" Then Phineas for the
first time expressed an opinion that he would resign his seat,--that
he would take the Chiltern Hundreds, and retire altogether from
public life.
"Pray do nothing of the kind," said Mr. Monk.
"I do not think you quite understand," said Phineas, "how such an
ordeal as this works upon a man, how it may change a man, and knock
out of him what little strength there ever was there. I feel that I
am broken, past any patching up or mending. Of course it ought not to
be so. A man should be made of better stuff;--but one is only what
one is."
"We'll put off the discussion for another week," said Mr. Monk.
"There came a letter to me when I was in prison from one of the
leading men in Tankerville, saying that I ought to resign. I know
they all thought that I was guilty. I do not care to sit for a place
where I was so judged,--even if I was fit any longer for a seat in
Parliament." He had never felt convinced that Mr. Monk had himself
believed with confidence his innocence, and he spoke with soreness,
and almost with anger.
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