"From whom?"
"Gévingey and Des Hermies."
"Ah, you consult the astrologer! Yes, he met the Canon in my own house, but I didn't know that Docre was acquainted with Des Hermies, who didn't attend our receptions in those days."
"Des Hermies has never seen Docre. He knows him, as I do, only by hearsay, from Gévingey. Now, briefly, how much truth is there in the stories of the sacrileges of which this priest is accused?"
"I don't know. Docre is a gentleman, learned and well bred. He was even the confessor of royalty, and he would certainly have become a bishop if he had not quitted the priesthood. I have heard a great deal of evil spoken about him, but, especially in the clerical world, people are so fond of saying all sorts of things."
"But you knew him personally."
"Yes, I even had him for a confessor."
"Then it isn't possible that you don't know what to make of him?"
"Very possible, indeed presumable. Look here, you have been beating around the bush a long time. Exactly what do you want to know?"
"Everything you care to tell me. Is he young or old, handsome or ugly, rich or poor?"