Unfortunately, Percy's not in the best physical condition and sprinting out of the house and down the drive has left him winded. He struggles to keep Maud in sight as she strides briskly along the country lanes. He is further hampered by his footwear; having hurriedly put on the shoes near at hand - his dress shoes from the night before- Percy is rapidly developing blisters. He hobbles along, attempting to keep his sister in sight while staying far enough behind so as not to attract her notice. At one point, Maud stops and looks back, forcing Percy to jump into the deep ditch beside the road and follow her in hiding, slogging through the mud and chased by a suspicious dog.
As it turns out, Maud had been planning to go to George's cottage to ask him to help her contact Geoffrey. When she spotted Percy struggling along behind her, however, she realized a change in plans was necessary. She knocks on the vicarage door and ends up speaking to the young local curate. She tells him that she is frightened: she is out for a walk, and a rough-looking tramp has been following her for miles. Can the curate send him on his way? The young clergyman, dazzled by Maud's beauty and filled with indignation that she should be so accosted on a public road, asks Maud to wait in the house while he deals with the hobo. Maud tells him to be careful- she fears the man may be deranged, as he's been walking in the ditch along the road.
Percy suddenly finds himself confronted by a small bespectacled curate with righteous indignation in his eyes. He tells Percy that he should be ashamed of himself and to take himself off before he calls the authorities. Percy- Lord Belpher- is outraged by this impertinence, not realizing that, red-eyed, unshaven, and in old clothes which are now coated in mud, he looks every inch the tramp Maud called him. He angrily tells the curate that he's Maud's brother. Comparing the respectable young lady in his drawing room with this disreputable creature, the clergyman not unreasonably come to the conclusion that Percy is under the influence of the demon rum. He sternly delivers a sermon to the wretch before him on the evils of strong drink, exhorting him to embrace temperance. At this, Percy loses his temper completely, shouting that he's not leaving until Maud comes out. The curate regards the simmering Percy thoughtfully, then tells him in that case, he'd better come into the vicarage and talk to Maud there. Once inside, the curate opens the door to a room and politely asks Percy to wait in it. Percy limps in and the curate quickly shuts the door and turns the key. Tripping over umbrellas and golf clubs in the dark, Percy realizes that he's been locked in a closet.