It was, of course, obvious that Clarke, when he had started on a job like this, had to carry it through. If he had gone back, his position would have been impossible; but there could be no doubt that it was a disastrous campaign as far as the unity of the House was concerned. At once the House was divided into sides, and nearly the whole of the Sixth Form was against Clarke. "It's not the duty of the head of the House to see how people are working. That is a House master's job," pointed out FitzMorris. "All Clarke has got to do is to see that the kids don't rag in hall, and at other times more or less behave themselves." The House was in a state of open rebellion. And the worst of it was that none of the other prefects made any attempt to keep order. Now there was a rule that in hall only three people might be allowed in one study, the idea being that, if more got in, work would be bound to change into conversation. One evening, however, a huge crowd slowly congregated in Mansell's study. Lovelace dropped in to borrow a book, and stayed. Hunter and Gordon came for a chat, and stayed too. Archie Fletcher had, as was usual with him, done all his preparation in half-an-hour, and was in search of something to do. Betteridge heard a noise outside, walked in, and stopped to give his opinion on the chances of A-K beating L-Z that week. In a few minutes the conversation got rather heated. The noise could be heard all down the passage. Meredith came down to see what was going on. "Ah, 'some' party! Well, Mansell, got over your beating yet?" There was subdued laughter. "I say, Meredith, have A-K the slightest chance of beating us on Thursday?" Lovelace was captain of L-Z Junior, and had laid rather heavily on a victory. "Of course not, my good man, I'm going to umpire." This time the laughter was not subdued. In his retreat at the far end of the studies Clarke heard it. Down the passage he thundered, knocked at the door, and came in. "What's the meaning of this? You know quite well that not more than three are allowed in here at one time. Come to my study, the lot of you." All this time Meredith was being jammed behind the door. "When you have quite finished, Clarke," he said. "I am sorry, Meredith. Are you responsible for this?" "In a way, yes. I was rather afraid that the House was getting slack about their work. A very bad thing for a house, Clarke! So I took this opportunity of holding a little viva voce examination. We were studying 'The Sermon on the Mount,' a singularly beautiful and impressive passage, Clarke. Have you read it?" Clarke had read it that day as the lesson in chapel. He had also read it rather badly, having a cold in his head. "You seem to have rather a large class, Meredith," he said sarcastically. "Yes; like our good Lord, I have beaten the by-ways and the hedges, and I am almost afraid I shall also have to beat Mansell. He has singularly failed to appreciate the full meaning of that passage about 'humility.'"