human
I know B has got to marry, he said.
gpt
She's cut out for it. She was so young last year, and it came as a shock to me that she was already of a marriageable age. I couldn't get used to it--that she wasn't mine any more.
human
Do you feel like that about it, Dad?
gpt
I don't now. I've got used to the idea.
human
Of course we shall always be yours, whoever we marry.
gpt
Not as you have been, darling. That's impossible. It was old Lady Mansergh who told me that fathers hated their daughters marrying because they had always been first with them, and couldn't be first any longer. That's true, I suppose, if they marry somebody you can't take in. It would certainly have been true of me if Beatrix had married that fellow. He never spoke of Lassigny by name.
human
But with a man you like and respect it's different. You don't lose everything, even if you can't be first any longer. If he's the right sort of man you gain. I believe your grandfather felt that about me. He loved your mother, and she was very young when we married. He didn't like giving her up, but he was so nice about it that I took particular pains to show him what a lot I thought of him. He was a fine old boy. I wish you'd known him longer, Cara. I believe, when he got used to it, that he was as fond of me as he was of any of his sons. Your mother used to write to him every week, and I used to write to him too. He told me before he died that it had made all the difference to him, the first year of our marriage. She was his only daughter, you see, and that was the time he felt it most.
gpt
Should you have felt like that about Francis, if I had wanted to marry him, Dad?
human
It would rather have depended on how he felt about me,
gpt
Should you about Dick Mansergh?
human
I think I should. Yes, I think I should. I like him. He's straight. And he's companionable too. Besides, he'd be giving her all she ought to have. That would count for a good deal.
gpt
In what way, Dad?
human
Well, you see, you're responsible for bringing up your daughters in a certain way. You take a pride in what they become. You don't want it all thrown away on somebody who isn't up to their level.
gpt
It all sounds very mercenary,
human
I don't think it is. A woman's position is her husband's; until she's married it's her father's. You don't want your daughters lessened. It isn't a question of money. It's like to like. Look at that chap your Aunt Prudence married.
gpt
He had lots of money.
human
It's all he did have. A silly fellow! Nobody thinks anything of him beside her. She has to carry him on her back wherever she goes.
gpt
Poor Aunt Prudence! It's rather pathetic the way she wants people to like him.
human
Women have a wonderful sort of loyalty in that way. She must have found out his deficiencies long ago, but I suppose she wouldn't admit to herself that he has any. It's the people who look on who see it. All of us thought the world of her. She'd have helped on the biggest sort of man. It's all wasted on that rabbit-brained nobody.
gpt
Well, darling, none of us are going to trouble you in that way. I shan't, because I shall certainly want somebody with brains, though I haven't got as many as Aunt Prudence. And I don't think Beatrix will make any marriage that you wouldn't like, now. She's had her lesson, poor darling! She won't let herself be caught again.
human
I really should like her to marry Mansergh, if she cared for him.
gpt
She doesn't yet, dear. But I think she's quite likely to come to it. I rather think that he's strong enough to make her.