private assembly-room heard a roar like that which greeted
this statement. Laniboire distinguished himself as usual among the most
excited by shouting that the Academie ought to get rid of so dangerous
a member. In the first heat of their anger some of the assembly began to
discuss the question aloud. Could it be done? Could the Academie say to
a member who had brought the whole body into an undignified position,
'Go! I reverse my judgment. Deity as you are, I relegate you to the rank
of a mere mortal'? Suddenly, either having caught a few words of
the discussion, or by one of those strange intuitions which seem
occasionally to come as an inspiration to the most hopelessly deaf, old
Rehu, who had been keeping to himself, away from the fire for fear of
a fit, remarked in his loud unmodulated voice, 'During the Restoration,
for reasons merely political, we turned out eleven members at once.' The
patriarch gave the usual little attesting movement of the head, calling
to witness his contemporaries of the period, white busts with vacant
eyes standing in rows on pedestals round the room.

'Eleven! whew!' muttered Danjou amid a great silence. And Laniboire,
cynical as before, said 'All societies are cowardly; it's the natural
law of self-preservation.' Here Epinchard, who had been busy near the
door with Picheral the Secretary, rejoined the rest, and observed in a
weak voice, between two fits of coughing, that the Permanent Secretary
was not the only person to blame in the matter, as would appear from the
minutes of the proceedings of July 8, 1879, which should now be read.
Picheral from his place, in his thin brisk voice, began at a great pace:
_On July 8, 1879, Leonard-Pierre-Alexandre Astier-Rehu presented to the
Academie Francaise a letter from Rotrou to Cardinal Richelieu respecting
the statutes of the Society. The Academie, after an examination of this
unpublished and interesting document, passed a vote of thanks to the
donor, and decided to enter the letter of Rotrou upon the minutes. The
letter is appended_ (at this point the Secretary slackened his delivery
and put a malicious stress upon each word) _with all the errors of the
original text, which, being such as occur in ordinary correspondence,
confirm the authenticity of the document_. All stood motionless in the
faded light that came through the glass, avoiding each other's eyes and
listening in utter amazement.

'Shall I read the letter too?' asked Picheral with a