"
"Nations move less by morality than interest," Doctor Michaeloff
said calmly. "Russia wants a way to the sea--the Turks cut her off
to the south, and the Swedes from the Baltic. She is smothered
between them, and when she saw her chance, she took it. That is not
good morality. I admit that it is the excuse of the poor man who
robs the rich, but it is human nature, and nations act, in the long
run, a good deal like individuals."
"But you have not told me yet, doctor," Charlie said, turning the
conversation, "whether the proposal for an exchange was accepted."
"The general had no power to accept it, Carstairs. It had to be
referred to the czar himself."
"I wish his majesty could see me, then," Charlie laughed. "He would
see that I am but a lad, and that my release would not greatly
strengthen the Swedish army."
"But then the czar may be of opinion that none of his officers, who
allowed themselves to be captured by a handful of men at Narva,
would be of any use to him," Doctor Michaeloff laughed.
"That may, doubtless, be said of a good many among them," Charlie
said, "but, individually, none of the captains could be blamed for
the mess they made of it."
"Perhaps not, but if all the men had been panic stricken, there
were officers enough to have gathered together and cut their way
through the Swedes.
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