the money itself?" said I timidly.

To this day I do not know exactly what the bank-manager said, but it came
to this in the end--that I had better not meddle with things that I did
not understand.

On reviewing the whole matter, I can be certain of this much only, that
the money given out at the musical banks is not the current coin of the
realm. It is not the money with which the people do as a general rule
buy their bread, meat, and clothing. It is like it; some coins very like
it; and it is not counterfeit. It is not, take it all round, a spurious
article made of base metal in imitation of the money which is in daily
use; but it is a distinct coinage which, though I do not suppose it ever
actually superseded the ordinary gold, silver, and copper, was probably
issued by authority, and was intended to supplant those metals. Some of
the pieces were really of exquisite beauty; and some were, I do verily
believe, nothing but the ordinary currency, only that there was another
head and name in place of that of the commonwealth. And here was one of
the great marvels; for those who were most strongly in favour of this
coinage maintained, and even grew more excited if they were opposed here
than on any other matter, that the very self-same coin with the head of
the commonwealth upon it was of little if any value, while it became
exceedingly precious it stamped with the other image.

Some of the coins were plainly bad; of these last there were not many;
still there were enough for them to be not uncommon. These were entirely
composed of alloy; they would bend easily, would melt away to nothing
with a little heat, and were quite unsuited for a currency. Yet there
were few of the wealthier classes who did not maintain that even these
coins were genuine good money, though they were chary of taking them.
Every one knew this, so they were seldom offered; but all thought it
incumbent upon them to retain a good many in their possession, and to let
them be seen from time to time in their hands and purses. Of course
people knew their real value exceedingly well; but few, if any, dared to
say what that value was; or if they did, it would be only in certain
companies or in writing in the newspapers anonymously. Strange! there
was hardly any insinuation against this coinage which they would not
tolerate and even applaud in their daily papers; and yet, if the same
thing were said without ambiguity to their faces--nominative case