Isabelle
And “the man is not a bad sort,” you say! “He’s one of your most humane officers!”
Otto
It’s war!
Isabelle
And who started the war?
Otto
As far as you Belgians were concerned, you did! And many of us were sore at heart when we found that we had to march against you. But you wanted it! Ah, that beloved king of yours did a fine stroke of work, on the day when he blocked the way to a peaceful army of men, who merely asked to pass through the country as friends.
The Burgomaster
Silence! Our king’s wishes were the wishes of every one of us; and if to-morrow we had to do once more what we have done to-day, you would find us in the same place, among our ruins, our martyrs and our dead, ready to begin all over again.