f them, and derived from the
fact, as it were, an artistic reputation which was prejudicial to his
profession, but for which he made up by the serious side of his
character.

When he learned that Bouvard and Pecuchet had got the soup-tureen, he
came to propose to them an exchange.

Pecuchet would not consent to this.

"Let us say no more about it!" and Marescot proceeded to examine their
ceramic collection.

All the specimens hung up along the wall were blue on a background of
dirty white, and some showed their horn of plenty in green or reddish
tones. There were shaving-dishes, plates and saucers, objects long
sought for, and brought back in the recesses of one's frock-coat close
to one's heart.

Marescot praised them, and then talked about other kinds of faience, the
Hispano-Arabian, the Dutch, the English, and the Italian, and having
dazzled them with his erudition:

"Might I see your soup-tureen again?"

He made it ring by rapping on it with his fingers, then he contemplated
the two S's painted on the lid.

"The mark of Rouen!" said Pecuchet.

"Ho! ho! Rouen, properly speaking, would not have any mark. When
Moutiers was unknown, all the French faience came from Nevers. So with
Rouen to-day. Besides, they imitate it to perfection at El-boeuf."

"It isn't possible!"

"Majolica is cleverly imitated. Your specimen is of no value; and as for
me, I was about to do a downright foolish thing."

When the notary had gone, Pecuchet sank into an armchair in a state of
nervous prostration.

"We shouldn't have given back the bowl," said Bouvard; "but you get
excited, and always lose your head."

"Yes, I do lose my head"; and Pecuchet, snatching up the soup-tureen,
flung it some distance away from him against the sarcophagus.

Bouvard, more self-possessed, picked up the broken pieces one by one;
and some time afterwards this idea occurred to him: "Marescot, through
jealousy, might have been making fools of us!"

"How?"

"There's nothing to show me that the soup-tureen was not genuine!
Whereas the other specimens which he pretended to admire are perhaps
counterfeit."

And so the day closed with uncertainties and regrets.

This was no reason for abandoning their tour into Brittany.

They even purposed to take Gorju along with them to assist them in their
excavations.

For some time past, he had slept at the house, in order to finish the
more quickly the repairing of the chest.

The prospect of a change