"Yes,--I think I may say that I do like him." "No more than that ?" "Certainly no more than that;--but that I think is a great deal." "I wonder what you would say if any one asked you whether you liked me," said Phineas, looking away from her through the window.
"Just the same;--but without the doubt, if the person who questioned me had any right to ask the question.

There are not above one or two who could have such a right." "And I was wrong, of course, to ask it about Mr.Kennedy," said Phineas, looking out into the Square.
"I did not say so." "But I see you think it." "You see nothing of the kind.

I was quite willing to be asked the question by you, and quite willing to answer it.

Mr.Kennedy is a man of great wealth." "What can that have to do with it ?" "Wait a moment, you impetuous Irish boy, and hear me out." Phineas liked being called an impetuous Irish boy, and came close to her, sitting where he could look up into her face; and there came a smile upon his own, and he was very handsome.

"I say that he is a man of great wealth," continued Lady Laura; "and as wealth gives influence, he is of great use,--politically,--to the party to which he belongs." "Oh, politically!" "Am I to suppose you care nothing for politics?
To such men, to men who think as you think, who are to sit on the same benches with yourself, and go into the same lobby and be seen at the same club, it is your duty to be civil both for your own sake and for that of the cause.