The French had outraged them, had dared to prevent them
making their town the capital of Italy, by garrisoning it with French
soldiers who had no business there, so that they had themselves asked
for the Nemesis which was now overtaking them, and which the Italians
were watching with flashing eyes. She said this, in spite of her anger,
with such dignity, and such a bearing, that one could not but feel that,
if she were one day called upon to adorn a throne, she would seat
herself upon it as naturally, and as free from embarrassment, as though
it were nothing but a Roman woman's birthright.
XXIX.
In the meantime, defeats and humiliations were beginning to confuse the
good sense of the French, and to lead their instincts astray. The crowd
could not conceive that such things could come about naturally. The
Prussians could not possibly have won by honourable means, but must have
been spying in France for years. Why else were so many Germans settled
in Paris! The French were paying now, not for their faults, but for
their virtues, the good faith, the hospitality, the innocent welcome
they had given to treacherous immigrants. They had not understood that
the foreigner from the North was a crafty and deceitful enemy.
It gradually became uncomfortable for a foreigner in Paris.
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