"Do you consider this a good reason?" inquired Mrs. Hardinge sharply.
"From his point of view, yes; from ours, no," said Hilda gently, but promptly.
"Then you do not think that we should retreat from our position even if retreat were possible?"
"No," replied Hilda. "Far better to leave office than to make a concession of which we do not approve in order to retain it."
"You are a strange girl," said Mrs. Hardinge. "If I understand you rightly, you think both sides are correct."
"I think that there is a great deal to be said on both sides, and this is constantly the case with important controversies. Between the metal and the flint the spark of truth is struck. I should think it no disgrace to be defeated on a subject about which we could show good cause. I might even come to think that better cause had been shown against us after the discussion was over; but to flee the discussion, to sacrifice conviction to expediency—that would be disgraceful."
"Then," said Mrs. Hardinge, with some interest, "if the Emperor were to ask your opinion, you would try to persuade him to our side?"
"Yes and no. I would urge strongly my sense of the question and my opinion that it is better to settle at once a controversy about which there is so much difference of opinion. But I should respect his views; and if they were conscientious, I should not dare to advise him to sacrifice them."