I won my fight as an Independent--and, by George, I'll remain an Independent! I've got the upper hand now.

I am strong enough to stand alone.

If any party on earth thinks it can manage me--well, I'll show it that I can be my own party!" Was it true, what they said of him,--that success had already gone to his head, that the best way to get rid of him was to give him a political rope with which he might hang himself?
Or was there some solid foundation of fact in his blustering assumption of power?
Was he actually a force that would have to be reckoned with in the future?
From a mass of confused impressions Stephen could gather nothing clearly except his inability to form a definite opinion of the man.

On the one side was the weight of prejudice, of preconceived judgment; and on the other he could place only the effect of a personal magnetism which was as real and as intangible as light or colour.
"Do you think that is possible ?" he asked sceptically.

"In a democracy like ours is any man so strong that he can stand alone ?" "Well, of course he is not alone as long as he has the support of the majority." "You may have this support--I neither affirm nor deny it--but upon what does it rest?
What do you offer the people that is better than the principles or the promises of the old parties?
I heard you speak once, but you did not answer this question--to my mind the only question that is vital.