"Even for you?"
"As pleasant for me as for any monarch."
"You take a sort of harsh, solitary triumph in drawing pleasure out of the elements and the inanimate and lower animate creation."
"Solitary, but not harsh. With animals I feel I am Adam's son, the heir of him to whom dominion was given over 'every living thing that moveth upon the earth.' Your dog likes and follows me. When I go into that yard, the pigeons from your dovecot flutter at my feet. Your mare in the stable knows me as well as it knows you, and obeys me better."
"And my roses smell sweet to you, and my trees give you shade."
"And," continued Louis, "no caprice can withdraw these pleasures from me; they are _mine_."

"You take a sort of harsh solitary triumph in drawing pleasure from the lower creation."
"Solitary, but not harsh. With animals I feel I am Adam's son, the heir of him to whom dominion was given over every living thing. Your dog likes and follows me. The pigeons from your dovecot flutter at my feet. Your mare in the stable knows me as well as it knows you, and obeys me better."
"And my roses smell sweet to you, and my trees give you shade."
"And," continued Louis, "no caprice can withdraw these pleasures from me; they are mine."
