CHAPTER XVIII 



THE COLLABORATORS: (CONTINUED) 



T all the naturalist's experiments are 

 dedicated to practical folk; some are 



reserved rather for the intellectual. Let us 



proceed to the facts: 



To-day is Shrove Tuesday, a reminiscence of the 

 ancient Saturnalia. I am meditating, on this occa- 

 sion, a fantastic dish which would have delighted 

 the gourmets of Rome. . . . 



There will be eight of us; first of all my family, 

 and then two friends, probably the only persons 

 in the village before whom I could permit myself 

 such eccentricities of diet without jocular com- 

 ment upon what would be regarded as a depraved 

 mania. 



One of these is the schoolmaster. Since he per- 

 mits it and does not fear the comments of the fool- 

 ish, if by chance the secret of our feast should be 

 divulged, we will call him by his name, Jullian. A 

 man of broad views and reared upon science, his 

 mind is open to truth of every kind. 



The second, Marius Guigne, is a blind man 

 who, a carpenter by profession, handles his plane 

 and saw in the blackest darkness with the same 

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