“You cannot imagine that Louis would listen to any reasonable treaty—he fights for glory——”
“M. de Louvois is with him—he might deem it prudent not to push us to extremes.”
“It would be a humiliation!”
“Not so bitter a humiliation as to see Condé march through the Hague!” flashed M. de Witt.
“I cannot believe it could come to that.”
“Could you have believed a month ago that in nine days every fort on the Rhine would fall?”
“There is de Ruyter,” said the Secretary, clutching at straws.
“He cannot save the land forces.”
Gaspard Fagel was obstinate.