It failed because you remained loyal to your convictions.
CHAMBERLAIN. It failed because one day two of us lost our tempers--one
bragged, the other bullied. That was the real reason. If Gladstone had
given me a large enough hand over his first Bill, d'you suppose I
shouldn't have been a Home Ruler? I was to begin with, remember.
DIST. V. Standing for a very different Bill, I imagine.
CHAMBERLAIN. Which you would still have opposed. But I should have won.
DIST. V. Certainly, if we had lost you, it would have made a difference.
CHAMBERLAIN. I was younger then: I'd more push in me. But you would have
let me go, all the same. Yes, I've always admired your courage when the
odds were against you...So, when the time for it came, you pulled me down
too. It had to be done. ...And here I am.
DIST. V. My dear Chamberlain, you distress me deeply!
CHAMBERLAIN. Of course I do. D'you think I haven't distressed myself too?
Do I look like a man who hasn't been through anything?
DIST. V. Then--there is a cloud between us, after all.
CHAMBERLAIN. No. I see you clearly; I see myself clearly. There's no cloud
about it; it's all sharp, and clear, and hard--hard as nails. And
I've been able to put it into words--that now you understand. Poor
Randolph! Do you remember how his tongue stumbled, and tripped him, the
last time he spoke in the House? And I saw you looking on, pitying him.
You'd got a kind side to you, for all your efficiency.
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