"This means war. The duke will never swallow such an insult."
"War! It looks as if you and I, Baron, shall not accompany the king of Prussia into Alsace-Lorraine. We shall have entertainment at home."
"This is horrible!"
"The devil of a muddle!"
"But what possessed the prince to blunder like this?"
"The prince really is not to blame. Our king, Baron, is a young colt. A few months ago he gave his royal uncle carte blanche to seek a wife for him. Politics demanded an alliance between Jugendheit and Ehrenstein. There have been too many years of useless antagonism. On the head of this bolt from Heaven comes the declaration of his majesty that he will marry any other princess on the continent."
"They will pull this place down, brick by brick!"
"Let them! We have ten thousand more troops than Ehrenstein."
"You young men are a pack of fools!"
"Softly, Baron."