i saw by her astonished exclamation that he had out our news oh she ejaculated with a meaning look at me i went across the hearth rug i see he has told you mother he wants you to ask him to dinner i have told to lay another cover we ll talk business afterwards said philip put a self made ting his hand over mother s for one instant i m afraid all this is rather sudden to you lady but the end was inevitable and it was just as well that we should get it over if you will allow me to come back to dinner i shall be awfully pleased it was really the most conventional speech that i had yet heard him make mother told him that she should be delighted if he would join us and then he said in quite his ordinary tones that he must hop into a cab and run down to his mother s house to dress he himself away there and then and really i thought the other people would never go some more friends had arrived whilst i was in the and they having come late were apparently determined to remain until our dinner was served really my mother was an admirable hostess she sat patiently talking over the usual fashionable topics of conversation without displaying in the very smallest degree the fever of impatience that must have possessed her at last when the little silver clock on the chimney shelf was pointing to a quarter past seven the last of our visitors departed leaving only paul and ourselves then mother got up and came across the room to me as i turned away from the door my darling she said taking me in her arms and kissing me i am so pleased i am so glad i think he is charming why mother exclaimed what has happened to you i think she thought my mother and i had taken leave of our senses but mother still kept tight hold of me stretching out a hand to my sister a self made dear has happened to me but lord he and are engaged i am sure you must be as pleased as i am oh my dear my dear cried i am indeed delighted i told you mother how much i liked him � so genuine so straightforward so good natured darling accept my congratulations so kissed me and then paul had something to say and he too claimed the privilege of being a brother in law elect and kissed me also i am delighted cried she was and heartily glad and i s an with her feeling far more than anyone might believe for had been from the very first so anxious that i should be a success in that moment my mind travelled back in the curious way that one s mind does at important times to the morning when she sat laboriously flaming concerning my first drawing room and he is coming back to dinner said my mother so you must run away and dress paul shall we see you oh yes i expect you dear boy because this is the first time that you have seen for a week i should like to come back lady if you don t mind if you think i shan t be in the way mother put her white dainty hand most affectionately on his shoulder it s all in the family my dear she said sweetly but do go along remember we dine at eight a self made so paul went away followed down the stairs by and mother turned once again to me come and kiss me my dear child she said my dear little red head you have indeed pleased me not because you are going to marry a nobleman but because i am sure that he is true and good and strong i liked his manly way of coming and telling me his news in spite of there being other people in the room i liked his direct way of making himself at home i think you have made a most wise choice my a most wise choice how pleased and proud i shall be to tell what has happened i believe has been making herself very disagreeable to you mother i said half well a little superior said my mother a little superior and superiority is a little trying to a mother who has done ever in her power to further her children s interests as you have darling as you have chapter xv a rose leaf mothers are seldom satisfied with their sons choice the following morning about eleven o clock lord came and had an interview with ray mother � i mean a business interview i had seen him for two minutes just as he came and he asked me a self made if i would put on my hat and go in the park with him when it was over of course i promised that i would and i put on my prettiest hat a affair of white trimmed with many and some pink and blue ribbon i was wearing a pink morning dress trimmed with a good deal of white it was quite the garment of the kind that i possessed but of course i made myself look as pretty as i possibly could i had been waiting some ten minutes before came up to ask if i was ready and told me that my mother wanted me in the drawing room now my dear child said mother as i entered the room we have finished all our business talk and so go along and enjoy your turn in the park we lunch at half past one my dear philip she added turning to him oh thanks awfully he replied then if you are ready we will go i knew from the faces of both of them that something had gone 