DOI article:
Harland, Henry: The Queen's pleasure
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27806#0040
36 The Queen’s Pleasure
Nice and Paris. She openly avows, moreover, that she “ detests
Germany, the German language, the German people, and all
things German, and adores France and the French.” And her
political sympathies are entirely with the Franco-Russ alliance.
She is a deliciously pretty little lady, with curling soft-brown
hair, a round, very young-looking face, a delicate rose-and-ivory
complexion, and big, bright, innocent brown eyes—innocent, yet
with plenty of potential archness, even potential mischief, lurking
in them. She has beautiful full red lips, besides, and exquisite
little white teeth. Florimond wrote a triolet about her once, in
which he described her as “ une fleur en porcelaine.” Her
Majesty repudiated the phrase indignantly. “Why not say a
wax-doll, and be done with it ? ” she demanded. All the same,
“ fleur en porcelaine ” does, in a manner, suggest the general
effect of her appearance, its daintiness, its finish, its crisp chisel-
ling, its clear, pure colour. Whereas, nothing could be more
misleading than “ wax-doll,” for there is character, character, in
every molecule of her person.
The Oueen’s character, indeed, is what I wish I could give
some idea of. It is peculiar, it is distinctive ; to me, at any
rate, it is infinitely interesting and diverting ; but, by the same
token—if I may hazard so to qualify it—it is a trifle .... a
trifle .... difficult.
“You’re such an arbitrary gent ! ” I heard Florimond complain
to her, one day. (I heard and trembled, but the Oueen only
laughed.) And that will give you an inkling of what I mean.
If she likes you, if you amuse her, and if you never remotely
oppose or question her desire of the moment, she can be all that is
most gracious, most reasonable, most captivating : an inspiring
listener, an entertaining talker: mingling the naivete, the inex-
perience
Nice and Paris. She openly avows, moreover, that she “ detests
Germany, the German language, the German people, and all
things German, and adores France and the French.” And her
political sympathies are entirely with the Franco-Russ alliance.
She is a deliciously pretty little lady, with curling soft-brown
hair, a round, very young-looking face, a delicate rose-and-ivory
complexion, and big, bright, innocent brown eyes—innocent, yet
with plenty of potential archness, even potential mischief, lurking
in them. She has beautiful full red lips, besides, and exquisite
little white teeth. Florimond wrote a triolet about her once, in
which he described her as “ une fleur en porcelaine.” Her
Majesty repudiated the phrase indignantly. “Why not say a
wax-doll, and be done with it ? ” she demanded. All the same,
“ fleur en porcelaine ” does, in a manner, suggest the general
effect of her appearance, its daintiness, its finish, its crisp chisel-
ling, its clear, pure colour. Whereas, nothing could be more
misleading than “ wax-doll,” for there is character, character, in
every molecule of her person.
The Oueen’s character, indeed, is what I wish I could give
some idea of. It is peculiar, it is distinctive ; to me, at any
rate, it is infinitely interesting and diverting ; but, by the same
token—if I may hazard so to qualify it—it is a trifle .... a
trifle .... difficult.
“You’re such an arbitrary gent ! ” I heard Florimond complain
to her, one day. (I heard and trembled, but the Oueen only
laughed.) And that will give you an inkling of what I mean.
If she likes you, if you amuse her, and if you never remotely
oppose or question her desire of the moment, she can be all that is
most gracious, most reasonable, most captivating : an inspiring
listener, an entertaining talker: mingling the naivete, the inex-
perience