Phineas Redux by Anthony Trollope

On the morning following the great division Phineas was with his friend, Lord Cantrip, by eleven o'clock; and Lord Cantrip, when he had read the two letters in which were comprised the whole correspondence, made to our unhappy hero the following little speech. "I do not think that you can do anything. Indeed, I am sure that Mr. Monk is quite right. I don't quite see what it is that you wish to do. Privately -- between our two selves -- I do not hesitate to say that Mr. Bonteen has intended to be ill-natured. I fancy that he is an ill-natured -- or at any rate a jealous -- man; and that he would be willing to run down a competitor in the race who had made his running after a fashion different from his own. Bonteen has been a useful man -- a very useful man; and the more so perhaps because he has not entertained any high political theory of his own. You have chosen to do so -- and undoubtedly when you and Monk left us, to our very great regret, you did scuttle the ship. "

"We had no intention of that kind. "