"Nothing," Collingwood said.
"There," Peggy went on; "there's nothing to hide."
"Oh, we all know that," Lord Ellerdine said hastily.
Peggy's rising temper almost got the better of her. "Then why the explanation—the 'short, straight, simple tale'? Why not the truth?"
She clenched her hands, and an angry light burned in her eyes. "Oh! I'll leave you for a moment. I must go out. This place is stifling! We ought all to be out in the air. We'll grow mouldy in here—plotting. Alice, I'll put on my hat. Colling, you must invent another tale to satisfy Dicky's scruples. Think it over."
She tore out of the room into her own and shut the door with a rather vicious slam.
"Well, I'm jiggered!" Lord Ellerdine said.
Lady Attwill nodded with a slight tightening of the lips. "I told you she was upset," she answered.
Collingwood rose from the table and went towards his own room.
"Well, Dicky," he said, "I have done the best I can to satisfy you. I'll get my hat and take Peggy for a walk and talk it over." And he also left the room.