"Do you know the story of their marriage?" he asked her.
"She told me that the fathers of both of them had lost all their money before they died, and that their relations on both sides had been very much against their marriage."
"Their fathers were partners in business, and a third partner let them in horribly, and bolted. Before they had time to pull things together both of them died, within a month of one another. Their mothers were both dead too, and they are both only children. It's an extraordinary series of coincidences. The relations on each side accused the other of rank carelessness, and there must have been great carelessness somewhere, though they haven't discovered yet where it was. I dare say they were both happy-go-lucky gentlemen, if they were anything like their offspring, and one was as bad as the other. So both those young people being in the same box they thought the best thing they could do would be to get married."
"She was in a furniture shop for a year after her father died."
"Yes; till he'd managed to save twenty pounds out of his screw to get something to start on. An old aunt of his came round by that time, but he wouldn't take a bob off her. Well, I dare say they've been as happy as most people on his hundred and fifty a year."
"Isn't it wonderful? But they'll be much better off now. You will buy those things for them, won't you, darling?"
"No, Cara, I won't."
"Dad, darling! Why not?"
"I've told you, haven't I?"
She thought for a moment, and then kissed him. "Yes, I see," she said. "You're a clear-sighted old Daddy. I expect you've been itching to do it all the time."