It was as if, by showing her a side of his nature the public had never seen, he had taken her into his confidence.
"But surely your influence is as great as ever," she said presently.

A trite remark, but the only one that occurred to her.
"I brought the crowd with me as far as I thought safe," he answered, "and now it is beginning to turn against me because I won't lead it over the precipice into the sea.

That's the way it always is, I reckon.
That's the way it's been, anyhow, ever since Moses tried to lead the Children of Israel out of bondage.

Take these strikers, for instance.

I believe in the right to strike.