Page:The council of seven.djvu/239

 the country really wanted to put things right was another war." During the late upheaval, whose scars had now begun to fade, all classes of the community had shared in a delusive prosperity; but only the few who controlled the means of production and their nominees in Whitehall and Westminster had been permanently enriched. The price of everything had been forced up, yet the value of everything had gone down.

When Sir Munt entered the Club dining room at a quarter past one as usual, he found it a hive. And it was a hive seething with excitement. Political feeling ran high. This by-election, having regard to all the circumstances, promised to be quite one of the most piquant of modern times. John Endor whom the U. P. had returned by a solid majority of four thousand at the last election, having bitten the hand that fostered him, was now going ignominiously to be "fired."

"Serve him right!" The opinion of the Club dining room was almost unanimous. But that which none of these pundits could understand even now was why in Wonder's name had Slippery Sam offered John Endor the Home Secretaryship? On the face of it such a move was an open and palpable affront to the U. P. In the light of that circumstance only one explanation was feasible. The prime minister was riding for a fall.

Even the most advanced thinkers at the Club luncheon table hesitated to accept that view. Slippery Sam was the wiliest of men; yet those who were ready to