Hollerith had brains. "A Pyrrhic victory," I said.
"And you know all about it," he said. "You planned it this way."
I shrugged. "By doing what you wanted done," I said.
He nodded, very slowly.
"What now?" I said quietly.
He acted, for a second, as if he didn't hear me. Then he spoke. "Now," he said, "we go back. Democracy—it's a limited tool, like anything else. No tool is so good that it can be used in every case, on every problem. We were wrong. We'd better admit it and go back."
"But your men—"
"The good ones know the truth now," he said, "just as I do. The others ... there's nothing else they can do, without me and without the rest of the force."
I took a deep breath. It was all over.
"And now," he said suddenly, "I want you to tell me just who you are."