George Louis had been a bit unnerved, not by the content of Sophie’s remarks (which seemed to have quite flown past him) but by their tone, which was that of a Queen at war rejecting a proffered treaty. Another man would have sensed danger, recoiled, and made amends. But inertia was all for George Louis. "I don’t care about flowers," he said. "But if we cleared the gondola out of the moat, there would be room for galleys at Carnival."