In daily contact he liked Germans as well as Frenchmen, but he thought that no punishment could ever be adequate for the gigantic crimes of kings.

Napoleon himself had been the champion of democracy and freedom, until he became an emperor and his head swelled so much with success that he thought of God and himself together, just as the Kaiser was now thinking.

It was a curious inversion that the French who were fighting then to dominate Europe were fighting now to prevent such a domination.

But it was now a great French republican nation remade and reinvigorated, as any one could see.
The guards hurried them on again.

Another mile and they stopped once more on the crest of a low hill, where it seemed that they would remain some time, as the Germans were too busy with a vast battle to think much about a few prisoners.