“It appears to me, Lady Shelmerdine,” said the goddaughter of Edward Bean, “that this is perhaps a matter for your son and my granddaughter, and that no practical purpose will be served by third and fourth parties discussing it—except, perhaps, in a spirit purely academic.”
In a spirit purely academic! Well done, Peggy, whispered the delighted shade of John Peter Kendall, hovering somewhere in a cornice of the ceiling, immediately above the bust of himself.
“Mrs. Cathcart, as a woman of the world, and as one who is in a position to appreciate the feelings of a mother, I am sure I shall not appeal to you in vain.”
When in doubt, saith the Diplomatist’s Handbook, Suaviter in Modo is a card you should always play. But how often has Grandmamma seen it, in the course of her eighty-four summers, do you suppose?
It was here that the Braided Morning Coat felt it was up to it to say something, and forthwith proceeded to do so.
“I agree with you, ma’am,” said he. “It’s just a matter for Mary and me. She won’t say Yes, and I won’t take No, and there we are at present. But I’m goin’ to ask her again, because I love her and all that, and I know I’m not worthy of her—but I’m goin’ to try to be, and I’m goin’ to see about Parliament at once.”
The silence was ominous.
“That appears to be a perfectly manly and straightforward course to take, Mr. Shelmerdine,” said Grandmamma, breaking the silence rather grimly.
Please observe that she didn’t tell Mother that she declined to sanction the match. In the circumstances, therefore, it is hardly kind to blame Mother for making quite a number of errors.
Of course error the first was to come when Mr. Philip was present in propria persona. But that, we are afraid, was due to the aboriginal defect of a parent in underrating the importance of its offspring. What she ought to have done really, was to have come not as an important unit of the Governing Classes, but to have crept in by stealth, as it were, as the poor human mother humbly craving assistance; and she ought to have kept her foot on the soft pedal throughout the whole of the concerto.