Economic expansions? How dull. And the next title sounded perilously (and naively) empowering. Franz must be German, though, and Sharpe felt okay with that possibility. He liked Germans. They were a reliable people; or, at least, Lossow had never let him down.

Sharpe wanted to keep up with her. Match her for titles and authors, so: "...Voltaire," he blurted. "I've read Voltaire."

It came dangerously close to being a boast -- except he knew he had very little beyond that one name in order to keep boasting.