ver call on anybody. I have had a lot of freshers to meals, but I
don't know Thornton; he is supposed to be cracked, isn't he?"

"Of course he is. We've got a splendid rag on. I thought of it, and
Dennison is going to work it out. Do you think this coat fits properly
in the back? I met Collier this morning and he swore it didn't."

"What's the rag?" I asked.

Clarkson came in with a message from Murray to say that he could not
come to luncheon.

"That's a good job," Lambert remarked.

"I thought you liked Murray," I answered.

"He would not have cared about our rag. I don't suppose Collier knows
when a coat fits, he's so fat that a petticoat would suit him better
than a pair of trousers."

"Here's lunch," I said, and as soon as I had got him away from the spot
where he could examine his clothes, I asked again what was going to
happen.

"Thornton is absolutely green, Dennison will be able to do exactly what
he likes with him."

"Poor brute."

"I can never make out why you pretend to hate Dennison, he wouldn't
mind being friends with you; besides, it makes things very disagreeable
for me."

"I don't pretend anything," I said.

"At any rate it's very stupid of you; you are both Mohocks, and ought
to be friends."

I thought he had come on a peace mission, so, to prevent waste of time,
I said what I thought of Dennison.

"You make a mistake about him altogether," he said. "Got any port?"

"You'll get as fat as Collier if you aren't careful, and it wouldn't
suit you a bit," I replied, and stayed in my chair.

"Port doesn't make people fat," but he spoke doubtfully.

"You know best, but I should advise you to be careful. What's the rag?"

He shot his cuffs down and stroked his upper lip, as he always did when
he was going to say anything which he thought interesting.

"Dennison is getting it up, which means that it will be jolly well
done. He has found out that Thornton knows nothing, so he is teaching
him a lot. To begin with, he has invented a society called 'The
Hedonists,' which is supposed to get pleasure out of anything
extraordinary, and he has filled up Thornton with the idea that he is
the very man to be President if we can get him elected."

"Does he believe all that?"

"He believes it all right; Dennison is splendid at that sort of thing.
But we must make some opposition, or Thornton might think it was too
easy a job, so we are getting Webb to stand against Thornton, and
Denniso