Il n’eût pas hésité, s’il l’eût fallu, à mettre l’épée à la main avec quelques officiers à demi-solde, ses amis intimes ; il se regardait comme obligé de sauver la vie à Fabrice, qui lui semblait grandement exposé, et qui jadis eût eu sa grâce signée du prince, si lui Mosca n’eût eu la sottise de vouloir éviter une sottise écrite au souverain.
He would not have hesitated, had it been necessary, to take his sword in his hand, with a party of half-pay officers, his intimate friends; he regarded himself as obliged to save the life of Fabrizio, who seemed to him to be exposed to great risk, and would long ago have had his pardon signed by the Prince, if he, Mosca, had not been so foolish as to seek to avoid making the Sovereign write a foolish thing.