Your poor brother; your poor brother; if it had been he, how much heartbreak I would have been spared.
Prince
Which means, your Majesty?
Queen
That I have been talking to myself, and you have been listening, which is ungallant, as if you were to let me put rouge on my nose instead of on my cheeks without stopping me.
Prince
[Rather uneasily returning to a favourite subject.]
Well, your Majesty, now I have accustomed myself so long to the idea of my marriage that it gives me pleasure and calm to dwell on it, especially when I gaze upon Josephine's tapering regality—then I am most inclined to think your esteemed father, our former King, was wise in recommending it, and that Fate was not too unkind in disposing of my half-brother in her own mysterious way.
[He smiles rather unpleasantly.]
Queen