but the love of a woman can do strange things to a man , even one so colorless as peter pinter , and the discovery that miss gwendolyn thorpe , twenty-three years of age , of 9 , oaktree terrace , purley , was messing about ( as the vulgar would put it ) with a smooth young gentleman from the accounting department-after , mark you , she had consented to wear an engagement ring , composed of real ruby chips , nine-carat gold , and something that might well have been a diamond ( pound37.50 ) that it had taken peter almost an entire lunch hour to choose-can do very strange things to a man indeed .