"I do not know, but I judge it to be very probable." She saw him compress his lips, and added: "I think if you were to speak to Lady Barbara -"
"I shall speak to Barbara in good time, but my present business is with Peregrine."
She could not help feeling a little alarmed. He spoke in a grim voice which she had never heard before, and when she stole a glance at his face there was nothing in his expression to reassure her. She said falteringly: "You will do what is right, I am sure."
He glanced down at her, and seeing how anxiously she was looking at him, said with a faint smile, but with a touch of impatience: "My dear Judith, do you suppose I am going to run Peregrine through, or what?"
She lowered her eyes in a little confusion. "Oh! of course not! What an absurd notion! But what do you mean to do?"
"Put an end to this nauseating business," he replied.
"Oh, if you could! Such affairs may so easily lead to disaster!"
"Very easily."
She sighed, and said rather doubtfully: "Do you think that it will answer? I would have spoke to Perry myself, only that I feared to do more harm than good. When he gets these headstrong fits the least hint of oposition seems to make him worse. I begged Worth to intervene, but he declined doing it, and I daresay he was right."
"Worth!" he said. "No, it is not for him to speak to Peregrine. I am the one who is concerned in this, and what I have to say to Peregrine I can assure you he will pay heed to!" He glanced at the clock over the fireplace. and added: "I am going to call at his house now. Don't look so anxious, there is not the least need."