There was a curious gravity about his consideration of Gershom in spite of the satirical tone of his responses.

Was it possible that he was the one man in town who did not treat the fellow as a ridiculous farce?
"If by dirty work you mean the clearing away of obstacles--well, somebody has to do it, hasn't he ?" asked Gideon Vetch.

"If you want a clean street to walk on, you must hire somebody to shovel away the slush.

It is true that we put Gershom to shovelling slush--and you complain of his methods! Well, I admit that he may have been a trifle too zealous about it; he may have spattered things a bit more than was necessary, but after all, he got some of the mud out of the way, didn't he?
There are people," he added, "who believe that the wind he raised swept me into office." "I object to his methods," insisted Stephen, "because they seem to me dishonest." "Perhaps." The blue eyes--how could he have thought them gray ?--had grown quizzical.

"But he wasn't moving in the best company, you know.