The next day when father came home from work, he asked to see me in his study. When I had closed the door, he announced, "If I didn't know that Spencer was a fine upstanding young man I would think there was a hint of homosexuality in his request to date 'Elizabeth' again whom your sister tells me is you. As it is, I know no reason to doubt either you or Spencer and I can only conclude that he perhaps felt you took the punishment a mite too well and wants to make you feel inferior and see you teased and punished properly."
Father pulled himself up to his full height. He often gave these hectoring monologs, barely pausing for breath and saying ten words where one would have sufficed.
"Now Kenneth," he said, addressing me as if he were Winston Churchill. "I have today telephoned Spencer and have had a very long conversation with him. the upshot of the conversation with Spencer is that I have agreed that you will go out dressed as this "Elisabeth" which is what he likes to call you and you will take your punishment like a man."