"Well;—what do you think of it all?" the Duke said one day to Mr. Monk, at the Treasury, affecting an air of cheery good-humour.
"I think," said Mr. Monk, "that the country is very prosperous. I don't know that I ever remember trade to have been more evenly satisfactory."
"Ah, yes. That's very well for the country, and ought, I suppose, to satisfy us."
"It satisfies me," said Mr. Monk.
"And me, in a way. But if you were walking about in a very tight pair of boots, in an agony with your feet, would you be able just then to relish the news that agricultural wages in that parish had gone up sixpence a week?"
"I'd take my boots off, and then try," said Mr. Monk.
"That's just what I'm thinking of doing. If I had my boots off all that prosperity would be so pleasant to me! But you see you can't take your boots off in company. And it may be that you have a walk before you, and that no boots will be worse for your feet even than tight ones."
"We'll have our boots off soon, Duke," said Mr. Monk, speaking of the recess.
"And when shall we be quit of them altogether? Joking apart, they have to be worn if the country requires it."
"Certainly, Duke."