“Count, you have received a great gift from heaven; and to that I appeal.”

“You think to flatter me!  Do not fancy you will succeed.”

“You have the great gift, count, of listening to the opinions of others, even in moments of passion—­in moments of rage.”

“Well, well! the question now is just about opinions, to which I have listened too long.  I know but too well that we are not liked here, and that these citizens look askance at us.”

“Not all!”

“Very many.  What!  These towns will be imperial towns, will they?  They saw their emperor elected and crowned:  and when, being unjustly attacked, he is in danger of losing his dominions and surrendering to an usurper; when he fortunately finds faithful allies who pour out their blood and treasure in his behalf,—­they will not put up with the slight burden that falls to their share towards humbling the enemy.”

“But you have long known these sentiments, and have endured them like a wise man:  they are, besides, held only by a minority.  A few, dazzled by the splendid qualities of the enemy, whom you yourself prize as an extraordinary man,—­a few only, as you are aware.”

“Yes, indeed!  I have known and suffered it too long! otherwise this man would not have presumed to utter such insults to my face, and at the most critical moment.  Let them be as many as they please, they shall be punished in the person of this their audacious representative, and perceive what they have to expect.”

“Only delay, count.”

“In certain things one cannot act too promptly.”

“Only a little delay, count.”

“Neighbor, you think to mislead me into a false step:  you shall not succeed.”

“I would neither lead you into a false step nor restrain you from one:  your resolution is just,—­it becomes the Frenchman and the king’s lieutenant; but consider that you are also Count Thorane.”

“He has no right to interfere here.”

“But the gallant man has a right to be heard.”

“What would he say, then?”

“‘King’s lieutenant,’ he would begin, ’you have so long had patience with so many gloomy, untoward, bungling men, if they were not really too bad.  This man has certainly been too bad:  but control yourself, king’s lieutenant; and every one will praise and extol you on that account.’”

“You know I can often endure your jests, but do not abuse my good will.  These men—­are they, then, completely blinded?  Suppose we had lost the battle:  what would have been their fate at this moment?  We fight up to the gates, we shut up the city, we halt, we defend ourselves to cover our retreat over the bridge.  Think you the enemy would have stood with his hands before him?  He throws grenades, and what he has at hand; and they catch where they can.  This house-holder—­what would he have?  Here, in these rooms, a bomb might now have burst, and another have followed it;—­in these rooms, the cursed China-paper of which I have spared, incommoding myself by not nailing up my maps!  They ought to have spent the whole day on their knees.”