he robs you on business principles; he enslaves you on imperial
principles; he bullies you on manly principles; he supports his
king on loyal principles, and cuts off his king's head on
republican principles. His watchword is always duty; and he
never forgets that the nation which lets its duty get on the
opposite side to its interest is lost. He--

LADY. W-w-w-w-w-wh! Do stop a moment. I want to know how you make
me out to be English at this rate.

NAPOLEON (dropping his rhetorical style). It's plain enough. You
wanted some letters that belonged to me. You have spent the
morning in stealing them--yes, stealing them, by highway robbery.
And you have spent the afternoon in putting me in the wrong about
them--in assuming that it was I who wanted to steal YOUR
letters--in explaining that it all came about through my meanness
and selfishness, and your goodness, your devotion, your
self-sacrifice. That's English.

LADY. Nonsense. I am sure I am not a bit English. The English are
a very stupid people.

NAPOLEON. Yes, too stupid sometimes to know when they're beaten.
But I grant that your brains are not English. You see, though
your grandfather was an Englishman, your grandmother was--what?
A Frenchwoman?

LADY. Oh, no. An Irishwoman.

NAPOLEON (quickly). Irish! (Thoughtfully.) Yes: I forgot the