But if so, had not that opinion been given to him very plainly when he was told that he was both proud and diffident?
That he was called upon to serve his country by good service, if such were within his power, he did acknowledge freely; but not that he should allow himself to be stuck up as a ninepin only to be knocked down! There are politicians for whom such occupation seems to be proper;--and who like it too.

A little office, a little power, a little rank, a little pay, a little niche in the ephemeral history of the year will reward many men adequately for being knocked down.
And yet he loved power, and even when thinking of all this allowed his mind from time to time to run away into a dreamland of prosperous political labours.

He thought what it would be to be an all-beneficent Prime Minister, with a loyal majority, with a well-conditioned unanimous cabinet, with a grateful people, and an appreciative Sovereign.

How well might a man spend himself night and day, even to death, in the midst of labours such as these.
Half an hour after receiving the Duke's letter he suddenly jumped up and sat himself down at his desk.

He felt it to be necessary that he should at once write to his old friend;--and the more necessary that he should do so at once, because he had resolved that he would do so before he had made up his mind on the chief subject of that letter.
It did not suit him to say either that he would or that he would not do as his friend advised him.