"You mustn't be too critical, monsieur.

I have only the tools of my trade." Durtal went over and took a look.

The collection consisted largely of works on bells.

He read some of the titles: On the cover of a slim parchment volume he deciphered the faded legend, hand-written, in rust-coloured ink, "_De tintinnabulis_ by Jerome Magius, 1664"; then, pell-mell, there were: _A curious and edifying miscellany concerning church bells_ by Dom Remi Carre; another _Edifying miscellany_, anonymous; a _Treatise of bells_ by Jean-Baptiste Thiers, curate of Champrond and Vibraye; a ponderous tome by an architect named Blavignac; a smaller work entitled _Essay on the symbolism of bells_ by a parish priest of Poitiers; a _Notice_ by the abbe Baraud; then a whole series of brochures, with covers of grey paper, bearing no titles.
"It's no collection at all," said Carhaix with a sigh.

"The best ones are wanting, the _De campanis commentarius_ of Angelo Rocca and the _De tintinnabulo_ of Percichellius, but they are so hard to find, and so expensive when you do find them." A glance sufficed for the rest of the books, most of them being pious works, Latin and French Bibles, an _Imitation of Christ_, Goerres' _Mystik_ in five volumes, the abbe Aubert's _History and theory of religious symbolism_, Pluquet's _Dictionary of heresies_, and several lives of saints.
"Ah, monsieur, my own books are not much account, but Des Hermies lends me what he knows will interest me." "Don't talk so much!" said his wife.