It was a fortnight later that there came suddenly to Babington House old
Mr. Biddell himself. Up to the present he had been careful not to do so.
He appeared in the great hall an hour before dinner-time, as the tables
were being set, and sent a servant for Mistress Manners.
"Hark you!" he said; "you need not rouse the whole house. It is with
Mistress Manners alone that my business lies."
He broke off, as Mrs. FitzHerbert looked over the gallery.
"Mr. Biddell!" she cried.
He shook his head, but he seemed to speak with some difficulty.
"It is just a rumour," he said, "such as there hath been before. I beg you—"
"That … there will be no trial at all?"
"It is just a rumour," he repeated. "I did not even come to trouble you with it. It is with Mistress Manners that—"
"I am coming down," cried Mrs. Thomas, and vanished from the gallery.
Mr. Biddell acted with decision. He whisked out again into the passage from the court, and there ran straight into Marjorie, who was coming in from the little enclosed garden at the back of the house.