"You must know that Tartuffe——"
Madame Bordin interrupted him: "We know what a Tartuffe is."
Bouvard had wished for a robe for a certain passage.
"I see only the monk's habit," said Pécuchet.
"No matter; bring it here."
He reappeared with it and a copy of Molière.
The opening was tame, but at the place where Tartuffe caresses Elmire's knees, Pécuchet assumed the tone of a gendarme:
"What is your hand doing there?"
Bouvard instantly replied in a sugary voice:
"I am feeling your dress; the stuff of it is marrowy."