“Nay, madam,” I said; “it is a remedy that must not be repeated.”
She looked at me astounded; then broke into a forced laugh. “Hey-day!
We are pretty absolute, are we not?” But the queen, grown suddenly
very affable and communicative, put her aside with a hand which she
laid upon my arm--
“We will not quarrel with our physician. She knows what she knows.
Moreover, for all her long exile and the little errors which she has
redeemed, she is of the great nation which we love. Is it not so,
child? and hast thou heard what are the best and latest news? None
other than that thy glorious captain, the supreme Nelson, has within
the last few days annihilated the French fleet at Aboukir! Ah! that
rose is from thy heart. It speaks the proud blood, the red rose of
England, mantling above all foolish sophistries. Thou canst not but
rejoice with us in the destruction of the enemies of thy race--of all
the world!”