She had not by any means found all the possible voters, so she decided to return to the Juniors' Common Room. Mavie had gone, but a number of other girls stood near the notice board talking, and reading the appeals of the various candidates. Dorothy strolled up to see how her verses were being received. They made a different impression on different minds, to judge from the comments that met her ears. "It's ripping!" exclaimed Bertha Warren. "Says she can run the show, does she?" sneered Joyce Hickson. "I call it just lovely!" gushed Addie Parker. "Her trumpeter's dead, certainly!" giggled Phyllis Fowler. "Hallo, Dorothy! I didn't see you were there." "I'm going to vote for you, Dorothy," said Bertha, "and so is Addie. Phyllis has promised Hope, and Joyce is on Val's side. If you like, I'll canvass for you here, while you do the gym. You'd better not waste any time, because the others are hard at it, and it's best to get first innings if you can." Dorothy hastily agreed, and hurried off to the gymnasium, where she was fortunate enough to catch some of her own classmates. They were all sucking enormous peppermint "humbugs", and were almost speechless in consequence; but they had the politeness to listen to her, which was more than she had experienced from some of the girls. "Very sorry!" replied Annie Gray, talking with difficulty. "You should have asked us sooner. Val's been round, and simply coerced us." "She made it a hockey versus lacrosse contest, and of course we plumped for hockey," murmured Elsie Bellamy. "Val's simply ripping at hockey!" "Is that all you care for?" exclaimed Dorothy scornfully. "Val has nothing else to recommend her." "Hasn't she? What about peppermint 'humbugs'? I call them a very substantial recommendation." "Did Val give you those?" "Rather! She put on her hat and bolted out into High Street and bought a whole pound. Lucky Miss James didn't catch her as she dodged back!" "She's handing them round to everybody," added Helen Walker. "I wish I had taken two." For once Dorothy's pale cheeks put on a colour. She could not restrain her indignation. "How atrociously and abominably mean!" she burst out. "Why, it's just bribery, pure and simple. I didn't think Val was capable of such a sneaking trick. She knows quite well how unfair it is to the rest of us." "Why, you could have done the same if you'd liked," laughed Elsie. "It's not too late now. I've a preference for caramels, if you ask me." "I'd be ashamed!" declared Dorothy. "Surely you ought to give your votes on better grounds than 'humbugs' or caramels? Such a thing has never been done before at the Coll." "All the more loss for us," giggled Helen flippantly. "Do you mean to tell me you don't care whether a candidate behaves dishonourably or not?" "Not I, if she's jolly." "I'm disgusted with you, absolutely disgusted! If you haven't a higher ideal of what's required in a warden, you don't deserve to have votes at all."