Forty-eight hours were indeed necessary for John Endor to make up his
mind. A big decision confronted him. Even if he were given the Home
Office on his own terms, and he had promptly decided that he would take
it on no other, it was certain that, with the full weight of the U. P.
against him, he would have a terrific fight to hold his seat. Moreover,
if he managed to retain it, and faced with “the machine,” the chances
were that he would not, within a few months a general election was due,
and he would have to fight again.
Brief study of the tactical position, combined with a little analysis
of Slippery Sam’s fair-seeming offer soon brought him perilously near
the truth. A by-election in such a constituency as East Blackhampton
would be a _ballon d’essai_, a try-out, a testing of the ice. The
astute personage who dangled this lure of office would risk little. If
a tyro, a comparative free lance, new to high places, failed to win
East Blackhampton, he would be dropped like a hot coal. The rebuff
would be accepted gracefully and an orthodox coupon-swallower, a “safe”
man put up in his stead. Things would go on as they were; and the
noble company of time-servers would trim their sails for the coming
dissolution in the old happy way. But as Endor clearly saw, failure for
him in such circumstances was likely to mean the end of his political
career.
Was he justified in taking such a tremendous risk? He put the case
squarely to Helen; it was but fair and right that he should do so. And
she, at least, did not hesitate. Her faith in him was complete. Let him
follow his star. The chance of his life had come. Let him show himself
worthy of it.
His own instincts were knightly, but he could not rid his mind of a
secret fear of Slippery Sam. How far would it be possible for John
Endor to serve under the official banner of the most accomplished
trimmer in the land? Finally, before deciding the matter one way or
the other, he determined to see what terms he could make with this
illustrious chieftain.
In effect his answer, when duly delivered to the prime minister was
that he would accept the Office and run the gauntlet if, in the event
of success, Mr. Williams would himself frame a bill to deal with
the Newspaper Trust. Such a measure must be the first plank in the
Government platform when he appealed to the country six months hence.
Somewhat to Mr. Endor’s surprise, the prime minister agreed to this
course. Great parliamentarian as Slippery Sam undoubtedly was, with
an insight almost uncanny into the workings of the minds of his chosen
instruments, he had anticipated the need for some such compact, before
making the offer. Indeed, John Endor’s demand came to him as a subtle
reminder of his own prescience.
Mr. Williams was the last man in the world to take a leap in the dark.
His plans were laid pretty deep. This picturesque young visionary, with
his ancient name, his family tradition, his virile enthusiasm, was the
one man in that House or out of it to sweep the whole country if the
cause that nerved him were great enough.
In the considered opinion of Mr. Williams the cry _Break the Newspaper
Trust and Bring Down the Price of Everything_ was the only possible
counter to the massed and entrenched forces of the enemy. At least it
would rally the cruelly overburdened upper and middle classes; and
conceivably it might woo sufficient of the “workers” from the spells of
the U. P. to rout the Colossus with all his stunts and all his wiles.
At all events, Mr. Williams had now reached the conclusion that the
yoke of Saul Hartz was intolerable. The question of China was the final
straw that had broken the back of the camel. In his own good time he
would try a fall with the U. P. Sooner or later it would have to be.
His chains had grown unbearable. If he failed, rather than endure the
ignominy of serving such a tyrant, he would retire from politics. If
he succeeded, politics once again might offer a career for reasonably
honest men.
In any event, nothing could have shown a more statesmanlike grasp of
the amazingly complex conditions of the time than his choice of John
Endor as the prophet of the new gospel--_Down with the U. P._