I do not wonder that my boy fell in love with her. You will, too, the moment you see her. As Arthur did... There is nothing much more to tell you about our dinner with Sir Appleton; when he did allow us to begin, I will say that he tried to make amends for any exhibition of what I had better call the business manner.
Of course, when I reached home, I found that I had only got rid of one trouble to make way for another. Arthur... He would have been even more furious if he had been less bewildered, but, as it is, I try to forget and I shall certainly not remind him of certain things that he said about my going to work behind his back, taking decisions over his head. When one has grown attached to a house... Is it not my frame and setting? Is not every corner filled, for me, with memories of the old days when the princess almost lived with us? There was an entirely meaningless explosion at the expense of poor Will, who very properly refused to be drawn into argument and went straight to bed.
"My dear Arthur," I said, "sooner or later this was inevitable. When our boy married, we knew that we should have to go on providing for him. Is it so great a sacrifice that we should move into a smaller house, that you, perhaps, should have to work longer than you had intended? It is to establish our son in life."
When the announcement was published, I invited just the family to a little informal dinner. They were extravagant in their praise of Molly—Spenworth in his hyperbolical manner going so far as to tell her that she was "chucking herself away", as he elegantly put it, on some one who was not good enough for her. I should have thought it possible to pay a compliment without trying to be rude to as many other people as possible...
To do Spenworth justice, he behaved liberally over the money, though he must needs be facetious and tell Will that he would pay twice the sum to keep him out of England. Such humour is a little primitive... I acquit Brackenbury, too, of any illiberality, though Spenworth must needs call this a "thank-offering" ... for some reason...
The marriage, of course, takes place immediately, as they sail the moment Sir Appleton can arrange about their passages. I am sure that it will be a success, though I prefer not to think about it; dearly as I love little Molly, she is robbing me of my boy. As soon as they leave England, I shall go right away for a time. What with one thing and another, the last year has been very exhausting, and Arthur and I have to prepare for a new life and a very different life. The old and the new are bridged by one's friends... Their love follows us into what must inevitably be retirement from the stage on which we have played our little part for our few years... We are abandoning any little niche that we may have occupied...
You I hope to see constantly. At the ceremony, of course, and afterwards here... The princess is coming. Whoever appeals to her graciousness and devotion will never appeal in vain...
THE END
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