No : do n't scratch ! Naughty ! Naughty ! Bring another chair , Brown . And take Mop with you : he wants his walk . No , no . It is to put a visitor on . Choose a nice one with a lean-back . Not yet . You had better send it . “ Send it , ” Brown , I said . Mop must n't be hurried . Take him round by the stables .Most extraordinary !And I wish one could kill all wicked pests as easily as you .Most extraordinary ! Well , Brown ? Oh , yes ; that 's quite a nice one .... I 'm sure there 's a wasps ’ nest somewhere ; there are so many of them about . Yes : like Adam and Eve . You 'd better take it away , Brown , or cover it ; it 's too tempting . I 'm glad He did n't , then . The Fall made the human race decent , even if it did no good otherwise . Brown , I 've dropped my glasses . Thank you , Brown , Yes . You have n't seen Lord Beaconsfield yet , I suppose ? I hope they have given him a comfortable one . Oh , that 's all right , then . Only for a week , I 'm afraid . Why ? I do n't think Lord Beaconsfield is a sportsman . Lord Beaconsfield will not shoot , I 'm sure . You remember him , Brown , being here before ? He is always very nice to me . Very nice and sensible . Most extraordinary you should think that , Brown ! Well , Brown , there are some things you can teach him , I do n't doubt ; and there are some things he can teach you . I 'm sure he has taught me a great deal . He lets me think for myself , Brown ; and that 's what so many of my ministers would rather I did n't . They want me to be merely the receptacle of their own opinions . No , Brown , that 's what we Stewarts are never going to do ! Yes ; being a woman has its advantages , I know . Yes , Brown ; and that is why I like being up in the hills , where the views are wide . Of course ; naturally ! Local option is not going to come yet , Brown . Mr. Gladstone has retired from politics . At least he is not going to take office again . Yes ; quite as much as I wish to see . There 's a great deal in what he says , I do n't understand , and that I do n't wish to . Brown , how did you come to scratch your leg ? Poor dear Brown ! Did she fly at you ? Ferocious creature ! She must be mad . You must have it cauterised , Brown . I wo n't have you getting hydrophobia . Oh , from cats too ; any cat that a mad dog has bitten . I do n't like cats : I never did . Treacherous , deceitful creatures ! Now a dog always looks up to you . Now , Brown , I must get to work again . I have writing to do . See that I 'm not disturbed . Ah , yes , to be sure . But I did n't want to worry him too soon . What is the time ? Oh ! then I think I may . Will you go and tell him : the Queen 's compliments , and she would like to see him , now ? And then I sha n't want you any more — till this afternoon . Yes , do ! That will be nice for you . And Brown , mind you have that leg seen to ! What , before he has seen me ? Go , and take him away from the Princess , and tell him to come here ! And you had better take Mop with you . Now , dear Brown , do have your poor leg seen to , at once ! Oh , how do you do , my dear Lord Beaconsfield ! Good morning ; and welcome to , Balmoral . You arrived early ? I hope you are sufficiently rested . You have had a long , tiring journey , I fear . I hope that you slept upon the train ? Oh , I 'm sorry ! I 'm feeling “ bonnie , ” as we say in Scotland . Life out of doors suits me . Are you writing another of your novels , Lord Beaconsfield ? That sounds like composition . Now , my dear Lord , pray sit down ! I had that chair specially brought for you . Generally I sit here quite alone . Well ? And how is everything ? Do not be in any hurry , dear Prime Minister . I thought that Mr. Gladstone had been speaking . In Edinburgh , quite lately . I have read some of them . They annoy me intensely . I have no patience with him ! Ca n't you stop it ? But , surely , he should be stopped when he speaks on matters which may , any day , bring us into war ! You think so ? No , they must n't ! We will not allow it . Do you propose to summon Parliament ? If I had my way , Lord Beaconsfield , my Fleet would be in the Baltic to-morrow ; and before another week was over , Petersburg would be under bombardment . Yes ! And what a good lesson it will teach them ! The Crimea was n't enough for them , I suppose . Oh ! There is one thing , Lord Beaconsfield , on which I want your advice . I wish to confer upon the Sultan of Turkey my Order of the Garter . What I want to know is , whether , as Prime Minister , you have any objection ? Wait ? Wait till when ? I want to do it now . But do you think , Lord Beaconsfield , that the Turks are going to be beaten ? The French wo n't like that ! No , indeed ! I was too shy to say what I thought . I used to cough sometimes . Indeed ? Now that does surprise me ! Tell me , Lord Beaconsfield , how has he ever helped you ? No , dear Lord Beaconsfield , not to-day ! Those official matters can wait . After you have said so much , and said it so beautifully , I would rather still talk with you as a friend . Of friends you and I have not many ; those who make up our world , for the most part , we have to keep at a distance . But while I have many near relatives , children and descendants , I remember that you have none . So your case is the harder . Pray , do not apologise ! It has been a very great privilege ; I beg that you will go on ! Tell me — you spoke of bereavement — I wish you would tell me more — about your wife . She was devoted to you , was n't she ? And you , you —? Dear Lord Beaconsfield ; did you mean — had you ever meant ——? Oh , yes , yes ; I understand — better than others would . For that has always been my own feeling . Oh , I think that is so wise , so right , so noble of you ! Yes , my dear friend , go and rest yourself ! But before you go , will you not wait , and take a glass of wine with me ?And there is just one other thing I wish to say before we part . Bring some wine .That Order of the Garter which I had intended to onfer upon the Sultan — have you , as Prime Minister , any objection if I bestow it nearer home , on one to whom personally — I cannot say more — on yourself , I mean . Dear Lord Beaconsfield , I want your answer . Very well , Lord Beaconsfield . And if you do not remind me , I shall remind you .Pray , help yourself ! Thank you . Draw your curtains , and sleep well !“ When pain and anguish wring the brow , A ministering Angel , thou ! ” Pick up that broken glass .Bring it to me ! ... Leave it !Such devotion ! Most extraordinary ! Oh ! Albert ! Albert !CURTAIN His Favourite Flower Dramatis Personae THE STATESMAN THE HOUSEKEEPER THE DOCTOR THE PRIMROSES His Favourite Flower A Political Myth Explained The eminent old Statesman has not been at all well . He is sitting up in his room , and his doctor has come to see him for the third time in three days . This means that the malady is not yet seriously regarded : once a day is still sufficient . Nevertheless , he is a woeful wreck to look at ; and the doctor looks at him with the greatest respect , and listens to his querulous plaint patiently . For that great dome of silence , his brain , repository of so many state-secrets , is still a redoubtable instrument : its wit and its magician 's cunning have not yet lapsed into the dull inane of senile decay . Though fallen from power , after a bad beating at the polls , there is no knowing but that he may rise again , and hold once more in those tired old hands , shiny with rheumatic gout , and now twitching feebly under the discomfort of a superimposed malady , the reins of democratic and imperial power . The dark , cavernous eyes still wear their look of accumulated wisdom , a touch also of visionary fire . The sparse locks , dyed to a raven black , set off with their uncanny sheen the clay-like pallor of the face . He sits in a high-backed chair , wrapped in an oriental dressing-gown , his muffled feet resting on a large hot-water bottle ; and the eminent physician , preparatory to taking a seat at his side , bends solicitously over him .