“Nothing in that hurts my feelings, duke,” said Lady Dubarry.
“So much the better, which puts me at my ease. Well, we want an elixir to make the King merry.”
“Pooh, any quack at the corner will provide such a philter.”
“But we want the virtue to be attributed to this lady,” resumed the duke.
“My lord, you are making the lady blush,” said Balsamo. “But as we were saying just now, no philter will deliver you of Choiseul. Were the King to love this lady ten times more than at present—which is impossible—the minister would still preserve over his mind the hold which the lady has over his heart?”
“That is true,” said the duke. “But it was our sole resource.”
“I could easily find another.”
“Easily? do you hear that, countess? These magicians doubt nothing.”
“Why should I doubt when the simple matter is to prove to the King that the Duke of Choiseul betrays him—from the King’s point of view, for of course the duke does not think he is betraying him, in what he does.”