"My opinion is, that to put the king in front of the priests in the coming tide, the rising storm, is to have priests and king broken by the same wave."
"What would you do in my poor brother's place, doctor?"
"A party is growing, like those genii of the Arabian Nights, which becomes a hundred cubits high an hour after release from the imprisoning bottle."
"You allude to the Jacobins?"
Gilbert shook his head.
"No; I mean the Girondists, who wish for war, a national desire."
"But war with whom? With the emperor, our brother? The King of Spain, our nephew? Our enemies, Doctor Gilbert, are at home, and not outside of France, in proof of which—" She hesitated, but he besought her to speak.
"I really do not know that I can tell you, though it is the reason of my asking you here."
"You may speak freely to one who is devoted and ready to give his life to the king."