He had strengthened the heart of Lannes, and now his own heart needed strengthening.

How was it possible to stop the German army which had come so far and so fast that its Uhlans could already see Paris?
The unprepared French had been defeated already, and the slow English, arriving to find France under the iron heel, must go back and defend their own island.
"The Germans are there.

I have not a doubt of it, and I thank you, Monsieur Scott, for the use of these," said Bougainville, handing the glasses back to him.
"Well, Geronimo," he said, "having seen, what do you say ?" "The sight is unpleasant, but it is not hopeless.

They call us decadent.
I read, Monsieur Scott, more than you think! Ah, it has been the bitterness of death for Frenchmen to hear all the world say we are a dying race, and it has been said so often that some of us ourselves had begun to believe it! But it is not so! I tell you it is not so, and we'll soon prove to the Germans who come that it isn't! I have looked for a sign.

I sought for it in all the skies through your glasses, but I did not find it there.