“Then you think I am going to help you in your imposture for nothing; you are very much mistaken. I want a thousand louis, and I will have it, too.”
“Then get somebody to give it you,” said I; and I turned my back on him.
I went up to the marchioness and told her that dinner was ready, and that we should dine alone, as I had been obliged to send the abbé away.
“He was an idiot; but how about Querilinthos?”
“After dinner Paralis will tell us all about him. I have strong suspicions that there is something to be cleared up.”
“So have I. The man seems changed. Where is he?”
“He is in bed, ill of a disease which I dare not so much as name to you.”
“That is a very extraordinary circumstance; I have never heard of such a thing before. It must be the work of an evil genius.”
“I have never heard of such a thing, either; but now let us dine. We shall have to work hard to-day at the consecration of the tin.”
“All the better. We must offer an expiatory sacrifice to Oromasis, for, awful thought! in three days he would have to regenerate me, and the operation would be performed in that condition.”