“That may be—but we want both of them to succeed.”
“How absurd! You have to be on one side or the other, don’t you know that? Stupid!”
“Must I really, my Lord? Can’t I get out of it? Well, if I must, I must, only let me think it over; a man can’t make up his mind like that all in a minute!”
“Why, what in the world are you waiting for?”
“Only to know which will come out on top!”
“You ought to be ashamed of yourself, you rascal! Do you mean that you have not sense enough to know light from darkness, or the King from his enemies?”
I explained with an air of perfect simplicity that I was not so blinded but that I could tell day from night, but that when it came to the King or the Princes, if I was forced to choose between them, I could not tell which party drank most, or did the greatest harm to the country. “Far be it from me,” said I, “to speak evil of dignities. I wish them all good health and prosperity. To you too, your noble Lordship! They have fine appetites and I am something of a hearty eater myself, but to make a clean breast of it, if they must eat, I had rather it should be at some one’s else expense!”
“Do you respect nothing, fellow?”
“I respect and love my own belongings.”
“Don’t you know that it is your duty to make sacrifices for the King, your master?”