holas, he would be obliged to remove his son Michael from the
Master's College.

The idea of removing Michael was Anthony's own inspiration.

Drayton's advice was that he should give Nicky his choice between Oxford
and Germany, the big School of Forestry at Aschaffenburg. If he chose
Germany, he would be well grounded; he could specialize and travel
afterwards.

"Now _that's_ all over," Anthony said, "you two had better come and have
tea with me somewhere."

But there was something in their faces that made him consult his watch
and find that "Oh dear me, no! he was afraid he couldn't." He had an
appointment at five.

When they were well out of sight he locked up his toys in his cabinet,
left the appointment at five to Mr. Vereker, and went home to tell
Frances about the letters he had written to Cambridge and the plans that
had been made for Nicky's future.

"He'll choose Germany," Anthony said. "But that can't be helped."

Frances agreed that they could hardly have hit upon a better plan.

So the affair of Nicky and "Booster's" wife was as if it had never been.
And for that they thanked the blessed common sense and sanity of
Captain Drayton.

And yet Anthony's idea was wrecked by "Booster's" wife. It had come too
late. Anthony had overlooked the fact that his son had seventeen hours'
start of him. He was unaware of the existence of Nicky's own idea; and
he had not allowed for the stiff logic of his position.

When he drove down in his car to St. John's Wood to fetch Nicky, he
found that he had left that afternoon for Chelsea, where, Vera told him,
he had taken rooms.

She gave him the address. It had no significance for Anthony.

Nicky refused to be fetched back from his rooms in Chelsea. For he had
not left his father's house in a huff; he had left it in his wisdom, to
avoid the embarrassment of an incredible position. His position, as he
pointed out to his father, had not changed. He was as big a blackguard
to-day as he was yesterday; the only difference was, that to-morrow or
the next day he would be a self-supporting blackguard.

He wouldn't listen to his father's plan. It was a beautiful plan, but it
would only mean spending more money on him. He'd be pretty good, he
thought, at looking after machinery. He was going to try for a job as a
chauffeur or foreman mechanic. He thought he knew where he could get
one; but supposing he couldn't get it, if his father cared to take him
on at the works for a b