VIOLETTA. Those stupid tarts! And wouldn't I make a pretty picture riding on the white palfrey, garlanded with flowers, followed by the cheers of the populace--Long live Queen Violetta, long live Queen Violetta! Those _abominable_ tarts! KNAVE. I'm afraid that Her Ladyship is vain. VIOLETTA. I am indeed. Isn't it fortunate? KNAVE. Fortunate? VIOLETTA. Well, I mean it would be fortunate if I were going to be queen. They get so much flattery. The queens who don't adore it as I do must be bored to death. Poor things! I'm never so happy as when I am being flattered. It makes me feel all warm and purry. That is another reason why I feel sure I was _made_ to be a queen. KNAVE (_looking ruefully at the pan_). You will never be queen, My Lady, unless we can think of something quickly, some plan-- VIOLETTA. Oh, yes, dear Knave, please think of a plan at once. Banished people, I suppose, have to comb their own hair, put on their shoes, and button themselves up the back. I have never performed these estimable and worthy tasks, Knave. I don't know how; I don't even know how to scent my bath. I haven't the least idea what makes it smell deliciously of violets. I only know that it always _does_ smell deliciously of violets because I wish it that way. I should be miserable; save me, Knave, please. KNAVE. My mind is unhappily a blank, Your Majesty. VIOLETTA. It's very unjust. Indeed, it's unjust! No other queen in the world has to understand cooking; even the Queen of Spades doesn't. Why should the Queen of Hearts, of all people! KNAVE. Perhaps it is because--I have heard a proverb: "The way to the heart is through the--" VIOLETTA (_angrily, stamping her foot_). Don't repeat that hateful proverb! Nothing can make me more angry. I feel like crying when I hear it, too. Now see, I'm crying. You made me. KNAVE. Why does that proverb make you cry, My Lady? VIOLETTA. Oh, because it is such a stupid proverb and so silly, because it's true in most cases, and because--I don't know why. KNAVE. We are a set of moles here. One might also say that we are a set of mules. How can moles or mules either be expected to understand the point of view of a Bird of Paradise when she-- VIOLETTA. Bird of Paradise! Do you mean me? KNAVE (_bowing_). I do, My Lady, figuratively speaking. VIOLETTA (_drying her eyes_). How very pretty of you! Do you know, I think that you would make a splendid chancellor. KNAVE. Her Ladyship is vain, as I remarked before. VIOLETTA (_coldly_). As I remarked before, how fortunate. Have you anything to suggest--a plan?