'
'I should say so, my boy. But then there are a great many like
you. Let their means be what they may, they never have quite
enough. To be in any difficulty with regard to money,--to owe what
you cannot pay, or even to have to abstain from things which you
have told yourself are necessary to yourself or to those who
depend on you,--creates a feeling of meanness.'
'That is what I have always felt,' said Silverbridge. 'I cannot
bear to think that I should like to have a thing and that I cannot
afford it.'
'You do not quite understand me, I fear. The only case in which
you can be justified in desiring that which you cannot afford is
when the thing is necessary;--as bread may be, or clothes.'
'As when a fellow wants a lot of new breeches before he has paid
his tailor's bill.'
'As when a poor man,' said the Duke impressively, 'may long to
give his wife a new gown, or his children boots to keep their feet
from the mud and snow.' Then he paused a moment, but the serious
tone of his voice and the energy of his words had sent Gerald
headlong among his kidneys.
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