with effluence and facility, but he was but a commonplace intellect,
and not very learned in holy sciences. Have you ever heard of Hermes
Trismegistus and of the Emerald Table?"

"Sir," replied the priest, "I found a very old MS. of the Emerald
Table in the library of the Bishop of Seez, and I should have
marvelled over it one day or another, but for the chamber-maid of
the bailiff's lady who went to Paris to make her fortune and who
made me ride in the coach with her. There was no witchcraft used,
Sir Philospher, and I only succumbed to natural charms:

'Non facit hoc verbis; facie tenerisque lacertis
Devovet et flavis nostra puella comis.'"

"That's a new proof," said the philosopher, "women are great enemies
of science, and the wise man ought to keep himself aloof from them."

"In legitimate marriage also?" inquired my father.

"Especially in legitimate marriage," replied the philosopher.

"Alas!" my father continued to question, "what remains to your poor
wise men when they feel disposed for a little fun?"

The philosopher replied:

"There remains for them the Salamanders."

At these words Friar Ange raised a frightened nose over his plate
and murmured: