human
Grafton, I've got to get something off my chest, and I may as well do it at once. I think the sooner young Bradby is moved out of here the better.
gpt
You should have said that a fortnight ago, he said.
human
It's too late now, James.
gpt
You don't mean to say--!
human
They've fallen in love with one another. She's as deep in it as he is.
gpt
But--but--but--
human
What do you see in the boy, James? asked Grafton.
gpt
He's been living with you for over a year now. You must know him as well as anybody.
human
What do I see in him? he said.
gpt
I don't see a husband for Caroline in him. I call it an infernal piece of impudence. Surely you're not going to allow it! Why, he's hardly begun his work yet. He couldn't expect to marry anybody, for years to come. And a girl like Caroline! Good Lord! What's the world coming to?
human
I feel as if I was to blame, in bringing him here, he said.
gpt
But I never thought--
human
Well, it's natural that you should take that view, at first. I took it myself when I first had their letters. It was about the biggest startler I've ever had. But you know Caroline, James. She loves him. If you can find the answer to the riddle why she loves him, for yourself--!
gpt
That's not very difficult. He saved her life, and nearly lost his own in doing it. She's been looking after him. Women are like that, and young girls especially. You don't have to know much about them to see that; there are thousands of instances.
human
That's what it will look like to everybody, I know. But it wouldn't be enough for Caroline.
gpt
Caroline's one of the best girls that ever stepped. All your girls are; they're quite out of the common. But human nature works in them just the same as in anybody else. Why, you've seen it yourself, in Beatrix. She fell in love with a wrong 'un. You stopped that; and now she's got the right man. Supposing _she'd_ married the first fellow she fell in love with!
human
You say I stopped it. I've asked myself how much I had to do with stopping it. I got it put off. If he hadn't--
gpt
Well, then, you ought to get this put off--at least. Bradby is a good enough fellow in his own class, but his class isn't Caroline's. That's plain enough! I can't understand your thinking about it all. There isn't a soul in the world who wouldn't think you were justified in stopping it--taking her away, or something; or telling me to clear him out. I'd do it like a shot.
human
It wouldn't make any difference. I've come to see that. I love my little B, but she isn't Caroline. _She_ might have fallen in love--she actually did--with a man who wasn't fit for her to marry. Caroline never would.
gpt
Beatrix would never have fallen in love with Bradby.
human
I know she wouldn't. She wouldn't have seen below the surface. Caroline does, and she finds something there that I confess I haven't been able to see hitherto. That's why I asked you at the beginning what you saw in him. Get rid of all the side issues. He's young; he isn't in a position to marry; he doesn't belong to our sort of people. What is he beneath all that? Or, if you like, what is he going to grow into?
gpt
He's A1 at his work. I've never denied that. He'll get a good job by and bye, and be worth it; but not for a good many years yet.
human
That _is_ one of the side issues. Caroline wouldn't love him because he was likely to get a good job. What is he in himself? Come now, James, you're a man of some perception, and he has lived with you for over a year.
gpt
What is he in himself? Worthing frowned, with the effort to direct his thoughts into the channels required of them.
human
You want me to give you excuses for accepting him,
gpt
Not excuses; reasons. I'll tell you how Caroline sees him. Her words struck me. She said he was big and simple and direct.
human
He's a good fellow, he said.
gpt
He's not always thinking about himself; a nice fellow to live with. Whatever he does he does as well as he can do it. Is that what she means by being direct? He's simple enough, if that's a good quality. I'm not sure that it is. Fellows of our age can say we've hit upon the right sort of life and don't want anything beyond it, but I think a young fellow ought to have some ambition. I've never seen any in him. I doubt if he'd ever move to get himself on; he'd just do his work wherever he was. I don't know what she means by his being big. He's in his right place on the land.
human
That's what she does mean, I think. He's so much in his right place, where most people aren't quite. And the land is big. He's in tune with it. I think that's how she expressed it. It's a bit beyond anything I could have got hold of myself, but it isn't beyond me to take in her view, believing in her as I do. She's big herself, you know, James. And she's simple and direct too. She has found herself, living here in the country. Eighteen months ago she wouldn't have fallen in love with Bradby, any more than B would. She's been getting away from the sort of life she was brought up to all the time. I've known that.
gpt
But do you want that? It means she's getting away from you. I should have thought that was the last thing you'd have wanted.
human
Damn it, man! Can't you see into things a bit? How much do you think I should be likely to want a marriage of this sort for a daughter of mine, if it were left to me? I was absolutely bowled over by it. I'll say that, just once to you, and get it out of the way. I'll say it to nobody else, and I won't let Caroline know it if I can possibly help it. Supposing I stood out! What should I stand out on? On everything that she sees as plainly as I do, but rejects for herself. And what she sees and accepts as all important for her, and for the best part of her, she'd find me incapable of accepting. What could part us more than that? She's made up her mind, and she's sure she's right. She won't change; it would be a come down for her to take the view of it all that strikes you and me. I'm what I am, and what my life has made me. I can't help this being a grievous disappointment to me. I want all sorts of things for her that I've a right to want for my daughter. But if she doesn't want them--if she doesn't think they're the best things--!
gpt
She's bound to miss all she's been brought up to.
human
If I thought she would I might stick out, for her sake. It wouldn't bring _me_ much consolation to stick out. I should only be dividing myself from her, as I did for a time from B. I don't want that again. I've learnt something. I stuck out against that fellow because I felt right through me that he wasn't right in himself, for B. If I stood out against Bradby, it would be because he wasn't a match for Caroline in money and position and all that sort of thing. I'm not going to base myself on all that, and show myself incapable of sharing her bigger ideals. And what would be the good? It would hurt her damnably to know that I couldn't stand beside her on that plane; but she'd never come down to mine.
gpt
If you think of her like that!
human
Well, isn't it the right way to think about her? There are some people in the world whom you can trust never to go wrong. She's one of them. Her mother was another. If her mother had been alive, she'd have backed her up. I've tried my best to stand for what she would have done towards our children, but a man can only make a clumsy job of that at his best. Still, where I see it, I'm going to take her line rather than my own. I'd have trusted her; and I trust Caroline.
gpt
Well, I hope you're right about it. I can't say it looks anything but odd to me. I don't think you can care about it much yourself, either. You must have had a difficult time bringing yourself to your present way of thinking. I can see that. It does you a lot of credit.
human
I trust Caroline. If I don't see it as she does, it's because my ideas aren't likely to be as right as hers. But for my own sake, and hers too, I shall try to see it as she does. And I shall stand between her and her relations. I shan't say as much to any of them as I have to you. We'd better go up to them, I think. Don't let him see what you think about it, more than you can help. Make the best of him.