"M. le Cardinal de Guise recommended him."
"And it is with him you decided on this?"
"That is to say, he proposed it and you agreed."
"No, my dear M. Chicot; the idea was entirely mine."
"Oh! pride, pride! Confess that the idea was his."
"Oh! I do not know. And yet it must have been mine, for it seems that I pronounced a very good Latin text on the occasion."
"Well, you have excused yourself so well that I pardon you. You are still my true friend."
"Now let us breakfast, and I promise to be indulgent."
"Listen! I will tell the cook that if the fare be not regal, he shall be placed in confinement; and we will try some of the wine of my penitent."
Gorenflot was not long in giving his orders. The cook was summoned.
"Brother Eusebius," said Gorenflot, in a severe voice, "listen to what my friend M. Briquet is about to tell you. It seems that you are negligent, and I hear of grave faults in your last soup, and a fatal mistake in the cooking of your ears. Take care, brother, take care; a single step in a wrong direction may be irremediable."
The monk grew red and pale by turns, and stammered out an excuse.
"Enough," said Gorenflot, "what can we have for breakfast to-day?"
"Those are all trifles; tell us of something solid."
"Pardon!" cried Eusebius, "it is cooked in sherry wine."
Gorenflot hazarded an approving glance toward Chicot.
Chicot made a gesture of half-satisfaction.
"Oh! we will dispense with the eels," said Chicot.
"I think, M. Briquet," replied the cook, "that you would regret it if you had not tasted my eels."
"Yes," added Gorenflot; "it appears that the Romans or the Greeks--I forget which--nourished their lampreys as Eusebius does his eels. He read of it in an old author called Suetonius."
"Yes, monsieur, I mince the intestines and livers of fowls and game with a little pork, and make a kind of sausage meat, which I throw to my eels, and they are kept in soft water, often renewed, in which they become large and fat. The one which I shall offer you to-day weighs nine pounds."
"Skinned and fried in anchovy paste, and done with bread crumbs; and I shall have the honor of serving it up with a sauce flavored with garlic and allspice, lemons and mustard."
"Then we shall want sweets," said Gorenflot.