"Two million? That's almost as much as the entire population of Paris. Mon dieu." It rattled him, hearing the specifics, in a way that talk of coming war in the abstract didn't. And the thought of being hanged rattled him even more. He absently brought his hand to his neck to rub along his throat.

"When I return, perhaps I will have to reevaluate my employment. Maybe move to California, they have good weather there, and no one ever invades California."