"We've got to get a group of fellows together on much the same principle as the Fabian Society ... no one to be admitted unless he has brains and is willing to work without payment. _Look_ at the work that Sidney Webb and Bernard Shaw and all those people did for Socialism _for nothing_, even paying for it out of their own pockets when they weren't over-flush ... my goodness, if we can only get people with that kind of spirit into our group, we'll mould the world! By the way, we ought to pinch some ideas from the Fabians! We could meet somewhere ... here, to begin with. And when we've got a group of fellows together with some notion of what we all want to do, we can start inviting eminent ones to talk to us ... and heckle the stuffing out of them!" Gilbert was able to tell them a great deal about the origin of the Fabian Society ... for his father was one of the founders of it ... and he told them how the Society had invited Mr. Haldane to talk to them ... and of the way in which they had fallen on him in the discussion and left all his arguments in shreds when the meeting ended.... "If we can get Balfour or Asquith or some other Eminent Pot here," he said, "and simply argue hell's blazes out of him ... my Lordy God, that 'ud be great!" "They're not likely to come," said Ninian. "I don't know. Eminent Ones sometimes do the most unusual things!" Ninian yawned and stretched his arms. "I move that this House be now adjourned!" he said. But they ignored his sleepiness, and he would not move away from their company. "Well, we've settled what our future is to be," said Gilbert. "What is it to be?" Ninian interrupted, stifling another yawn. "Weren't you listening? We're to be Improved Tories ... and we're to improve the Universe, so to speak. We've just settled it. All the Old Birds are to be hoofed out of office, and we're to take their places, and I thoroughly approve of that. In my opinion, any man who wants to occupy a place of authority after the age of sixty should be publicly and cruelly pole-axed. I can't stand old men ... they're so cowardly and so obstinate and so conceited!" "The great thing," said Roger, "is to keep ourselves from sloppiness. We mustn't make fools of ourselves!" "The principal way in which a man makes a fool of himself," Gilbert added, "is in connexion with the female species. Is that what you mean, Roger?" Roger nodded his head. "Pay attention to that, Ninian," Gilbert went on. "You have a weakness for females, I've noticed!" Ninian, suddenly forgetting his fatigue, sat up in his seat. "I say, let's jaw about women," he said.