It was quite reasonable that Peter should be the one to stay with professor Kirke. He was the one for whom the summer was going to be not rest but extremely hard work. The exam loomed before him like a horrific dragon that was getting closer each day, and Peter wanted to be ready to fight it when it came and to come out victorious. It was the logical decision that he should accept the help of the cleverest and most educated man that he knew. It couldn't be helped that there was onlyone extra room at the professor's cottage. He knew all that very well and still could not help feeling miserably guilty.
At first, Peter had simply refused to go to the Professor's. If someone had to go with Lucy to spend the summer with the Scrubbs, it should be him. He would keep Eustace Scrubb from plaguing Lucy since Eustace always behaved better when Peter was around (Edmund called it "sucking up"). Peter could manage to study on his own at the Scrubbs'. Edmund would enjoy staying at the Professor's so much more. They were all good friends with the professor, but Edmund and the professor seemed to have some sort of secret understanding. Lucy called them, "kindred spirits". Peter presented this argument to his father as eloquently and reasonably as he possibly could, and after father complimented him on presenting his case so well, he told Peter that he was going to stay at the professor and there could be no two ways about it.
And so, Peter packed (mostly books) and got prepared to leave on the 5 o'clock train. At half-past three, Peter knocked on Susan's room to say goodbye. Susan kept him there for half an hour, making him promise not to study too hard, to eat enough, to go to bed at a reasonable hour, to dress warmly and for heavens sake, to find time to enjoy himself. Peter smiled at her, obediently nodded at each request and finally said, "Su, stop it. You're worse than mum!" Susan laughed but did not look any less anxious and reminded him to wear boots in the case of rain. It occurred to Peter that Susan was feeling guilty as well, (after all, she was the only one going to America) and was trying to make up for it by being especially concerned. Or perhaps, not. You couldn't be sure what Susan was thinking, especially lately. At any rate, she would never admit to feeling guilty, and so Peter thought it wise not to mention it.
Susan's long stream of advice left Peter rather scrapped for time and so he hurriedly hugged Lucy, and Edmund and whispered "Aslan, go with you!" into Lucy's ear. Still, they both looked so terribly jealous that Peter immediately felt guilty again, and of course, once he began to act guilty, they quickly put brave faces on and insisted that it would be all right, that the Scrubbs really weren't that bad (Edmund nearly chocked on that one).
Peter and the professor had a wonderful time that night, talking and laughing and effortlessly "studying." You see, the professor was the kind of person that you learned from, no matter what you spoke about. He never sounded like he was teaching, but all the same you went away feeling like you've just learned plenty of excellent and useful things. Peter found that having dinner with the professor was delightful, even if the dinner was awful. And the dinner was, because the professor had hired a homeless girl to cook for him out of compassion, and now could not fire her despite the fact that she could not cook.
Naturally, the conversation drifted to Narnia. And immediately, a question came to Peter's mind, a question which he desperately wanted to know the answer to but wasn't sure if he ought to know the answer. And he was so busy trying to decide if he should ask it, that he stopped paying attention to the professor's theory on Narnian economy before the White Witch's reign. "I suppose I'm not sure," he answered when asked whether Narnians grew tea, and then grew quite red when the professor raised one bushy eyebrow. And then Peter knew that he would have no peace until he knew the answer to his question and hurriedly blurted out, "Have you still got the wardrobe?" He knew the professor had to sell many things when he moved to the cottage. And where would a wardrobe be placed, in a home this small?
The professor smiled. "It's upstairs in the attic. You didn't think I'd sell it, did you?"