"Well?"
"Well, then, you must prove to M. Bérard the superiority of your knowledge over his, by showing him the Elzevir you have there, and unless he is more incredulous than St. Thomas...."
"But, to show it, monsieur, it was necessary to possess it, and I had it not."
"This little volume is, then, very rare?"
"It is the rarest of the lot! There are probably only ten examples of it left in Europe."
"And why is this particular volume rarer than the others? Were there fewer copies printed?"
"On the contrary, Techener declares that there were five thousand five hundred copies issued, and I maintain that there were more than ten thousand printed."
"The deuce! was the edition burnt, then, with the library of Alexandria?"
"No; but it was lost, spoilt, torn up in kitchens. You can quite understand that chefs and cookmaids are indifferent bibliomaniacs: they served the Pastissier françois as they served Carême or the Cuisinier royal; hence the rarity of the book."