"Either. I don't know one from t'other yet. I could make much of either, and it would solve the difficulty you are in here."
"And they?"
"They won't hear of it."
"I should have been surprised if they had."
"I suppose so. And yet I could promise one or both a very much greater career than they are ever likely to realise here."
Eager shook his head. "They have been brought up as English lads; you could hardly expect them to change sides like that, even for possibilities which I don't suppose they understand or appreciate."
"It's a pity, all the same. There will be many opportunities over there----"
"The Empire is peace----" interjected Eager, with a smile.
"The Empire"--with a shrug--"is my very good friend Louis Napoleon, and peace just so long as it is to his interest to keep it. But"--with a knowing nod--"he has studied his people and he knows how to handle them. I'll wager you I'm a general inside five years--unless he or I come to an end before that."
"I would sooner they died English subalterns than lived to be French generals."