De la Vega had permitted himself a smile, and looked over at Bolstrood. But Gomer had not been in a grinning mood. 'Sluys is one of those rich Dutchmen who craves the approval of Frenchmen. He has been cultivating them since before the 1672 war – mostly without success, for they find him stupid and vulgar. But now it's different. The French nobles used to be able to live off their land, but now Louis forces them to keep a household in Versailles, as well as one in Paris, and to go about in coaches, finely dressed and wigged – '