wife had lost her head and made hysterical love to him, and had
been so frightened at what she had done that she had made him promise on
his word of honour that, whatever happened, he wouldn't give her away to
anybody, not even to his own people.

He supposed that either Peggy had given herself away, or that poor old
"Booster" had found her out. He supposed that, having found her out,
there was no other line that "Booster" could have taken. Anyhow, there
was no other line that _he_ could take; because, in the world where
these things happened, being found out would be fifty times worse for
Peggy than it would be for him.

He tried to recall the scene in the back drawing-room where she had
asked him so often to have tea with her alone. The most vivid part was
the end of it, after he had given his promise. Peggy had broken down and
put her head on his shoulder and cried like anything. And it was at that
moment that Nicky thought of "Booster," and how awful and yet how funny
it would be if he walked into the room and saw him there. He had tried
hard not to think what "Booster's" face would look like; he had tried
hard not to laugh as long as Peggy's head was on his shoulder, for fear
of hurting her feelings; but when she took it off he did give one
half-strangled snort; for it really was the rummest thing that had ever
happened to him.

He didn't know, and he couldn't possibly have guessed, that as soon as
the door had shut on him Peggy's passion had turned to rage and utter
detestation of Nicky (for she had heard the snort); and that she had
gone straight to her husband's study and put her head on _his_ shoulder,
and cried, and told him a lie; and that it was Peggy's lie and not the
Professor's imagination that had caused him to be sent down. And even if
Peggy had not been Lord Somebody's daughter and related to all sorts of
influential people she would still have been capable of turning every
male head in the University. For she was a small, gentle woman with
enchanting manners and the most beautiful and pathetic eyes, and she had
not yet been found out. Therefore it was more likely that an
undergraduate with a face like Nicky's should lose his head than that a
woman with a face like Peggy's should, for no conceivable reason, tell a
lie. So that, even if Nicky's word of honour had not been previously
pledged to his accuser, it would have had no chance against any
statement that she chose to make. And even if he had kno