mania for verses and epigrams; he was reputed
a bit of a conjuror, and no one ever brought a new puzzle to Grandcourt
which Wake, of Railsford's, could not, sooner or later, find out.

Among other occupations, Wake had for some time past acted as secretary
for the House Discussion Society--an old institution which for years had
droned along to the well-known tunes--"That Wellington was a greater man
than Napoleon," "That Shakespeare was a greater poet than Homer," "That
women's rights are not desirable," "That the execution of Charles the
First was unjustifiable," etcetera, etcetera. But when, six months ago,
Trill, of the Sixth, the old secretary, left Grandcourt, and Wake, at
the solicitation of the prefects (who lacked the energy to undertake the
work themselves), consented to act as secretary, the society entered
upon a new career. The new secretary alarmed his patrons by his
versatility and energy. The old humdrum questions vanished almost
completely from the programme, and were replaced by such interesting
conundrums as "Is life worth living?" "Ought the _Daily News_ to be
taken in at the school library?" "What is a lie?" and so on. Beyond
that, he boldly appropriated evenings for other purposes than the
traditional debate. On one occasion he organised a highly successful
reading of _Coriolanus_, in which the juniors, to their vast delight,
were admitted to shout as citizens. Another evening was given to
impromptu speeches, every member who volunteered being called upon to
draw a subject out of a hat and make a speech upon it there and then.
And more than once the order of the day was readings and recitations, in
which the younger members were specially encouraged to take part, and
stood up gallantly to be shot at by their critical seniors.

Whatever might be said of this novel departure from old tradition, no
one could deny that the Discussion Society had looked up wonderfully
during the last six months. The forum was generally crowded, and
everyone, from prefect to Baby, took more or less interest in the
proceedings. No one, after the first few meetings, questioned Wake's
liberty to arrange what programme he liked, and the house was generally
kept in a pleasant flutter of curiosity as to what the volatile
secretary would be up to next.

The "Central Criminal Court" was his latest invention, and it need
scarcely be said the idea, at the present juncture, was so startling
that a quarter of an hour bef