"Are you joking?" said the physician.
"By no means."
"Come, now, what tomfoolery that is!"
And the question being dropped, each of them furnished an anecdote.
"As for me," said the grocer, "I had a dog who was always sick when the month began on a Friday."
"We were fourteen children," observed the justice of the peace. "I was born on the 14th, my marriage took place on the 14th, and my saint's-day falls on the 14th. Explain this to me."
Beljambe had often reckoned in a dream the number of travellers he would have next day at his inn; and Petit told about the supper of Cazotte.
The curé then made this reflection:
"Why do we not see into it quite easily?"
"The demons—is that what you say?" asked Vaucorbeil.