“It is much needed at the moment. You will vouchsafe us the loan?”
“You must forgive me, monsieur. Its virtue is incommunicable save by the possessor.”
“That is so? Then will madam, perhaps, administer it in person?”
“To whom, monsieur? Monsieur will consider the night.”
“Alas, madam! But to assure that this night shall not be endless—that the sun of our hopes be not extinguished for ever?”
“Pray, sir, have mercy on me. To whom do you allude?”
“To His Majesty—no less.”
“The king?”
“He has but now ridden—been driven, would be truer—from Albano. For the moment everything seems lost. Ferdinand is at the last extreme of exhaustion and agitation. Madam will come to quiet him?”
“I will come, monsieur.”