whispered Mrs. Orme to her son as
they passed through the court.

"Do you mean that you will not come to The Cleeve at all?"

"Not to-night; not till the trial be over. Do you remain with your
grandfather."

"I shall be here to-morrow of course to see how you go on."

"But do not leave your grandfather this evening. Give him my love,
and say that I think it best that I should remain at Orley Farm till
the trial be over. And, Peregrine, if I were you I would not talk to
him much about the trial."

"But why not?"

"I will tell you when it is over. But it would only harass him at
the present moment." And then Peregrine handed his mother into the
carriage and took his own way back to The Cleeve.

As he returned he was bewildered in his mind by what he had heard,
and he also began to feel something like a doubt as to Lady Mason's
innocence. Hitherto his belief in it had been as fixed and assured as
that of her own son. Indeed it had never occurred to him as possible
that she could have done the thing with which she was charged. He
had hated Joseph Mason for suspecting her, and had hated Dockwrath
for his presumed falsehood in pretending to suspect her. But
what was he to think of this question now, after hearing the
clear and dispassionate statement of all the circumstances by the
solicitor-general? Hitherto he had understood none of the particulars
of the case; but now the nature of the accusation had been made
plain, and it was evident to him that at any rate that far-sighted
lawyer believed in the truth of his own statement. Could it be
possible that Lady Mason had forged the will,--that this deed had
been done by his mother's friend, by the woman who had so nearly
become Lady Orme of The Cleeve? The idea was terrible to him as he
rode home, but yet he could not rid himself of it. And if this were
so, was it also possible that his grandfather suspected it? Had that
marriage been stopped by any such suspicion as this? Was it this that
had broken the old man down and robbed him of all his spirit? That
his mother could not have any such suspicion seemed to him to be made
clear by the fact that she still treated Lady Mason as her friend.
And then why had he been specially enjoined not to speak to his
grandfather as to the details of the trial?

But it was impossible for him to meet Sir Peregrine without speaking
of the trial. When he entered the house, which he did by some back
entrance from the stables, he found