"But Roger ought to be a different sort of Tory!" Gilbert exclaimed. "It's no good having all his brain if he's just going to peddle around with the same old stuff...." "I don't intend to do that," said Roger. "Well, what do you intend to do?" Ninian seized a cushion and put it behind his back. "Let's have a good old argle-bargle," he said. "What do you say, Quinny?" Henry, who had not joined in the discussion, leant forward and smiled. "Oh, I like listening to you," he answered. "You're all so sure of yourselves!..." Gilbert turned on him. "Well, aren't you sure of yourself?" he demanded. "No, I'm not," Henry answered. "I never am!" "That'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.