"Was it monsieur who rang?"
"To be sure it was I!"
"Does monsieur want anything?"
"As I rang, it is probable that I want something—but not you, sandis! for you seem to me not to be very bright! Send my écuyer [esquire] to me."
"You want your écu—"
"I said nothing about my écu! I want my écuyer!—An écu is a shield—perhaps you don't know that, blockhead! A gentleman takes his écu only when he is about to go into the lists or into battle. What in the devil do you suppose I want of my écu when I am in the bath? Do you imagine that I am going to wield a lance while I bathe?"
"Why, I don't know!"
"Begone, and send my esquire to me!"
The attendant went down into the shop, where he found his master drinking with Plumard and several shopkeepers of the neighborhood.
"Who is the esquire of that tall, lanky, ugly gentleman bathing upstairs?" the attendant asked.