"That may easily be imagined, sire."
"I see with pain that these kings of the sea—they call themselves so—keep trade from France in the Indies, and that their vessels will soon occupy all the ports of Europe. Such a power is too near me, sister."
"They are your allies, nevertheless."
"That is why they were wrong in having the medal you have heard of struck; a medal which represents Holland stopping the sun, as Joshua did, with this legend: The sun had stopped before me. There is not much fraternity in that, is there?"
"I thought you had forgotten that miserable episode?"
"I never forget anything, sister. And if my true friends, such as your brother Charles, are willing to second me—" The princess remained pensively silent.
"Listen to me; there is the empire of the seas to be shared,"
