Koll. Don't speak ill of the King, please.
Flink (ironically). Heaven forbid! (Takes a pinch of snuff.) I know all about his talent—his great talent, his genial talent! (Offers his snuff-box to the KING.)
Gran. But it was public opinion we were talking about, Flink; is it very much like what we heard to-day?
Flink. I wouldn't say that; your opinions are rather advanced in these parts.
The King. Is the tendency republican, rather than monarchical?
Flink. That depends how you look at it. The King has just been paying some visits in the country districts; he is, so to speak, the commercial traveller for his firm—as all kings and crown princes are. Of course he was cheered everywhere. But go and ask the agricultural classes if they set great store by the pomp and circumstance of royalty; they will unanimously answer: "It costs an infernal lot to keep up!" Ha, ha, ha!
Gran. Your farmer is a realist.
Flink. A brutal realist! Ha, ha, ha! Self-government is cheaper. He has it all at his fingers' ends, the scoundrel!
The King. He is not a republican by conviction, then
Flink. Not universally, no. At least, not yet. But things are moving that way; and our reactionary government is helping the movement—that, and the letter they get from America.