"Oh, come!"
Fortin gave a start, but his neighbour nudged him, saying:
"That your opinion?"
There were smiles. My reputation as a scoffer was indeed well established. Fortin, without addressing me in particular, murmured:
"I wonder if there are still any optimists left?"
"Of course," I said. "Myself for one."
He gazed at me, refusing to take me seriously; then said, in a tired voice:
"I am stating results. The war has been going on for just five weeks and where have we got to? We've been beaten everywhere and thrown back on our final redoubt. The amount that was said about defending the least particle of ground foot by foot, till the last extremity! The extremity has soon come. Let's establish the balance: Lille, Arras, Amiens, Beauvais, St. Quentin, Mézières, Rheims—by this time probably Meaux and Châlons; possibly Nancy! A quarter of France invaded. No, I tell you, there's nothing to be done. They were ready; that's all. They knew what they wanted."
I interrupted him, quivering all over. It was my turn now to copy Guillaumin.
"Then, according to you, everything is lost?"