Weinberl and Christopher, two shop employees, enjoy a moment of leisure while their employer is away. Weinberl delivers a grandiloquent, mock-heroic speech about the importance of the merchant class to civilization, while Christopher provides dry, grounded commentary.
CHRISTOPHER: He's gone. Ah, thank you, Mr Weinberl.
WEINBERL: Does it ever occur to you, Christopher, that we're the backbone of this country?
CHRISTOPHER: You and me, Mr Weinberl?
WEINBERL: The merchant class. The very vertebrae of continental stability. From coccyx to clavicle-from the Carpathians to . . . where you will . . .
CHRISTOPHER: The toe-nails . . .
WEINBERL: . . . the Tyrol, from Austro to breakfast, and Hungaria to lights out, the merchant class is the backbone of the empire on which the sun shines out of our doings; do you ever say that to yourself?
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