profit of the beadle.

"He discovered me, hidden as I was behind the foliage, at the very
moment when that pretty girl, fleet as Galatea, slipped into the
lodge. It looked as if I had followed her up in the manner, way and
habit of those satyrs of which we have spoken of late when
conferring on the finest passages of Ovid. My dress could but add to
such resemblance--did I tell you, my boy, that I wore only a shirt?
Seeing me, Mosaide's eyes vomited fire. Out of his dirty yellow
greatcoat he drew a neat little stiletto and shook it through the
window with an arm in no way weighed down by age. He roared
bilingual curses on me. Yes, Tournebroche, my grammatical knowledge
authorises me to say that his curses were bilingual, that Spanish,
or rather Portuguese, was mixed in them with Hebrew. I went into a
rage at not being able to catch their exact sense, as I do not know
these languages, although I can recognise them by certain sounds
which are frequent when they are spoken. It is very possible that he
accused me of wanting to corrupt that girl, whom I believe to be his
niece Jahel, whom, as you will remember, M. d'Asterac has repeatedly
mentioned to us. As such his invectives were rather flattering to
me, as I have become, my boy, by the progress of age and the
fatigues of an agitated life, so that I cannot aspire any longer to
the love of juvenile maidens. Alas! should I become a bishop that is
a dish of which I shall never taste. I am sorry for it. But it is no
good to be closely attached to the perishable things of this world,
and we are compelled to leave what leaves us. Accordingly Mosaide,
brandishing his stiletto, squalled out his hoarse sounds mingled
with sharp yelpings in such a manner that I felt insulted, as well
as vituperated, in a chant or song. And without flattering myself,
my dear boy, I can say that I have been treated as a rake and a