This rather annoyed him, but he did not show it. "Oh, well, look at anybody beside Dick!" he said, pinching her chin.
Dinner was announced at that moment, and the subject was avoided until the servant left them alone together. Then Grafton spoke immediately. "Look here, B darling," he said, "I hope you won't go about crabbing this marriage of Cara's. If you do, she's bound to find it out sooner or later, and it will make her unhappy. It won't alter anything. She won't take your view of him, you know, and it can only divide her from you. It will make a cleavage in our family, and that's just what I don't want. You'll each have your own homes, but your old home will be a centre for all of you too. This chap will be part of the family now, and we've got to accept him, for Caroline's sake."
She laughed at him. "This chap!" she repeated. "You darling transparent old thing! You think it's just as odd as I do—her marrying like that. You didn't talk of Dick as 'this chap!'"
He was annoyed with himself for the slip. He had not meant to excuse or explain himself to Beatrix, but now he would have to. "That's just what I was warning you about," he said. "I don't deny that there are certain things one has to get over, and until you do get over them you're likely to let drop something that shows you haven't quite. That's what you must be careful about."
"Well, darling, I'm glad you haven't been so careful as all that, with me. You can quite safely tell me everything. It wouldn't be nice of you to pretend before me. I might think it very splendid of you, but I shouldn't love you more for it. I'm quite ready to back you up in keeping what you really think from Caroline."
He felt the ground slipping from beneath his feet. "What does Dick say about it?" he asked. "Can't he see anything in Maurice that all the world can't see?"
"He thinks he is very nice; but of course he doesn't look upon him as a suitable husband for Caroline. He doesn't think you can either, and he can't make out why you don't try to stop it. You did with me—before—and we've never ceased blessing you for it."
"I didn't try to stop it with you because that fellow—I suppose you've no objection to my calling him that—"
"You can call him what you like, darling."
"Well, I didn't object to him because he hadn't got enough money. That's about what it would come to here."