Phillips's brief reforming energy was over; he didn't want the bother of punishing a dozen pupils; but it was necessary to do something to save his word, so he looked about for a scapegoat and found it in Anne, who had dropped into her seat, gasping for breath, with a forgotten lily wreath hanging askew over one ear and giving her a particularly rakish and disheveled appearance.
Judging from its content, Pence's speech served more of a domestic political purpose, as it sought to use China as a scapegoat for US President Donald Trump's falling public approval.
