He bowed over her fingers. “You are very good. I have wished to speak to you, but the disagreements—the estrangement, rather, between your father and mine made me diffident.”
“Oh well, there’s no reason why that should concern us!” said Peregrine, brushing it aside with an airy gesture. “I daresay my uncle is as hasty as my father was, eh, Judith?”
She could not assent to it; he should not be speaking of their father in that fashion to one who was quite a stranger to them.
Mr. Taverner seemed to feel it also. He said: “I believe there were grave faults, but we can hardly judge—I certainly must not. You will understand—it is difficult for me.—But I have already said too much.”
He addressed himself more particularly to Judith. She fancied there was a faint bitterness in the way he spoke. She found herself more than ever disposed to like him. His manner indicated—or so she thought—that he was aware of some behaviour on his father’s part which he could not approve. She respected him for his reticence; he seemed to feel just as he ought. It was with pleasure that she heard Peregrine invite him to dine with them.
He was obliged to excuse himself: he was engaged with his friends; he wished it had been in his power to accept.
He was obviously sincere; he looked disconsolate. For her part Judith was sadly disappointed, but she would neither press him, nor permit Peregrine to do so.
Mr. Taverner bowed over her hand again, and held it a moment. “I am more than sorry. I should have liked excessively—But it must not be. I am promised. May I—you will be open with me, cousin—may I give myself the pleasure of calling on you in town?”
She smiled and gave permission.
“You have a guardian who will advise you,” he said. “I am not acquainted with Lord Worth, but I believe him to be generally very well-liked. He will put you in the way of everything. But if there is at any time anything I can do for you—if you should feel yourselves in want of a friend—I hope you will remember that the wicked cousin would be only too happy to be of service.” It was said with an arch look, and the hint of a smile. He gave Peregrine his card.