You know Canon Docre ?" "I should say!" "Well, what in the world is this man, about whom I hear so much ?" "From whom ?" "Gevingey and Des Hermies." "Ah, you consult the astrologer! Yes, he met the Canon in my own house, but I didn't know that Docre was acquainted with Des Hermies, who didn't attend our receptions in those days" "Des Hermies has never seen Docre.

He knows him, as I do, only by hearsay, from Gevingey.

Now, briefly, how much truth is there in the stories of the sacrileges of which this priest is accused ?" "I don't know.

Docre is a gentleman, learned and well bred.

He was even the confessor of royalty, and he would certainly have become a bishop if he had not quitted the priesthood.