I really can't take it upon myself to say that they have a system." "Oh, yes, my lord--of a certainty we have one--the social stake system." "Ask the creature," whispered audibly the filthy coxcomb Hightail, "if he himself, now, has any income." "How is it, Sir John--have you an income ?" "Yes, my lord, of one hundred and twelve thousand sovereigns a year." "Of what ?--of what ?" demanded two or three voices, with well-bred, subdued eagerness.
"Of sovereigns--why that means kings!" It would appear that the Leaphighers, while they obey only the king's eldest first cousin of the masculine gender, perform all their official acts in the name of the sovereign himself, for whose person and character they pretty uniformly express the profoundest veneration; just as we men express admiration for a virtue that we never practise.

My declaration, therefore, produced a strong sensation, and I was soon required to explain myself.

This I did, by simply stating the truth.
"Oh, gold, yclept sovereigns!" exclaimed three or four, laughing heartily.

"Why then, your famous Great Breeches people, after all, Chatterino, are so little advanced in civilization as to use gold! Harkee, Signior--a--a--Boldercraft, have you no currency in 'promises' ?" "I do not know, sir, that I rightly comprehend the question." "Why, we poor barbarians, sir, who live as you see us, only in a state of simplicity and nature,"-- there was irony in every syllable the impudent scoundrel uttered--"we poor wretches, or rather our ancestors, made the discovery, that for the purposes of convenience, having, as you perceive, no pockets, it might be well to convert all our currency into 'promises.' Now, I would ask if you have any of that coin ?" "Not as coin, sir, but as collateral to coin, we have plenty." "He speaks of collaterals in currency, as if he were discussing a pedigree! Are you really, Mynherr Shouldercalf, so little advanced in your country, as not to know the immense advantages of a currency of 'promises' ?" "As I do not understand exactly what the nature of this currency is, sir, I cannot answer as readily as I could wish." "Let us explain it to him; for, I vow, I am really curious to hear his answer.

Chatterino, do you, who have some knowledge of the thing's habits, be our interpreter." "The matter is thus, Sir John.