“Perhaps you are right. Nevertheless, ‘tis very tiresome when you are sitting before a good table, tete-a-tete with a friend — Ah! I beg your pardon, monsieur; I forgot it is I who engage you at supper, and that I speak to a future cardinal.”

“Let us pass over that, dear Baisemeaux, and return to our soldier, to Francois.”

“Well, and what has Francois done?”

“He has demurred!”

“He was wrong, then?”

“However, he has demurred, you see; ‘tis because there is something extraordinary in this matter.

It is very possible that it was not Francois who was wrong in demurring, but you, who are in the wrong in not listening to him.”