"What do you think of it?--you hear more of those things than I do."
"Everybody says it will be a close division."
"I never expected it," said Mr. Monk.
"Nor I, till I heard what Daubeny said at the first reading. They
will all vote for the bill en masse,--hating it in their hearts all
the time."
"Let us hope they are not so bad as that."
"It is the way with them always. They do all our work for
us,--sailing either on one tack or the other. That is their use in
creation, that when we split among ourselves, as we always do, they
come in and finish our job for us. It must be unpleasant for them to
be always doing that which they always say should never be done at
all."
"Wherever the gift horse may come from, I shall not look it in the
mouth," said Mr. Monk. "There is only one man in the House whom I
hope I may not see in the lobby with me, and that is yourself."
"The question is decided now," said Phineas.
"And how is it decided?"
Phineas could not tell his friend that a question of so great
magnitude to him had been decided by the last sting which he had
received from an insect so contemptible as Mr. Bonteen, but he
expressed the feeling as well as he knew how to express it. "Oh, I
shall be with you. I know what you are going to say, and I know how
good you are.
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