Then as she paused, somewhat breathless and eager, her bright myosotis-coloured eyes anxiously scanning his face he said mildly:
"How beautifully you put things, Mme. la Marquise. I vow I have never heard such a perfect flood of eloquence."
"'Tis not a matter of Madame's eloquence," interposed Louis, with impatience, "though she hath grasped the subject with marvellous clearness of judgment."
"Then 'tis a matter of what, Sire?"
"The Duke of Cumberland has appealed to our loyalty. Though we are at war with England we bear no animus toward her reigning house, and have no wish to see King George's crown snatched from him by that beardless young adventurer, who has no more right to the throne of England than you, milor, to that of France."
"And his Grace of Cumberland has asked his Majesty's help," added Mme. de Pompadour.
"How strange! Just as Prince Charles Edward himself hath done."
"The Duke of Cumberland desires the person of the Pretender," she said, without heeding the interruption, "so that he may no longer incite misguided enthusiasts to rebellion, and cease to plunge Scotland and England into the throes of civil war."
"His Grace asks but little, methinks!" said Lord Eglinton slowly.
"Oh, England is always ready to pay for what she wants," said the Marquise.