MME. CHEV. Precisely.
COL [to Lucie] Perhaps, too, you don’t agree with us.
LUCIE. You’ll never make women understand why children must be created to be killed in your battles.
COL [to the sous-intendant] There, that’s how the military ruin of a country is brought about.
SOUS-IN. You’re right, colonel, if it be true that power is a function of number.
COL. Well, isn’t it?
SOUS-IN. Those who believe the contrary say ‘There is no evidence in history that supremacy, even military supremacy, has ever belonged to the most numerous peoples.’ I quote M. de Varigny. General von der Gotz shares this opinion, and our own General Serval says, ’All great military operations have been performed by small armies.’
Brignac comes in.
COL. Oh, ho, Mr. Bachelor, you’ve got all the arguments on your side at your finger-ends.