"True, true!" cried Loret, Conrart, and every person present connected with literature.
"You are, I repeat, a poet and a painter, a sculptor, a friend of the arts and sciences; but acknowledge that you are no lawyer."
"Oh! I do acknowledge it," replied M. Fouquet, smiling.
"If you were to be nominated at the Academy, you would refuse, I think."
"I think I should, with all due deference to the academicians."
"Very good; if therefore you do not wish to belong to the Academy, why do you allow yourself to form one of the parliament?"
"Oh! oh!" said Pellisson, "we are talking politics."
"I wish to know whether the barrister's gown does or does not become M. Fouquet."
"There is no question of the gown at all," retorted Pellisson, annoyed at the laughter of those who were present.
"On the contrary, it is the gown," said Loret.