Here was Granny's chance. He sneezed magnificently. "May I go and fetch my overcoat?" he asked mildly. "Shut up," said Martin. Granny turned up his collar, blew his nose with gentle persistence, and started to shiver. Others followed his example, and the room began to resound with the chattering of teeth. Martin felt desperate. What exactly was the right way to deal with this kind of ragging? What would Rayner do? That was where the difficulty lay: the workroom never tried this game with Rayner, so that it was impossible to say what Rayner would have done. Swearing at them wouldn't do: he couldn't swipe the whole company. Besides, there were his ideals. Foolishly he determined to try and work in his idealism under the pretext of a joke: it was a cowardly compromise and it deserved to fail. "I suppose," he said, "we might take a vote about the window." There was a genial roar of acclamation. "Those in favour of keeping it open," he went on} "shove up your hands." There was much talking and throwing of paper balls. Hoarse whispers such as, 'Jones, you stinker, put your hand down or I'll kill you afterwards,' came to his ears. The counting was complicated by the necessity of disqualifying all those who held up both hands with a view to fraud. When the oppositions were being numbered there were murmurs of: 'Lowsy swine,' 'Frowsters,' and so on. The affair was soundly managed by the mob and a tie resulted, so that Martin had to give a casting vote. Imploring faces were turned towards him: the opening of the window was plainly a matter of life and death to that valetudinarian assembly. "Keep it open," said Martin, determined to abide by his first order. There were subdued cheers and moans, nasal snufflings and raucous coughs. Above it all the voice of Granny was heard. "May I borrow some quinine?" he demanded. Martin now saw the folly of his actions. The matter had gone too far, he had lost grip, and a tremendous rag was imminent. "Shut up," he roared with all the authority he could command. And just then Rayner came in to take his spell of prep. There was an immediate silence. Martin left the room in an agony of despair. What the deuce would Rayner think?