I ask you what you know of that man." "Messer Basterga!" "Yes." Claude stared.

"I know no good," he answered, more and more surprised.
"I do not like him, Messer Syndic." "But he is a learned man, I believe.

He passes for such, does he not ?" "Yes." "Yet you do not like him.

Why ?" Claude's face burned.

"He puts his learning to no good use," he blurted out.