"But others would think of it, and you would find that there were difficulties. But you are not thinking of it in earnest?"
"Yes, in earnest."
"Why so? I should have thought that every day had removed you further and further from any such idea."
"The ground I'm on at present is so slippery."
"Well, yes. I can understand that. But yet it is less slippery than it used to be."
"Ah;—you do not exactly see. What if I were to lose my seat?"
"You are safe at least for the next four years, I should say."
"Ah;—no one can tell. And suppose I took it into my head to differ from the Government?"
"You must not do that. You have put yourself into a boat with these men, and you must remain in the boat. I should have thought all that was easy to you."
"It is not so easy as it seems. The very necessity of sitting still in the boat is in itself irksome,—very irksome. And then there comes some crisis in which a man cannot sit still."