ad prepared
their speeches beforehand and were armed with notes and a certain
nervous fluency. For the rest, the question was but slightly assisted.
The prospective members of the Church thought of many things to say
until they rose to their feet when they could only remember "that the
last gentleman's speech bad been the most preposterous thing they had
ever had the pleasure of listening to--and that, er--er--the Navy was
all right, and, er--if the gentleman who had spoken last but two
thought it wasn't, well, all they--er--could say was that it reminded
them--er--of a story they had once heard (here follows story without
point, conclusion or brevity)--and--er--in fact the Navy was all right.
. . ."

The Debate, in short, was languishing when Dune and Cardillac entered
the room together. Here was an amazing thing.

It was well known that only last night Cardillac and Dune had both
been proposed for the office of President of the Wolves. The Wolves, a
society of twelve founded for the purpose of dining well and dressing
beautifully, was by far the smartest thing that Saul's possessed. It was
famous throughout the University for the noise and extravagance of its
dinners, and you might not belong to it unless you had played for the
University on at least one occasion in some game or another and unless,
be it understood, you were, in yourself, quite immensely desirable.
Towards the end of every Christmas term a President for the ensuing year
was elected; he must be a second year man, and it was considered by
the whole college that this was the highest honour that the gods could
possibly, during your stay at Cambridge, confer upon you. Even the
members of the Christian Union, horrified though they were by the amount
of wine that was drunk on dining occasions and the consequent peril
to their own goods and chattels, bowed to the shining splendour of the
fortunate hero. It had never yet been known that a President of the
Wolves should also be a member of the Christian Union, but one must
never despair, and nets, the most attractive and genial of nets, were
flung to catch the great man.

On the present occasion it had been generally understood that Cardillac
would be elected without any possible opposition. Dune had not for a
moment occurred to any one. He had; during his first term, when his
football prowess had passed, swinging through the University, been
elected to the Wolves, but he had only attended one dinner and had