'Granted, we don't carry much weight,' Henri said. 'But at least we can speak out, defend our views, exert pressures ...'

'How well I remember!' Tournelle said bitterly. 'We wanted to save the honour of France so that she could speak to her allies with her head high. And there were people who got themselves slaughtered for that! A lot of blood spilled for nothing!'

'You're not going to tell me we shouldn't have resisted,' Henri said.

'I don't know. All I can say is that it didn't do us a hell of a lot of good!' Tournelle put his hand on Henri's shoulder. 'Don't repeat what I've said.'