“I would like to hear what you think, if you will tell me,” said John, gravely.
“Well, do not be angry. I have a presentiment that you will not be made senator. Are you angry?”
“No indeed. But why?”
“Just for that very reason; you are too calm. You are not enough of a partisan. Every one is a partisan here.”
John was silent, and his face was grave and thoughtful. The remark was profound in its way, and showed a far deeper insight into political matters than he imagined Joe possessed. He had long regarded Mrs. Wyndham as a woman of fine sense and judgment, and had often asked her opinion on important questions. But in all his experience she had never said anything that seemed to strike so deeply at the root of things as this simple remark of Josephine’s.
“I am afraid you are angry,” said Joe, seeing that he was grave and silent.
“You have set me thinking, Miss Thorn,” he answered.
“You think I may be right?” she said.
“The idea is quite new to me, I think it is perhaps the best definition of the fact that I ever heard. But it is not what ought to be.”
“Of course not,” Joe answered. “Nothing is just what it ought to be. But one has to take things as they are.”