"I have read it."
"Good.... Then, too, another old friend of mine, Parseval de Grandmaison, writes epic poetry."
"Yes—Philippe-Auguste, for instance."
"You have read it?"
"No, I confess I have not."
"Well then, let me say that although the one writes comedies and the other epic poems, they are none the less worthy men for all that."
"On the contrary, monsieur, they are both excellent fellows."
"Have you met them?"
"Never."