“Everyone was talking last night of the enormous fleet Bonaparte is preparing in Toulon. Some people believe that he has a secret plan.”
“It’s quite obvious,” Cordelia answered, “that if he has superiority in ships, he is hoping to escape the watch of the British. He may be planning some new campaign by sea.”
“Why should he wish to move? That is the point! There is plenty for him to conquer without leaving dry land.”
“More fighting, more suffering! How I hate war!” Cordelia exclaimed.
“All women feel the same,” David replied. “At the same time I cannot help thinking that Bonaparte is rather fantastic.”
“Fantastic?”
“Do you realise that in a simple campaign he has defeated five Armies, won eighteen pitched battles and sixty-seven smaller combats? He has taken more than one hundred and
