‘She feels about Walter as I do about Hugo; I am glad that some
one feels about him like that.’
Walter came in then. He had left me alone with his mother for
a talk. He stood beside her with his hand on her shoulder, and
looked at me.
‘Wasn’t I right, Mother?’ he asked softly. ‘Isn’t she all I said?’
He looked flushed and happy; his eyes were shining; I wished
he would not wear those black steel spectacles.
Grandmother went to call on Mrs. Sebright. Grandmother was the
only person who seemed really pleased at the engagement.
She said:
‘I like your young man. He has brains and character. You might
have done worse. You won’t be well off, not at all well off;
but that does not matter; we all value money too highly, and
you will have enough when I die,’
I don’t know what she said to Mrs. Sebright, or Mrs. Sebright
to her, but she was not displeased.
She said:
‘A good woman, I think, but a fool; he must get his brains from
his father. Stupid women often have clever sons; perhaps the
clever men marry them. She will not trouble you, Helen, she won’t
interfere, but you must be kind to her, and attentive.’
I said that I would try. I was grateful to Grandmother for being
pleased at all.