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"I have been told," replied the Abbé Jeufroy, "that the jawbone of an elephant was at one time found at Villers." However, one of his friends, M. Larsoneur, advocate, member of the bar at Lisieux, and archæologist, would probably supply them with information about it. He had written a history of Port-en-Bessin, in which the discovery of an alligator was noticed.
Chamberlan lost his place, and he formed against them a secret coalition, supported by the Abbé Jeufroy, Madame Bordin, and Foureau. Their way of living, so unlike that of other people, gave offence. They became objects of suspicion, and even inspired a vague terror. What destroyed them above all in public opinion was their choice of a servant. For want of another, they had taken Marcel.
And, colouring, M. Jeufroy crammed the gold piece into his cassock. To give back the bowl, the bowl for sacrifices! Never, while they lived! They were even anxious to learn Hebrew, which is the mother-tongue of Celtic, unless indeed the former language be derived from it!
The two comrades had not given the Abbé Jeufroy such a fall as they expected; therefore, Pécuchet found in him "the stamp of Jesuitism." His "boreal light," however, caused them uneasiness. They searched for it in Orbigny's manual. "This is a hypothesis to explain why the vegetable fossils of Baffin's Bay resemble the Equatorial plants.
The mayor and the Abbé Jeufroy had at once recognised him. He had formerly been a joiner at Chavignolles. "Come, Gorju! take yourself off," said M. Foureau. "You ought not to be asking for alms." "I! Alms!" cried the exasperated man. "I served seven years in the wars in Africa. I've only just got up out of a hospital. Good God! must I turn cutthroat?"
The fire abated, the burning piles subsided, and an hour later only ashes remained, making round, black marks on the plain. Then all withdrew. Madame Bordin and the Abbé Jeufroy led MM. Bouvard and Pécuchet back to their abode.
"They have given nothing," replied the schoolmaster. "That is your fault!" "I have done what I could." "Ha! really?" Bouvard and Pécuchet discreetly rose. Petit made them sit down again, and addressing the curé: "Is that all?" The Abbé Jeufroy hesitated. Then, with a smile which tempered his reprimand: "It is supposed that you are rather negligent about sacred history."
If the curé was willing to give it to him, he would restore the bowl, otherwise not. Through weariness or fear of scandal, M. Jeufroy yielded it up. It was placed amongst their collection near the Cauchoise cap. The bowl decorated the church porch; and they consoled themselves for the loss of it with the reflection that the people of Chavignolles were ignorant of its value.
But Bouvard, irritated at the ill-success of his garden, took up the defence of the people. They all began talking at the same time. Foureau extolled the government. Hurel saw nothing in the world but landed property. The Abbé Jeufroy complained of the fact that it did not protect religion. Pécuchet attacked the taxes. Madame Bordin exclaimed at intervals, "As for me, I detest the Republic."
Bouvard talked about coprolites, which are animals' excrements in a petrified state. The Abbé Jeufroy appeared surprised at the matter. After all, if it were so, it was a reason the more for wondering at Providence. Pécuchet confessed that, up to the present, their inquiries had not been fruitful; and yet the environs of Falaise, like all Jurassic soils, should abound in remains of animals.
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