“That Madame has two admirers instead of one.”
“Thou poison the simplest thing!”
“I poison nothing. Ah! your royal highness’s mind is perverted. The honors of the kingdom of France are being paid to your wife and you are not satisfied.”
The Duke of Orleans dreaded the satirical humor of the Chevalier de Lorraine whenever it reached a certain degree of bitterness, and he changed the conversation abruptly. “The princess is pretty,” said he, very negligently, as if he were speaking of a stranger.
“Yes,” replied the chevalier, in the same tone.
“You say ‘yes’ like a ‘no.’ She has very beautiful black eyes.”
“Yes, but small.”
“That is so, but they are brilliant. She is tall, and of a good figure.”
“I fancy she stoops a little, my lord?”
“I do not deny it. She has a noble appearance.”