A fortnight later, John was the leader of the Opposition. It was an unheard-of thing for a junior boy to sit on the front bench, but John had broken all traditions. He was aided by Marsh who loved to be diplomatic. Marsh carried on an insidious campaign against all who opposed John's nomination. He held tea-parties at which he collected his forces. He despatched his lieutenants to the fields, the five courts, the common room, the quadrangles, the armoury and the tuck shop. Vernley brought round the athletic vote--"the blockhead squirearchy," Marsh called it, and the fifth and sixth form 'bloods' were bribed by the thoughtful loan of French novels. "Scissors," announced March on the momentous day of the election, "you should be eternally grateful to the French scribes. Anatole France, Flaubert, Maupassant and Daudet--these have won the day. Thanks to the lasciviousness of Madame Bovary and the voluptuousness of Sappho, the full-blooded gods of Upper School will nod in your favour. I have seduced them with questionable literature. I have undermined their morals and pandered to their secret viciousness. In grateful recollection of the delicious nights I have given them, they are your henchmen to-day. I have suffered in the cause. This morning, the Censor, in the heavy shape of Fletcher, produced his warrant and searched my shelves. His disgusting taste has been satiated. Look--'A Rebours,' 'Thaïs' and 'Sappho' have been abducted. Those bleeding gaps are the memorials of my enthusiasm in the cause. In your hours of triumph, O Scissors, forget not the hand that raised you to your dizzy eminence. Let me whisper in your ear, and remind you, as the Cæsars of old, of the fickleness of Fate." "Shut up, you ass," exclaimed Vernley. "Scissors'll romp in. I've exhausted the bank in buns and lemonade, and have given away enough cigarettes to smoke the enemy out." "We shall probably be unseated for corruption," said John. "Your support, Marsh, is a questionable advantage." "That's the kind of rotten remark one expects from a politician. You've a great political career in front of you, Scissors--you have the necessary lack of gratitude and want of principle. Et tu, Brute! O shades of the departed! Bovary, Thaïs and Sappho, behold the ingratitude of this friend who wades to glory over your dead bodies! Scissors, the first day you're in power you've got to abolish the censorship. There shall be no peace in your Parliament until I can read Wilde and Baudelaire in bed, without interruption or confiscation." IV