it's very true that our valets are the witnesses of all our actions.
When Lord Verulam, Chancellor of England, whose philosophy I esteem
but little, entered the great hall to be tried, his lackeys, who
were clad with an opulence by which the copiousness of the
Chancellor's household could be judged, rose to render him due
honour. Lord Verulam said to them: 'Sit down, your rising is my
falling.' As a fact, those knaves, by their extravagance, had pushed
him to ruin and compelled him to do things for which he was indicted
as a peculator. Tournebroche, my boy, always remember this
misfortune of Lord Verulam, Chancellor of England and author of the
'Novum Organum.' But to return to that Sire d'Asterac, in whose
service we are; it is a great pity that he is a sorcerer and given
to cursed science. You know, my boy, I pride myself on my delicacy
in matters of faith I find it hard to serve a cabalist who turns our
Holy Scriptures upside down under the pretext to understand them
better that way. However, if he is, as his name and speech indicate,
a Gascon nobleman, we have nothing to be afraid of. A Gascon may
make a contract with the devil and you may be sure that the devil
will be done."

The dinner bell interrupted our conversation.

But while descending the stairs, my kind tutor said: "Tournebroche,
my boy, remember, during the whole meal, to follow all my movements,
to enable you to imitate them. Having dined at the third table of
the Bishop of Seez, I know how to do it. It's a difficult art. It's
harder to dine than to speak like a gentleman."