"
"In fact--shut one eye and go ahead?" asked Marchmont.
"Oh, shut 'em both and walk by the sound of the feet and the cheering."
"Don't say more than you mean, Mr. Morewood," the Dean advised mildly.
"I know what he means," said Marchmont. "And, yes, I rather wish I could
do it."
Morewood began to instance the great men who had done it, including in
his list many whom the common opinion that he praised would not have
characterised at all in the same way. At each name Marchmont denied
either the greatness or the pliancy. The Dean could see with what ardour
he maintained his position; in spite of the unvarying suavity of his
manner there was something naturally repulsive to him in yielding a
hair's breadth in deference to the wishes or the weaknesses of a
majority.
"Your independence is really half a prejudice," said the Dean at the
end. "You're like a man who can't get a cab and misses his appointment
sooner than ride in a 'bus."
"I suppose so--and I'm much obliged to you. But--well, you can argue
against what a man does, but what's the use arguing against what he is?"
"No; he himself's the only man who can do that," said the Dean, but he
knew as well as Marchmont himself that such an argument would never be
victorious.
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