"To table!" he cried vivaciously. As was his custom when a stranger supped with him, he made the man sit on his right.
Mademoiselle Baptistine, perfectly peaceable and natural, took her seat at his left.
The Bishop asked a blessing; then helped the soup himself, according to his custom.
The man began to eat with avidity.
All at once the Bishop said:
"It strikes me there is something missing on this table."
Madame Magloire had, in fact, only placed the three sets of forks and spoons which were absolutely necessary.
Now, it was the usage of the house, when the Bishop had any one to supper, to lay out the whole six sets of silver on the table-cloth--an innocent ostentation.
This graceful semblance of luxury was a kind of child's play, which was full of charm in that gentle and severe household, which raised poverty into dignity.
Madame Magloire understood the remark, went out without saying a word, and a moment later the three sets of silver forks and spoons demanded by the Bishop were glittering upon the cloth, symmetrically arranged before the three persons seated at the table.
BOOK SECOND--THE FALL
CHAPTER IV
DETAILS CONCERNING THE CHEESE-DAIRIES OF PONTARLIER.
Now, in order to convey an idea of what passed at that table, we cannot do better than to transcribe here a passage from one of Mademoiselle Baptistine's letters to Madame Boischevron, wherein the conversation between the convict and the Bishop is described with ingenious minuteness.
". . . This man paid no attention to any one.
He ate with the voracity of a starving man.
However, after supper he said:
"`Monsieur le Cure of the good God, all this is far too good for me; but I must say that the carters who would not allow me to eat with them keep a better table than you do.'