"Not much glory in following the crowd," Julius agrees. "Getting out in front, though; leading the charge. Everyone remembers your name then."

Pryan is evidently mulling all this over. Being acclaimed certainly seems a glowing prospect, burnished up by his two visitors, but he's also aware of the need for reverse course. The potential awkwardness of it.

"If I were to speak in support of helping now," Pryan says, deliberately, "will I not seem a changeable man? One who doesn't know his own mind? I fear I'd be branded a coward or a fool, sooner than a hero."