's queer," said Gilbert.

"Damned queer," said Ninian.

"Why are you so uncertain of yourself?" Roger asked.

"Don't you feel sure that you'll be a great novelist?" Gilbert added
before Henry had time to reply to Roger's question.

"I know jolly well I shall be a clinking good engineer!" Ninian said.

Henry had a shy unwillingness to discuss himself in front of the others,
although they were his closest friends. He felt that he could not sit
still while they watched him as he told them of his ambitions and his
fears.

"Oh, don't let's talk about me," he said. "Go on with your
argle-bargle." He was speaking hurriedly, so that he had difficulty in
articulating his words. "You were saying something, Ninian, weren't you
... no, it was you, Roger, about politics!..."

"Oh, yes!" Roger answered.

"Rum chap, you are!" Gilbert said to Henry in a low voice.

3

"You see," said Roger, "my notion is to restore the prestige of the
Tories. Somehow, they've let themselves get the reputation of being
consciously heartless. The Liberals go about proclaiming that they are
the friends of the poor, and the inference is that the Tories are the
friends of the rich!"

"So they are," said Ninian.

"So are the Liberals!" said Roger.

"So's everybody!" said Gilbert.

"But the Tories aren't culpably the friends of the rich," Roger
continued. "I mean, they don't go into parliament with the intention of
exploiting poor men for the benefit of rich men. It isn't true that they
are indifferent to the fate of poor men; but they have allowed the
Liberals to give them that character. I've always said that the Tories
have the courage of the Liberals' convictions!..."

Gilbert lay back on the floor with his arms under his head. "I remember
the first time you said that. It was in the Union!" he exclaimed.

"I shall say it again in the House some day," Roger retorted. "I'm not
trying to be funny when I say that. I think the history of the Tory
Party shows very plainly that the Tories have done very admirable things
for the working-people: Factory Acts and Housing schemes and Workmen's
Compensation Acts. Well, I want the Tory Party to remember that it is
the custodian of the decency of England. It isn't decent that there
should be hungry children and unemployed men and badly-housed families.
That kind of thing is intolerable to a gentleman, and a Tory is a
gentleman. It seems to me inconceivable that a Tory should be willing to
make mo