"What I think is that she couldn't have reasoned it out in the way you thought she had. A woman doesn't reason like that—or at least she doesn't. It was just her heart that guided her."
"But she did reason. She told me that if he hadn't been what she has found out for herself that he is, and she'd been inclined to fall in love with him—just in the way you say she has, with gratitude, and pity, working in her—I suppose that's what you mean—she'd have resisted it."
"I think she couldn't have fallen in love with him, unless he'd shown himself to her as he has. There wouldn't be anything, for her, to fall in love with. It was her heart prompted her all the time. But of course she has tried hard to see it all in the light that you have taught her to follow. She would want to satisfy you that she hadn't given her love lightly. She wouldn't have wanted to satisfy herself. She would have known that she was right."
"Do you think she's right, Dragon?"
"Yes, I do."
"And you're not disappointed that this has come about?"
"Not for her sake. I am for yours. You would have expected her to shine in the world you belong to, and that she has belonged to. You must suffer somewhat in your just pride in her. But it's a far bigger thing to be able to sink that, and to want only her happiness, and to trust her to know where it lies. You'll certainly have your reward, though it may take some time to get over the disappointment. She'll love and trust you, as she couldn't have done if you had stood out ever so little."
"Well, you're very comforting, Dragon. Stimulating too. I told Worthing something of what I'd gone through about it, last night, and said that I shouldn't say as much to anybody else. But you're different. I shall have to stick up to Katharine Handsworth and Mary Grafton, and all the rest of them, when my own feeling will be much the same as theirs. I want something to support me."
"Yes. But I think it will all die down sooner than you think. All women are at heart sympathetic with a love match, you know. And they love Caroline. They won't want to make her feel that she is lowering herself."
"What about B?"