COMMANDANT
The devil if ’tis not, monseigneur, sure!
WELLINGTON
So ’tis for us who were outside, by God!
COMMANDANT [gloomily]
No; we were not at ease! Alas, my lord,
’Twas more than flesh and blood could do, to fight
After such paralyzing tidings came.
More life may trickle out of men through thought
Than through a gaping wound.
WELLINGTON
Your reference
Bears on the news from Saxony, I infer?
SECOND FRENCH OFFICER
Yes: on the Emperor’s ruinous defeat
At Leipzig city—brought to our startled heed
By one of the Gazettes just now arrived.
[All the English officers stop speaking, and listen eagerly.]
WELLINGTON
Where are the Emperor’s headquarters now?
COMMANDANT
My lord, there are no headquarters.
WELLINGTON
No headquarters?
COMMANDANT
There are no French headquarters now, my lord,
For there is no French army! France’s fame
Is fouled. And how, then, could we fight to-day
With our hearts in our shoes!
WELLINGTON
Why, that bears out
What I but lately said; it was not like
The brave men who have faced and foiled me here
So many a long year past, to give away
A stubborn station quite so readily.