“This is what I think. Austria has been made a fool of, and she is not used to it. She will retaliate. And she has been fooled in the first place because her provinces have been pillaged⁠—they say the Holy Russian army loots terribly⁠—her army is destroyed, her capital taken, and all this for the beaux yeux 27 of His Sardinian Majesty. And therefore⁠—this is between ourselves⁠—I instinctively feel that we are being deceived, my instinct tells me of negotiations with France and projects for peace, a secret peace concluded separately.”

“Impossible!” cried Prince Andréy. “That would be too base.”

“If we live we shall see,” replied Bilíbin, his face again becoming smooth as a sign that the conversation was at an end.