isguised most of his flippancies:

"Monsieur, you can not say that the Architect of the Universe has told
His secret to no one. You forget the Kirkpatricks, and especially
Scotch Peg. She knows all the designs of the Supreme Being. He never
dares to call a Kirkpatrick out of this world without sending a
gentleman usher in the shape of a black knight or a white lady, or
something of the kind, to find out whether it is agreeable to that
particular Kirkpatrick to leave this world just then, I presume. There
never was one of that family who did not consider himself entitled to
much consideration from the Supreme Being. They are not all, however,
so candid about it as Peggy is."

Considering this direct reflection upon Francezka, I looked to see
Gaston Cheverny forget the presence of his host, forget the presence
of the ladies, and knock Jacques Haret's impudent head off. Not at
all. His face flushed suddenly, and he turned again in his chair, but
said no word, although Jacques Haret's laughing face was thrust toward
him.

Monsieur Voltaire evidently forgot, in the interest of his letters,
the close connection between the Kirkpatricks and one of his guests,
so he went on reading.

For my part, the impression I had got the afternoon in the gardens of
the Hotel Kirkpatrick, that Gaston Cheverny in some way was afraid of
Jacques Haret, became a conviction. Francezka sat motionless. What
thoughts must have passed through that quick, clear brain of hers!

Monsieur Voltaire finished his reading, and the ladies, to show their
appreciation, rose and bowed again to him. I think he was amused by
their silence, and it became a kind of duel between him and them to
find out who they were, and it was not without interest to Gaston
Cheverny. Jacques Haret, I was convinced, already knew them. By way of
making them betray themselves, Monsieur Voltaire asked, with a
mischievous gleam in his lustrous eyes:

"What ladies of the great world, think you, gentlemen, are remarkable
for _esprit_?"

At that Madame Villars ran forward and tapped him smartly with her fan
by way of rebuke.

Gaston Cheverny mentioned several, as did Monsieur Voltaire. Both of
them included both Madame Villars and her mother-in-law, Madame la
Marechale Villars, and Monsieur Voltaire made the handsomest possible
allusion to Madame Gaston Cheverny's wit and charm, which Gaston
suitably acknowledged. Jacques Haret declared that it had been so long
since he had talk