When Perse gets into trouble by sending poison pen letters to a number of villagers Clementine Kemble once more takes the initiative. To protect her girl from being found out she deliberately spreads the rumour that it was her husband who, allegedly in a temporary state of overwork and confusion, has written and dispatched them. Harry Kemble is furious when she tells him, but at the same time can do nothing about it except thinking about relocating to another part of the country—maybe Sark.