'The present system of managing the affairs of the world is so bad and has produced such dreadful results that you are of the opinion that the earth is a hell: and yet you are a Conservative! You wish to preserve the present system--the system which has made the world into a hell!' 'I thought we shouldn't get through the dinner hour without politics if Owen was 'ere,' growled Bundy.

'Bloody sickenin' I call it.' 'Don't be 'ard on 'im,' said Philpot.

''E's been very quiet for the last few days.' 'We'll 'ave to go through it today, though,' remarked Harlow despairingly.

'I can see it comin'.' 'I'M not goin' through it,' said Bundy, 'I'm orf!' And he accordingly drank the remainder of his tea, closed his empty dinner basket and, having placed it on the mantelshelf, made for the door.
'I'll leave you to it,' he said as he went out.

The others laughed.
Crass, remembering the cutting from the Obscurer that he had in his pocket, was secretly very pleased at the turn the conversation was taking.