"I know not. If I might try!—hush, they are coming back!"
Ravenshaw could hear Sir Peregrine's cracked voice in the passage; but he ventured, quickly:
"I'd fain talk more of this—alone with you. When?"
"When you will," she replied, hurriedly. "I know not your plans."
"In your garden, then," he said at a hazard; "to-morrow at nightfall. Let the side gate be unlocked."
"I'll try. But do not you fail."
"Trust me; and meanwhile, if they turn sudden in the matter, and resolve to have the marriage forthwith, find shift to put it off, though you must e'en fall ill to hinder it."
"I'll vex myself into a fever, if need be!"
Ravenshaw was on his feet when the elder people came in; he advanced toward them as if he had waited impatiently that he might take his leave. As for Mistress Millicent, at sight of Sir Peregrine her face took on at once the petulant, rebellious look it had worn at his departure; no one would have supposed she had conversed during his absence.