"I'll tell you what I'll do, mother. I'll leave the house altogether and go away, if you wish it."
"Oh, Peregrine! How can you speak in that way? But he's waiting now. Pray, pray, be kind in your manner to him."
He descended with the same sort of feeling which had oppressed him on his return home after his encounter with Carroty Bob in Smithfield. Since then he had been on enduring good terms with his grandfather, but now again all the discomforts of war were imminent.
"Good morning, sir," he said, on going into his grandfather's dressing-room.
"Good morning, Peregrine." And then there was silence for a moment or two.
"Did you see your mother last night?"
"Yes; I did see her."
"And she told you what it is that I propose to do?"
"Yes, sir; she told me."
"I hope you understand, my boy, that it will not in any way affect your own interests injuriously."