Orley Farm · Chapter
How Sir Peregrine Did Business with Mr. Round explained
Sir Peregrine, torn between friendship and duty, considers how to act after Lady Mason's confession.
What happens
Sir Peregrine, torn between friendship and duty, considers how to act after Lady Mason's confession. He visits Mr. Round to explore the possibility of returning Orley Farm to Joseph Mason in exchange for dropping the prosecution, but Mr. Round refuses to discuss the matter without authorization. Sir Peregrine returns home, resigned that nothing can be done, while Mrs. Orme fears he may inadvertently betray Lady Mason's secret.
Themes in this chapter
Truth and Deception
Sir Peregrine grapples with the conflict between revealing the truth and protecting Lady Mason; the chapter explores the moral ambiguity of concealing guilt.
Justice and Injustice
The chapter questions whether legal justice can be achieved when all parties—lawyers and friends—doubt the court's ability to find the truth.
Reputation and Scandal
Sir Peregrine is deeply affected by the scandal of his association with a confessed criminal, and the potential ruin of his own reputation.
Characters to notice
- Sir Peregrine Orme
Struggles with his conscience after Lady Mason's confession; visits Mr. Round to negotiate but fails; retreats into silent despair.
- Mrs. Orme
Advocates for Lady Mason's acquittal and fears Sir Peregrine may betray the secret; visits Lady Mason to reassure her.
- Lady Mason
The confessed forger; Mrs. Orme visits her and assures her that Sir Peregrine will not betray her.
- Mr. Round
The attorney; Sir Peregrine consults him about returning the property, but he refuses to act without authorization; privately concludes Lady Mason is guilty.
- Mr. Furnival
Mentioned as Lady Mason's lawyer; Sir Peregrine considers informing him but fears it would cost her her defense.
Key passages
“In the meantime Sir Peregrine was sitting at home trying to determine in what way he should act under the present emergency, actuated as he was on one side by friendship and on the other by duty.”
Sir Peregrine sat at home, torn between his loyalty to Lady Mason and his sense of moral duty.
Establishes Sir Peregrine's internal conflict at the chapter's opening.
“An English judge and an English jury were to him the Palladium of discerning truth.”
He believed that English courts were the ultimate guardians of truth.
Highlights Sir Peregrine's naive faith in the legal system.
“So Mat is right after all!”
So my son Mat was correct all along!
Mr. Round's realization that his son's suspicion of Lady Mason's guilt was true.
“I cannot understand how any gentleman can be willing to use his intellect for the propagation of untruth, and to be paid for so using it.”
The narrator condemns lawyers who knowingly defend guilty clients for profit.
Narrator's moral commentary on the legal profession.
“There was an old poet who said that the wicked man rarely escapes at last. I believe in my heart that he spoke the truth.”
Sir Peregrine quotes an ancient poet to express his belief that criminals are eventually caught.
Reflects Sir Peregrine's fatalistic view of justice.