"Do you call business matters pangs?" majestically said the Queen. "I would like you to stay. Dr. Gilbert, surely you will not disobey me."
"But I want the doctor's opinion and he cannot give it according to his conscience if you are by us."
"What risk does he run of displeasing me by speaking according to his conscience?" she demanded.
"That is easy to understand, madam; you have your own line of policy, which is not always ours; so——"
"You would clearly imply that the Gilbert policy runs counter to mine?"
"It should be so, from the ideas your Majesty knows me to entertain," said Gilbert. "But your Majesty should know that I will speak the truth before you as plainly as to his Majesty."
"That is a gain," said Marie Antoinette.
"Truth is not always good to speak," observed the monarch.
"When useful?" suggested Gilbert.
"And the intention good," added the Queen.