Peregrine waited and calculated how to handle this, a sort of step-by-step of 'things that Picardy might ask about.' He had to complete all the steps to avoid getting sent back here twice in one day, because it was better if he did them all now than if he had to come back.
"Well, do you know when they'll be in?" Peregrine asked, having thought on and prepared this question in the interim. He was using a different tone, a sort of half-annoyed 'can I speak to your manager' tone that he had heard Picardy use and started mimicking. (This was how the upper class operated in the world, it worked for them, Peregrine had no money but had decided to try it out on occasion. In the Umbernauld household such a tone was likely to get one punched, but - here it might work.)
"They were supposed to have arrived this morning."
"Well, do you know when they'll be in?" Peregrine asked, having thought on and prepared this question in the interim. He was using a different tone, a sort of half-annoyed 'can I speak to your manager' tone that he had heard Picardy use and started mimicking. (This was how the upper class operated in the world, it worked for them, Peregrine had no money but had decided to try it out on occasion. In the Umbernauld household such a tone was likely to get one punched, but - here it might work.)
"They were supposed to have arrived this morning."