“What did Sir Patrick say to you about Geoffrey this afternoon—while I was out of the room?”
“Only what he said to you. He thought their position toward each other here a very deplorable one. He considered that the reasons were serious for our interfering immediately.”
“Sir Patrick’s own opinion, Julius, goes farther than that.”
“He has not acknowledged it, that I know of.”
“How can he acknowledge it—to us?”
The door opened, and Geoffrey entered the room.
Julius eyed him closely as they shook hands. His eyes were bloodshot; his face was flushed; his utterance was thick—the look of him was the look of a man who had been drinking hard.
“Well?” he said to his mother. “What brings you back?”
“Julius has a proposal to make to you,” Lady Holchester answered. “I approve of it; and I have come with him.”
Geoffrey turned to his brother.