(There is a sudden diversion.)
CATHERINE. Father, you have boots!
LADY MARY. So he has.
LORD LOAM. Of course I have.
ERNEST (with greedy cunning). You are actually wearing boots, uncle. It’s very unsafe, you know, in this climate.
LORD LOAM. Is it?
ERNEST. We have all abandoned them, you observe. The blood, the arteries, you know.
LORD LOAM. I hadn’t a notion.
(He holds out his feet, and ERNEST kneels.)
ERNEST. O Lord, yes.