[ -- peggy isn't a natural clown. or a clown at all, really. but she does like to elicit laughter in others. there's a kind of victory in it: it feels more like a white flag, on the other person's part, than a simple smile ever does. laughter can be so sudden and thoughtless and instinctive. she knows she's taken a good path when she hears it burst out of a person.

so she chases that triumph a little further. ]

I was still in school. So, ages ago. I broke into the headmaster's quarters. Honestly, the stunt was all about stealing a bunch of his wife's, ah, [ a crinkle of her nose ] delicate things. But I got greedy and went back for brandy. Good stuff, too.

Or it would have been had I not gotten caught red-, and white-, and silk-handed in the middle of the bedroom.

[ she hides her expression behind another sip of tea. ]

Heavens, I pray I didn't punish you the way Portley punished me.