“The French are in Lorraine already,—M. de Witt hath passed the war budget and is striving for an increase of the Army,—yes, every one says that there will be war.”
Florent coloured.
“France provokes it wantonly, on the thinnest pretexts,” he said hotly.
“Umph!” Mr. Bromley slightly grimaced. “England is in it too; you heard, of course, of the treaty of Dover?—the counter stroke to the Triple Alliance——”
“Sir William Temple, I hear, hath been recalled——”
“And de Pomponne—Downing is the English Ambassador now.”
Florent rose.
“What does the Prince think of all this?”
“The Prince is striving for the Captain Generalship.”
“Will he get it?”