"Yes, sir."
"And you refused to post the proclamations of the Governor, Bismarck-Bohlen?"
"Yes, sir."
"Very good—very good."
I sat down, and, without any preamble, this Englishman ran on with eight or ten questions: upon the requisitions, the pillaging, the number of carriages and horses carried away into the interior; how many had come back since the invasion; how many were still left in France; what we thought of the Germans; if there was any chance of our agreeing together: had we rather remain French, or become neutral, like the Swiss.
He had all these questions in his head, and I went on answering, without reflecting that it was a very strange thing to interrogate people in this way.
George was laughing, and, when it was over, he said, "Now, my lord, you may go on with your article."
The Englishman smiled, and said, "Yes, that will do! I believe you have spoken the truth."
We drank a glass of wine together, which George had found somewhere.
"This is good wine," said the Englishman. "So the Prussians have not taken everything."