Having come so far they must reach Lisbon or perish; and if
the fortifications can delay them by a single month, then, granted
that all Lord Wellington's other dispositions have been duly carried
out, perish they must. It remains, Monsieur le Major, for you to
determine whether, with all their energy, with all their genius and
all their valour, the French can - in an ill-nourished condition -
destroy in a few weeks the considered labour of nearly a year."
The major was aghast. He had changed colour, and through his eyes,
wide and staring, his stupefaction glared forth at them.
Minas uttered a dry cough under cover of his hand, and screwed up
his eyeglass to regard the major more attentively. "You do not
appear to have considered all that," he said.
"But, my dear Marquis," was the half-indignant answer, "why was I
not told all this to begin with? You represented yourself as but
indifferently informed, Monsieur de Samoval. Whereas - "
"So I am, my dear Major, as far as information goes. If I did not
use these arguments before, it was because it seemed to me an
impertinence to offer what, after all, are no more than the
conclusions of my own constructive and deductive reasoning to one
so well versed in strategy as yourself.
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