"But you know majorities are nearly always wrong."
"Excuse me, I claim no such knowledge. I know that majorities rule."
"And rule oppressively frequently."
"That may be so. Human nature is essentially tyrannical. Give a man power, and, without great grace, he becomes a tyrant right off."
"I don't think Rufus Sterne would ever become a tyrant."
"He might, my child, under some circumstances. Never trust a man too far. I hear he is coming east."
"Indeed!"
"Has some new scheme on hand, I expect," and Mr. Graythorne picked up his hat and smiled knowingly.
Left alone again, the look of perplexity in Madeline's eyes deepened. She had told Mr. Graythorne that she would take his advice and accept the Harveys' invitation. But she was disposed to change her mind again. She did not want to leave New York at present. She might hide the truth from other people, but she could not hide it from herself, that if Rufus Sterne came to New York she wanted to see him.
She would not own to herself that she was in love, or anything approaching it. But she was undeniably interested. She had been from the first. Rufus Sterne appealed to her as no other man had done. His loneliness, his self-reliance, his courage, his independence made him an object of curiosity, to use no stronger term.