Fleury. “‘Heads that fell?’ why, think of the four sergeants of Rochelle, Ney, Berton, Caron, the brothers Faucher, and the massacres.”

Phellion.  “He asserts very flippantly things that he only guesses at.”

Fleury.  “Say at once that he lies; in his mouth truth itself turns to corrosion.”

Phellion.  “Your language is unparliamentary and lacks the courtesy and consideration which are due to a colleague.”

Vimeux.  “It seems to me that if what he says is false, the proper name for it is calumny, defamation of character; and such a slanderer deserves the thrashing.”

Fleury [getting hot].  “If the government offices are public places, the matter ought to be taken into the police-courts.”

Phellion [wishing to avert a quarrel, tries to turn the conversation].  “Gentleman, might I ask you to keep quiet?  I am writing a little treatise on moral philosophy, and I am just at the heart of it.”

Fleury [interrupting].  “What are you saying about it, Monsieur Phellion?”

Phellion [reading].  “Question.—­What is the soul of man?

“Answer.—­A spiritual substance which thinks and reasons.”

Thuillier.  “Spiritual substance! you might as well talk about immaterial stone.”

Poiret.  “Don’t interrupt; let him go on.”

Phellion [continuing].  “Quest.—­Whence comes the soul?

“Ans.—­From God, who created it of a nature one and indivisible; the destructibility thereof is, consequently, not conceivable, and he hath said—­”

Poiret [amazed].  “God said?”

Phellion.  “Yes, monsieur; tradition authorizes the statement.”

Fleury [to Poiret].  “Come, don’t interrupt, yourself.”

Phellion [resuming]. “—­and he hath said that he created it immortal; in other words, the soul can never die.

“Quest.—­What are the uses of the soul?

“Ans.—­To comprehend, to will, to remember; these constitute understanding, volition, memory.

“Quest.—­What are the uses of the understanding?

“Ans.—­To know.  It is the eye of the soul.”

Fleury.  “And the soul is the eye of what?”

Phellion [continuing].  “Quest.—­What ought the understanding to know?

“Ans.—­Truth.

“Quest.—­Why does man possess volition?

“Ans.—­To love good and hate evil.

“Quest.—­What is good?

“Ans.—­That which makes us happy.”

Vimeux.  “Heavens! do you teach that to young ladies?”

Phellion.  “Yes” [continuing].  “Quest.—­How many kinds of good are there?”

Fleury.  “Amazingly indecorous, to say the least.”

Phellion [aggrieved].  “Oh, monsieur!” [Controlling himself.] “But here’s the answer,—­that’s as far as I have got” [reads]:—­

“Ans.—­There are two kinds of good,—­eternal good and temporal good.”

Poiret [with a look of contempt].  “And does that sell for anything?”