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Zuleika Dobson; Or, An Oxford Love Story
·
Sir Max Beerbohm
98
The
Duke
had
been
elected
in
his
second
term.
At
that
time
there
were
four
members;
but
these
were
all
leaving
Oxford
at
the
end
of
the
summer
term,
and
there
seemed
to
be
in
the
ranks
of
the
Bullingdon
and
the
Loder
no
one
quite
eligible
for
the
Junta,
that
holy
of
holies.
Thus
it
was
that
the
Duke
inaugurated
in
solitude
his
second
year
of
membership.
From
time
to
time,
he
proposed
and
seconded
a
few
candidates,
after
“sounding”
them
as
to
whether
they
were
willing
to
join.
But
always,
when
election
evening--the
last
Tuesday
of
term--drew
near,
he
began
to
have
his
doubts
about
these
fellows.
This
one
was
“rowdy”;
that
one
was
over-dressed;
another
did
not
ride
quite
straight
to
hounds;
in
the
pedigree
of
another
a
bar-sinister
was
more
than
suspected.
Election
evening
was
always
a
rather
melancholy
time.
After
dinner,
when
the
two
club
servants
had
placed
on
the
mahogany
the
time-worn
Candidates’
Book
and
the
ballot-box,
and
had
noiselessly
withdrawn,
the
Duke,
clearing
his
throat,
read
aloud
to
himself
“Mr.
So-and-So,
of
Such-and-Such
College,
proposed
by
the
Duke
of
Dorset,
seconded
by
the
Duke
of
Dorset,”
and,
in
every
case,
when
he
drew
out
the
drawer
of
the
ballot-box,
found
it
was
a
black-ball
that
he
had
dropped
into
the
urn.
Thus
it
was
that
at
the
end
of
the
summer
term
the
annual
photographic
“group”
taken
by
Messrs.
Hills
and
Saunders
was
a
presentment
of
the
Duke
alone.
In
the
course
of
his
third
year
he
had
become
less
exclusive.
Not
because
there
seemed
to
be
any
one
really
worthy
of
the
Junta;
but
because
the
Junta,
having
thriven
since
the
eighteenth
century,
must
not
die.
Suppose--one
never
knew--he
were
struck
by
lightning,
the
Junta
would
be
no
more.
So,
not
without
reluctance,
but
unanimously,
he
had
elected
The
MacQuern,
of
Balliol,
and
Sir
John
Marraby,
of
Brasenose.
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