Man, it tak's a' the sting oot o' bein' dune, to be dune sae
well an' sae completely."
"Yes, but when you know that why do you allow yourselves to be
wheedled?"
"Ach, man; it's a' right askin' that question; but efter thae chaps get
round aboot you, wi' their greasy tongues, an' their flatterin' ways,
you jist begin to think that it's nae use to bother ony mair aboot
resistin'. Look at that auld fermer-collier lookin' chiel, wi' his white
heid an' his snipe-nose an' a smile on his face that wad mak' you
believe he was gaun to dae you some big service. That's the smile that
has made him Prime Minister. You'd think frae his face that he was just
a solid easy-gaun kindly auld fermer, who took a constant joy in givin'
jeelie-pieces to hungry weans. But when he speaks, and gets a grip o'
you, he's yin o' the sooplest lawyers that ever danced roun' the rim o'
hell withoot fallin' in. He'd do his faither, that yin. He wad that."
Robert looked at the various individuals as they were described, keenly
interested and feeling that this comrade of his was describing much of
what he himself had felt about these men, and wondered more and more as
to what it was that had given them their power.
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