Theosebia--"

Catherine interrupted him by singing in a high-pitched voice:

"Je veux en depit des jaloux
Qu'on fasse duc mon epoux
Lasse de le voir secretairev
Laire lan laire."

And my tutor continued:

"--I contribute to the treasure of knowledge gathered by erudite
men, and bring forward one stone of my own for a monument to true
history, which is a better one than the chronicles of war and
treaties; for, sir, the nobility of man--"

Catherine continued to sing:

"Je sais bien qu'on murmurera
Que Paris nous chansonnera
Mais tant pis pour le sot vulgaire
Laire lan laire."

And my dear tutor went on:

"--is thought. And concerning that, it is not indifferent to know
what idea the Egyptians had formed of the nature of metals and the
qualities of the primitive substance."

The Abbe Jerome Coignard, having come to the end of his discourse,