“No one gives what they could, Albert!” Elias hissed. “Everyone gives what they please – and certainly not without plenty of self-congratulations for their miserly gestures. With one hand, they raise grain tariffs, muster soldiers and create the workhouses. With the other, they deign to save a few poor souls from the very hell they made. This country is mad. It’s rotten. It’s unthinkable, and none of you can see it.”