"They are never wrong, sire, if God remains neutral."
"Why drag the Deity into such a question?"
"Let us say then, sire, luck, or destiny."
"That is better. Perhaps I agree with you about the moral calculations, but I do not like your Genoese lottery. It seems to me a mere swindle, and I would not have anything to do with it, even if I were certain to win always."
"Your majesty is right, for the public would never support lotteries were they not led away by false security."
Then he tried one or two other points, but I met him without flinching. Suddenly he stopt short and looked me over from head to foot.
"Do you know that you are a very handsome man?"
"Is it possible, sire, that after a long scientific dissertation, your majesty can credit me with merely the qualities which distinguish your majesty's grenadiers?"
The king smiled with kind malice, then said: "As it seems that Lord Keith knows you, I will speak to him about you."
He then took off his hat again, for he was never chary of his bows, and I, making him a profound reverence, withdrew.