With a wry smile Tommy Trent gave up the argument; he had no answer to that. Yet he was a little vexed. He was a normal man about money; his two greatest friends--Peggy and Airey Newton--were at the extreme in different directions. What did that signify? Well, after all, something. The attitude people hold towards money is, in one way and another, a curiously far-reaching thing, both in its expression of them and in its effect on others. Just as there was always an awkwardness between Tommy and Airey Newton because Airey would not spend as much as he ought, there was now a hint of tension, of disapproval on one side and of defiance on the other, because Peggy meant to spend all that she had. There is no safety even in having nothing; the problems you escape for yourself you raise for your friends. Peggy, having sworn Tommy to secrecy, turned her head round, saw Arty Kane, could by no means resist the temptation, told him the news, and swore him to secrecy. He gave his word, and remarked across the table to Miles Childwick: 'Peggy's been left a thousand pounds.' 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. 'What a funny way to look at it!' exclaimed Trix, laughing. 'Funny! Why? You know she'll spend it. Oh, perhaps you don't; we do. And when it's gone----' He shrugged his shoulders; her last state would be worse than her first, he meant to say.