When Mr. Waddington judged the moment propitious he began. "While I was up in London I had the pleasure of lunching with Sir Maurice Gedge. He wants me to start a branch of the National League of Liberty here."
"Liberty? Shouldn"t have thought that was much in your line. Didn"t expect to see you waving the red flag, what? Why didn"t you put him on to our friend Grainger?"
"My dear Corbett, what are you thinking of? The object of the League is to put down all that sort of thing--Socialism--Bolshevism--to rouse the whole country and get it to stand solid for order and good government."
"H"m. Is it? Queer sort of t.i.tle for a thing of that sort--League of Liberty, what?"
Mr. Waddington raised a clenched fist. Already in spirit he was on his platform. "Exactly the t.i.tle that"s needed. The people want liberty, always have wanted it. We"ll let "em have it. True liberty. British liberty. I tell you, Corbett, we"re out against the tyranny of Labour minorities. You and I and every man that"s got any standing and any influence, we"ve got to see to it that we don"t have a revolution and Communism and a Soviet Government here."
"Come, you don"t think the Bolshies are as strong as all that, do you?"
Mr. Waddington brought his fist down on the arm of his chair. "I _know_ they are," he said. "And look here--if they get the upper hand, it"s the great capitalists, the great property holders, the great _land_owners like you and me, Corbett, who"ll be the first to suffer.... Why, we"re suffering as it is, here in Wyck, with just the little that fellow Grainger can do. The time"ll come, mark my words, when we shan"t be able to get a single labourer to work for us for a fair wage. They"ll bleed us white, Corbett, before they"ve done with us, if we don"t make a stand, and make it now.
"That"s what the League"s for, to set up a standard, something we can point to and say: These are the principles we stand for. Something you can rally the whole country round. We shall want your support--"
"I shall be very glad--anything I can do--"
Mr. Waddington was a little disturbed by this ready acquiescence.
"Mind you, it isn"t going to end here, in Wyck. I shall start it in Wyck first; then I shall take it straight to the big towns, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Cirencester, Nailsworth, Stroud. We"ll set "em going till we"ve got a branch in every town and every village in the county."
He thought: "That ought to settle him." He had created a vision of intolerable activity.
"Bless me," said Sir John, "you"ve got your work cut out for you."
"Of course I shall have to get a local committee first. I can"t take a step like that without consulting you."
Sir John muttered something that sounded like "Very good of you, I"m sure."
"No more than my duty to the League. Now, the point is, Sir Maurice was anxious that _I_ should be president of this local branch. It needs somebody with energy and determination--the president"s work, certainly, will be cut out for him--and I feel very strongly, and I think that my Committee will feel that _you_, Corbett, are the proper person."
"H"m--m."
"I didn"t think I should be justified in going further without first obtaining your consent."
"We-ell--"
Mr. Waddington"s anxiety was almost unbearable. The programme had evidently appealed to Sir John. Supposing, after all, he accepted?
"I wouldn"t ask you to undertake anything so--so arduous, but that it"ll strengthen my hands with my Committee; in fact, I may get a much stronger and more influential Committee if I can come to them, and tell them beforehand that you have consented to be president."
"I don"t mind being president," said Sir John, "if I haven"t got to do anything."
"I"m afraid--I"m _afraid_ we couldn"t allow you to be a mere figurehead."
"But presidents always are figureheads, aren"t they?"
There was a bantering gleam in Sir John"s eyes that irritated Mr.
Waddington. That was the worst of Corbett; you couldn"t get him to take a serious thing seriously.
""T any rate," Sir John went on, "there"s always some secretary johnnie who runs round and does the work."
So that was Corbett"s idea: to sit in his armchair and bag all the prestige, while he, Waddington of Wyck, ran round and did the work.
"Not in this case. In these small local affairs you can"t delegate business. Everything depends on the personal activity of the president."
"The deuce it does. How do you mean?"
"I mean this. If Sir John Corbett asks for a subscription he gets it.
We"ve got to round up the whole county and all the townspeople and villagers. It"s no use shooting pamphlets at "em from a motor-car. They like being personally interviewed. If Sir John Corbett comes and talk to them and tells them they must join, ten to one they will join.
"And there isn"t any time to be lost if we want to get in first before other places take it up. It"ll mean pretty sharp work, day in and day out, rounding them all up."
"Oh, Lord, Waddington, _don"t_. I"m tired already with the bare idea of it."
"Come, we can"t have you tired, Corbett. Why, it won"t be worse, it won"t be half as bad as a season"s hunting. You"re just the man for it.
Fit as fit."
"Not half as fit as I look, Waddington."
"There"s another thing--the meetings. If the posters say Sir John Corbett will address the meeting people"ll come. If Sir John Corbett speaks they"ll listen."
"My dear fellow, that settles it. I can"t speak for nuts. You _know_ I can"t. I can introduce a speaker and move a vote of thanks, and that"s about all I _can_ do. It"s your show, not mine. _You_ ought to be president, Waddington. You"ll enjoy it and I shan"t."
"I don"t know at all about enjoying it. It"ll be infernally hard work."
"Precisely."
"You don"t mean, Corbett, that you won"t come in with us? That you won"t come on the Committee?"
"I"ll come on all right if I haven"t got to speak, and if I haven"t got to do anything. I shan"t be much good, but I could at least propose you as president. You couldn"t very well propose yourself."
"It"s very good of you."
Mr. Waddington made his voice sound casual and indifferent, so that he might appear to be entertaining the suggestion provisionally and under protest. "There"ll have to be one big meeting before the Committee"s formed or anything. If I let you off the presidency," he said playfully, "will you take the chair?"
"For that one evening?"
"That one evening only."
"You"ll do all the talking?"
"I shall have to."
"All right, my dear fellow. I daresay I can get my wife to come on your committee, too. That"ll help you to rope in the townspeople.... And now, supposing we drop it and have a quiet smoke."
He roused himself to one more effort. "Of course, we"ll send you a subscription, both of us."
Mr. Waddington drove off from Underwoods in a state of pleasurable elation. He had got what he wanted without appearing--without appearing at all to be playing for it. Corbett had never spotted him.