About a week after that there was a fine dinner given at the vicarage to welcome the curate into the family.

The old squire was invited, but he refused to come.

Violetta's mamma wrote and asked some of her relatives to come down from town.

'Our chosen son-in-law is not rich,' she wrote, 'but he comes of an old family, and that is a great thing.

Dear Violetta will, of course, inherit my own fortune, which will be ample for them, and his good connections, with God's blessing, will complete their happiness.' So they came down.