`` Not this time , sonny . There are some things a decent man ca n't shirk and one of them is his own boy 's wedding . It 's a nuisance , but I must go through with it . You 'll understand how it is when you 're a family man yourself . By the way , why are n't you a family man by this time ? Why have n't I been put to the bother and inconvenience of attending your wedding before now , son ? '' Selwyn laughed , with a little vibrant note of bitterness in the laughter , which the father 's quick ears detected . `` I 've been too busy with law books , Dad , to find me a wife . '' Mr. Grant shook his bushy grey head . `` That 's not the real reason , son . The world has a wife for every man ; if he has n't found her by the time he 's thirty-five , there 's some real reason for it . Well , I do n't want to pry into yours , but I hope it 's a sound one and not a mean , sneaking , selfish sort of reason . Perhaps you 'll choose a Madam Selwyn some day yet . In case you should I 'm going to give you a small bit of good advice . Your mother -- now , she 's a splendid woman , Selwyn , a splendid woman . She ca n't be matched as a housekeeper and she has improved my finances until I do n't know them when I meet them . She 's been a good wife and a good mother . If I were a young man I 'd court her and marry her over again , that I would . But , son , when you pick a wife pick one with a nice little commonplace nose , not a family nose . Never marry a woman with a family nose , son . ''
A woman XXXXX a family nose came into the library at this juncture and beamed maternally upon them both .
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