'My God! for whom am I building? Who will be my descendants?'
I heard him mutter, and he passed his hand over his forehead.
'Do they seem frightened in England about my approaching invasion?' he
asked suddenly. 'Have you heard them express fears lest I get across
the Channel?'
I was forced in truth to say that the only fears which I had ever heard
expressed were lest he should not get across.
'The soldiers are very jealous that the sailors should always have the
honour,' said I.
'But they have a very small army.'
'Nearly every man is a volunteer, Sire.'
'Pooh, conscripts!' he cried, and made a motion with his hands as if to
sweep them from before him. I will land with a hundred thousand men in
Kent or in Sussex. I will fight a great battle which I will win with a
loss of ten thousand men. On the third day I shall be in London.
I will seize the statesmen, the bankers, the merchants, the newspaper
men. I will impose an indemnity of a hundred millions of their pounds.
I will favour the poor at the expense of the rich, and so I shall have a
party.
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