"You'd better go. The dad'll be better than a[Pg 453] policeman anyhow. Try and smooth him down a bit on the way."Calverley had intended to see Margaret again before leaving the castle; but De Boteler, having changed the hour he had appointed, there was not a moment to spare from the necessary arrangements. Never before had Calverley's assumed equanimity of temper been so severely tried; the patient attention with which he listened, and the prompt assiduity with which he executed a thousand trifling commandsalthough, from the force with which he bit his underlip, he was frequently compelled to wipe away the blood from his mouthshewed the absolute control he had acquired over his feelingsat least so far as the exterior was concerned.Bertie's pride was wounded by this suggestion, which was, however, soundly based on precedent, and he entered the kitchen with something very like a swagger.