marriage I should like for all my girls; and Dick is one of the best fellows that ever stepped."
Old Sir Alexander also had a word of satisfaction to express. "Always wanted a daughter," he said, "but never expected to get such a pretty one. Lucky fellow, Dick! Arranged for another wedding present for them this morning, Grafton. Given Dick Manor Farm. Want 'em to make their home there, and have the girl near us when she can't be with Dick. Won't have to wait long, I dare say, before they come in for the lot; but it'll be a few years yet if this infernal lumbago doesn't take me."