"I'm afraid I don't quite understand what are the requisites for Parliamentary success, or indeed of what it consists. Is his ambition, do you suppose, the same as yours?"
"His ambition, I take it, does not go beyond a desire to be Parliamentary flunkey to a big man,--with wages, if possible, but without, if the wages are impossible."
"And yours?"
"Oh, as to mine;--there are some things, Alice, that a man does not tell to any one."
"Are there? They must be very terrible things."
"The schoolboy, when he sits down to make his rhymes, dares not say, even to his sister, that he hopes to rival Milton; but he nurses such a hope. The preacher, when he preaches his sermon, does not whisper, even to his wife, his belief that thousands may perhaps be turned to repentance by the strength of his words; but he thinks that the thousand converts are possible."
"And you, though you will not say so, intend to rival Chatham, and to make your thousand converts in politics."

"I'm afraid I don't quite understand what Parliamentary success requires. Is his ambition, do you suppose, the same as yours?"
"His ambition, I think, does not go beyond a desire to be Parliamentary flunkey to a big man - with wages, if possible."
"And yours?"
"There are some things, Alice, that a man does not tell to anyone."
"Are there? They must be very terrible things."
"The schoolboy, when he sits down to make his rhymes, dares not say, even to his sister, that he hopes to rival Milton; but he nurses such a hope. The preacher, when he preaches his sermon, does not whisper, even to his wife, his belief that thousands may be turned to repentance by his words; but he thinks that it is possible."
"And you intend to make your thousand converts in politics."
