– Mais il me semble, répliqua le comte, que Votre Excellence, qui aime tant les Français, et qui même jadis leur prêta secours de son bras invincible, oublie en ce moment une de leurs grandes maximes : Il vaut mieux tuer le diable que si le diable vous tue.
"But it seems to me," said the Conte, "that Your Excellency, who is so fond of the French, and did indeed once lend them the aid of his invincible arm, is forgetting for the moment one of their great maxims: 'It is better to kill the devil than to let the devil kill you.'