He might
have softened the growing resentment by a change of manner, but his
intellectual arrogance had control of him for the moment; and he said to
himself that he had mastered the House before, and he would do so now.
Apart from his deadly antipathy to his half-brother, and the gain to
himself--to his credit, the latter weighed with him not so much, so set
was he on a stubborn course--if David disappeared for ever, there was at
bottom a spirit of anti-expansion, of reaction against England's
world-wide responsibilities. He had no largeness of heart or view
concerning humanity. He had no inherent greatness, no breadth of policy.
With less responsibility taken, there would be less trouble, national and
international--that was his point of view; that had been his view long
ago at the meeting at Heddington; and his weak chief had taken it,
knowing nothing of the personal elements behind.
The disconcerting factor in the present bitter questioning in the House
was, that it originated on his own side. It was Jasper Kimber who had
launched the questions, who moved the motion for adjournment.
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