"But, after all," I said, "that concerns us no longer."
"How can it concern two Americans out of a job?" he observed, with a
shrug. "The whole fabric of French politics is rotten to the
foundation. It's tottering; a shake will bring it down. Let it tumble.
I tell you this nation needs the purification of fire. Our own country
has just gone through it; France can do it, too. She's got to, or
she's lost!"
He looked at me earnestly. "I love the country," he said; "it's fed
me and harbored me. But I wouldn't lift a finger to put a single patch
on this makeshift of a government; I wouldn't stave off the crash if I
could. And it's coming! You and I have seen something of the
rottenness of the underpinning which props up empires. You and I,
Scarlett, have learned a few of the shameful secrets which even an
enemy to France would not drag out into the daylight."