Q: CHAPTER XI

BORROWDEAN SHOWS HIS "HAND"

"To be plain with you," Borrowdean remarked, "Mannering's defection would be irremediable. He alone unites Redford, myself, and--well, to put it crudely, let us say the Imperialistic Liberal Party with Manningham and the old-fashioned Whigs who prefer the ruts. There is no other leader possible. Redford and I talked till daylight this morning. Now, can nothing be done with Mannering?"

"To be plain with you, too, then, Sir Leslie," Berenice answered, "I do not think that anything can be done with him. In his present frame of mind I should say that he is better left alone. He has worked himself up into a thoroughly sentimental and nervous state. For the moment he has lost his sense of balance."

Borrowdean nodded.

"Desperate necessity," he said, "sometimes justifies desperate measures. We need Mannering, the country and our cause need him. If argument will not prevail there is one last alternative left to us. It may not be such an alternative as we should choose, but beggars must not be choosers. I think that you will know what I mean."

"I have no idea," Berenice answered.

"You are aware," he continued, "that there is in Mannering's past history an episode, the publication of which would entail somewhat serious consequences to him."

"Well?"

It was a most eloquent monosyllable, but Borrowdean had gone too far to retreat.

"I propose that we make use of it," he said. "Mannering's attitude is rankly foolish, or I would not suggest such a thing. But I hold that we are entitled, under the circumstances, to make use of any means whatever to bring him to his senses."

1. CHAPTER XI
2. BORROWDEAN
3. irremediable
4. Redford, myself, and the Imperialistic Liberal Party with Manningham and the old-fashioned Whigs
5. Berenice
6. Sir Leslie
7. No
8. In his present frame, he has worked himself up into a thoroughly sentimental and nervous state
9. No
10. one
11. no
12. Yes
13. Borrowdean
14. rankly foolish
15. Yes
16. Desperate necessity
17. choosers
18. Yes
19. our cause need him

Numbered questions:
1. What chapter is this?
2. Who is going to show his hand?
3. What would Mannering's defection be?
4. Who does he alone unite?
5. Who has no idea?
6. Who's he plain with?
7. Does Berenice think anything can be done with him?
8. Why would he be better left alone?
9. Did he retain his sense of balance?
10. How many other leaders are possible?
11. Are the Whigs very modern?
12. Does Mannering have some dark stuff in his past that he doesn't want to get out?
13. Who had gone too far to retreat?
14. What is Mannering's attitude?
15. Does Borrowdean think it's ok to blackmail Mannering?
16. What sometimes justifies desperate measures?
17. What must beggars not also be?
18. Does the country need Mannering?
19. What about our cause?

Q: CHAPTER XXI

The great night came and passed with fewer thrills than any one had imagined possible. Horlock himself undertook the defence of his once more bitterly assailed Government and from the first it was obvious what the end must be. He spoke with the resigned cynicism of one who knows that words are fruitless, that the die is already cast and that his little froth of words, valedictory in their tone from the first, was only a tribute to exacting convention. Tallente had never been more restrained, although his merciless logic reduced the issues upon which the vote was to be taken to the plainest and clearest elements. He remained studiously unemotional and nothing which he said indicated in any way his personal interest in the sweeping away of the Horlock regime. He was the impersonal but scathing critic, paving the way for his chief. It was Dartrey himself who overshadowed every one that night. He spoke so seldom in the House that many of the members had forgotten that he was an orator of rare quality. That night he lifted the debate from the level of ordinary politics to the idyllic realms where alone the lasting good of the world is fashioned. He pointed out what government might and should be, taking almost a Roman view of the care of the citizen, his early and late education, his shouldering of the responsibilities which belong to one of a great community. From the individual he passed to the nation, sketching in a few nervous but brilliant phrases the exact possibilities of socialistic legislation; and he wound up with a parodied epigram: Government, he declared, was philosophy teaching by failures. In the end, Miller led fourteen of his once numerous followers into the Government lobby to find himself by forty votes upon the losing side.

1. the Horlock regime
2. Horlock
3. Dartrey

Numbered questions:
1. Which regime was about to fall?
2. Who defended it?
3. Who was one of the people opposing it?