Do you understand ?" "I have an inkling of what you mean." Eustace refilled the little glass.
"Of course," he went on, "my true life stands altogether outside popular contention.

I am an artist, though only half-baked But I admit most heartily that our form of government is a good one--the most favourable that exists to individual freedom.

We are ruled by the balance of two parties; neither could do without the other.

This being the case, a man of my mind may conscientiously support either side.
Nowadays neither is a foe to liberty; we know that party tall-talk means nothing--mere playing to the gallery.

If I throw whatever weight I represent into the Liberal scales, I am only helping, like every other Member of Parliament, to maintain the constitutional equilibrium.
You see, this view is not even cynical; any one might proclaim it seriously." "Yes; but don't do so in Polterham." The other laughed, and at the same moment remembered how long it was since such an expression of mirth had escaped his lips.
"Well," he exclaimed, "I feel better to-day than for long enough.