The Sequel to the Count of Gabalis

Anyone other than myself would perhaps have been offended by a certain compliment he first paid me; but I never make those kinds of mistakes. I find it beneficial to accommodate people who are unique in their kind; an eccentric original: "un original"; a term for someone with a singular or odd character is always of great value to me; and God has granted me the grace to recognize that fools original: "fols" are only in this world to provide lessons in wisdom. It is true that I had some need of that grace to avoid throwing Monsieur Jean le Brun out the door the first time he appeared to me. He knocked abruptly at my study Cabinet: a private room used for reading, writing, and receiving important visitors, and entered in the same manner, holding a book and a staff in one hand, and removing his large hat with the other. "Sir," he said to me, "I am your servant: I have come all the way from Ireland specifically to tell you that you are ill-advised." He had red and wild eyes, a pale face, a short black suit, a wool belt over his small cassock original: "soutanelle"; a waist-length or knee-length clerical garment, a peculiar beard, and the look and temperament original: "le poil"; literally "the hair," used here to describe his rough or prickly outward character of an offended zealot. "Sir,"