im appointed. Well, well; we live in
days when nothing astonishes me" [flings his cloak about him like Talma,
and declaims]:--

"Thou who has seen the fall of grand, illustrious heads,
Why thus amazed, insensate that thou art,

to find a man like Rabourdin employing such means? Baudoyer is too much
of a fool to know how to use them. Accept my congratulations, gentlemen;
either way you are under a most illustrious chief" [goes off].

Poiret. "I shall leave this ministry without ever comprehending a single
word that gentleman utters. What does he mean with his 'heads that
fall'?"

Fleury. "'Heads that fell?' why, think of the four sergeants of
Rochelle, Ney, Berton, Caron, the brothers Faucher, and the massacres."

Phellion. "He asserts very flippantly things that he only guesses at."

Fleury. "Say at once that he lies; in his mouth truth itself turns to
corrosion."

Phellion. "Your language is unparliamentary and lacks the courtesy and
consideration which are due to a colleague."

Vimeux. "It seems to me that if what he says is false, the proper
name for it is calumny, defamation of character; and such a slanderer
deserves the thrashing."

Fleury [getting hot]. "If the government offices are public places, the
matter ought to be taken into the police-courts."

Phellion [wishing to avert a quarrel, tries to turn the conversation].
"Gentleman, might I ask you to keep quiet? I am writing a little
treatise on moral philosophy, and I am just at the heart of it."

Fleury [interrupting]. "What are you saying about it, Monsieur
Phellion?"

Phellion [reading]. "Question.--What is the soul of man?

"Answer.--A spiritual substance which thinks and reasons."

Thuillier. "Spiritual substance! you might as well talk about immaterial
stone."

Poiret. "Don't interrupt; let him go on."

Phellion [continuing]. "Quest.--Whence comes the soul?

"Ans.--From God, who created it of a nature one and indivisible; the
destructibility thereof is, consequently, not conceivable, and he hath
said--"

Poiret [amazed]. "God said?"

Phellion. "Yes, monsieur; tradition authorizes the statement."

Fleury [to Poiret]. "Come, don't interrupt, yourself."

Phellion [resuming]. "--and he hath said that he created it immortal; in
other words, the soul can never die.

"Quest.--What are the uses of the soul?

"Ans.--To comprehend, to will, to remember; these constitute
understanding, volition, memory.

"Quest.--What are the use