When he came to table, Fandor noticed that he forgot to pronounce the Benedicite. He was still more interested when the ecclesiastic attacked a tasty chicken with great gusto.
"This is certainly the 1st of December, therefore a fast day according to the episcopal mandate, which I have read ... and behold my little priest is devouring meat! The hotel-keeper offered us fish just now, and I quite understood why, but it seems fasting is not obligatory for this priest--unless this priest is not a priest!"
Whilst the abbé was enjoying his chicken in silence, with eyes fixed on his plate, Fandor once again subjected him to a minute examination. He noted his delicate features, his slim hands, his graceful attitudes: he was so impressed by this and various little details, that when the abbé, after dessert and a last glass of cider, rose and proposed that they should go up to their room for the night, Fandor declared to himself:
"My head on a charger for it! I bet that little abbé is a woman, then more mystery, and a probable husband or lover who may come on the scene presently! Fandor, my boy, beware of this baggage! Not an eye must you close this night!"
The priest had had the famous package taken upstairs and placed at the foot of his bed.
Fandor and the abbé wished each other good night.
"As for me," declared Fandor, unlacing his boots, "I cannot keep my eyes open!"
"I can say the same," replied his companion.
"I pity you, Monsieur l'Abbé! No doubt you have long prayers to recite--especially if you have not finished your breviary!"
"You are mistaken," answered the abbé, with a slight smile: "I am dispensed from a certain number of religious exercises!"
"A fig for you, my fine fellow!" said Fandor to himself. "The deuce is in if I do not catch you out over one of your lies!"
The little abbé was seated on a chair attending to his nails.
"I have a horror of sleeping in an hotel bedroom with an unlocked door!... You will allow me to turn the key?"
Locking the door, Fandor drew the key and threw it on to the priest's lap.
"There, Monsieur l'Abbé, if you like to put it on your bedside table!"
Fandor's action had a purpose. Ten to one you settle the sex of a doubtful individual by such a test. A man instinctively draws his knees together when an object is thrown on them: a woman draws them apart, to make a wider surface of the skirt for the reception of an article and thus prevent its fall to the ground.