'Lorraine is an independent duchy, sire.'
'Was you mean, madame, till Henry II., in 1552, reduced it to obedience under the oriflamme, and left there a garrison which cost Charles V. some trouble, and thirty thousand of the best soldiers in Spain too! Moreover Metz, Toul, and Verdun were all confirmed to France by the treaty of Château Cambresis in '59.
'Your Majesty is excessively tiresome.'
'I regret to hear it; but how is this, sweetheart,' said Louis, knitting his brows as he surveyed the glittering dress of the lovely Countess; 'will nothing content you but a robe of blue, powdered with fleurs-de-lis?'
'It becomes me, sire, does it not?'
'Who alone are permitted to wear such?'
'Princesses of the blood royal; but am not I the life of your heart?'
'Under Henry IV., even the Duchess de Vendosme dared not have worn these, after she was publicly affronted by the Count de Soissons for doing so.'
'Henry IV. was a bear who should never have left the woods of the Lower Pyrenees. Your Majesty is in a horrible humour this morning; but here is luncheon, and there are chessmen—which do you prefer to me?'
'Neither, sweetheart, yet I will have you all; luncheon now, chess after, and you all the while.'