I suppose it was about that time that Surji Rao began to consider whether it was after all for the best interests of the State that ee-Wobbis should remain in it.

Surji Rao was first Minister to the Maharajah, and a very important person.

He had charge of the Treasury, and it was his business to produce every day one hundred fresh rupees to put into it.

This was his duty, and whether the harvests had been good and the cattle many, or whether the locusts and the drought had made the people poor, Surji Rao did his duty.
If ever he should fail, there hung a large and heavy shoe upon the wall of the Maharajah's apartment, which daily suggested personal chastisement and a possible loss of dignity to Surji Rao.
Dr.Roberts was making serious demands upon the Treasury, and proposed to make others more serious still.

Worse than that, he was supplanting Surji Rao in the confidence and affection of the Maharajah.