Quotation from: The Arrow of Gold

Written by: Joseph Conrad

"My leave is a farce," Captain Blunt burst out, with a most
unexpected exasperation. "As an officer of Don Carlos, I have no
more standing than a bandit. I ought to have been interned in
those filthy old barracks in Avignon a long time ago. . . Why am I
not? Because Dona Rita exists and for no other reason on earth.
Of course it's known that I am about. She has only to whisper over
the wires to the Minister of the Interior, 'Put that bird in a cage
for me,' and the thing would be done without any more formalities
than that. . . Sad world this," he commented in a changed tone.
"Nowadays a gentleman who lives by his sword is exposed to that
sort of thing."