Then he turned to her, saying, 'I take it all on myself. It was really the shortest way, you know.'
Indescribable commotion followed. Everybody had a plan for spending the thousand pounds; each of them appropriated and spent it on the spot; all agreed that Peggy was the wrong person to have it, and that they were immensely glad that she had got it. Suggestions poured in on her. It may be doubted whether the deceased uncle had ever created so much excitement while he lived.
'I propose to do no work for weeks,' said Miles Childwick. 'I shall just come and dine.'
'I think of an édition de luxe,' murmured Arty Kane.
'I shall take nothing but leading business,' said Horace Harnack.
'We shall really have to make a great effort to avoid being maintained,' murmured Mrs. John, surprised into a remark that sounded almost as though it came from her books.
Trix Trevalla had listened to all the chatter with a renewal of her previous pleasure, enjoying it yet the more because, thanks to Fricker's gentlemanly conduct, to the worst of Beaufort Chance being over, and to her imminent triumph, her soul was at peace, and her attention not preoccupied. She, too, found herself rejoicing very heartily for Peggy's sake. She knew what pleasure Peggy would get, what a royal time lay before her.
'She'll spend it all. How will she feel when it's finished?'
The question came from Airey Newton, her neighbour. There was no touch of malice about it; it was put in a full-hearted sympathy.