4. Each member shall be required to take the oath of secrecy.
5. A gold badge shall be voted annually to that member who shall prove to the satisfaction of the Committee that he has made the highest record in broken hearts.
6. The badge of the Club shall be a heart rent in twain.
There were a great many other rules, but they are of minor importance relative to this narrative.
When Tommy announced at the first general meeting that he wished to propose Villiers Wyckliffe as a member, the announcement was greeted with loud cheers, for that gentleman was a man of town notoriety, popular with all sections of Society, but especially so in the boudoirs. He was immensely wealthy, having inherited a vast fortune from his father, the celebrated Seymour Wyckliffe, the world-wide known head of the great banking firm of Wyckliffe & Co. Having joined he soon let it be known that he intended making strong running for the coveted gold badge. He was generally known and addressed as "Wyck."
The fifteenth of July, when the season was well on the wane, was the date fixed on which the first competition for the badge was to be held.
Great preparations were made for a banquet at the Club, on the most lavish and extensive scale.
The dinner over, the President, Major Fitzgerald, formally opened proceedings; and, alluding in felicitous terms to the momentous occasion, announced, amid cheers, that there were no less than nineteen competitors for the badge, who, their names having been drawn from a hat, were to address the meeting in the following order:—
1. Villiers Wyckliffe.
2. Sir Charles Keyning.
3. Thomas Thomas.
and so on until the full list had been announced.