"I? Against you!" she cried.
"I appreciate the ties of habit and friendship," he said. "But for them there are many who would be with me. Conservatism is a strong force, as I know very well."
"Do you think," she inquired, "that I cannot see the wise course when you show it to me so clearly?"
He concealed his gratification by a counter question. "Do you see the struggle which is to come out of this?"
"How much and how long will it be?"
"It may take years," he said. "Political campaigns may turn on it. Next fall's election, the mayoralty, may be determined by what we two, here in this parlour, talk over by ourselves." He saw the flush which overspread her face, the pride which came into her eyes, yet he hesitated before the final stroke.
"Will all that happen?" she asked eagerly.
She opened the way for him. Dropping his eyes, he sat for a moment to collect himself; when he looked up his face was serious. "Miss Blanchard," he said, "there will be from all this certain results, personal to me, which are beginning to show very clearly. Whether your friends are going to make this a demonstration against me, or whether they think they must act, I can't say, but we are going to come to an open rupture." Then he looked at her with a smile which was half amused, half deprecatory. "Do you remember that I once confessed to you my foolish social ambition?"
"It was not foolish!" she objected.
"Perhaps not," he returned, "and yet—perhaps. At any rate, I had the ambition once."