Charles Russell and of her violent dismissal by her aunt, of which story they were not entirely ignorant, for Lady Thompson had already advised them of these events by letter.
The Reverend Septimus shook his head sadly.

He was not a worldly-minded man; still, to have a presumptive peer for a son-in-law, who would doubtless also become an ambassador, was a prospect that at heart he relinquished with regret.

Also this young Arnott business seemed very vague and unsatisfactory, and there were the other girls and their future to be considered.

No wonder, then, that he shook his kindly grey head and looked somewhat depressed.
But his wife took another line.
"Septimus," she said, "in these matters a woman must judge by her own heart, and you see Barbara is a woman now.

Once, you remember, I had to face something of the same sort, and I do not think, dear, notwithstanding all our troubles, that either of us have regretted our decision." Then they both rose and solemnly kissed each other over Barbara's head..