Do
not misunderstand me,' he added, seeing that they would protest; 'it
is not my own experience alone that guides me. All history bears
witness to the same truth.'
The simple-minded Frenchmen put down this infatuation to the Duke's
early training, little knowing that our English men of rank are the
simplest fellows in the world, and are quite indifferent to their
titles save in business matters.
The Frenchmen paid the bill, and they all three went on to the
Boulevard.
'Now,' said the first man to his two companions, 'I will give you a
practical example of what I meant when I said that Bureaucracy
governed mankind.'
He went up to the wall of the Credit Lyonnais, put the forefinger of
either hand against it, about twenty-five centimetres apart, and at a
level of about a foot above his eyes. Holding his fingers thus he
gazed at them, shifting them slightly from time to time and moving his
glance from one to the other rapidly. A crowd gathered. In a few
moments a pleasant elderly, short, and rather fat gentleman in the
crowd came forward, and, taking off his hat, asked if he could do
anything for him.
