After the word _tvrbvl_ in the first line several letters seemed to have become effaced, but _tvrbvl_ was perfectly legible. “Which means?”--queried my host, with a beaming face, and winking maliciously, for he had a shrewd idea that I would not easily handle that _tvrbvl_. “There is one word here which I do not understand as yet,” I said; “all the rest is simple. ‘Eutyches made this offering to Venus by her order.’” “Excellent. But what do you make of _tvrbvl_? What is _tvrbvl_?” “_Tvrbvl_ puzzles me a good deal. I have tried in vain to think of some known epithet of Venus to assist me. What would you say to _Turbulenta_? Venus, who disturbs, who excites--as you see, I am still engrossed by her evil expression. _Turbulenta_ is not a very inapt epithet for Venus,” I added modestly, for I was not very well satisfied myself with my explanation. “Turbulent Venus! Venus the roisterer! Ah! so you think that my Venus is a wine-shop Venus, do you? Not by any means, monsieur; she is a Venus in good society. But I will explain this _tvrbvl_ to you. Of course you will promise not to divulge my discovery before my memoir is printed. You see, I am very proud of this find of mine. You must leave us poor devils in the provinces a few spears to glean. You are so rich, you Parisian scholars!” From the top of the pedestal, whereon I was still perched, I solemnly promised him that I would never be guilty of the baseness of stealing his discovery. “_Tvrbvl_--monsieur,” he said, coming nearer to me and lowering his voice, for fear that some other than myself might hear--“read _tvrbvlneræ_.” “I don’t understand any better.” “Listen. About a league from here, at the foot of the mountain, is a village called Boulternère. That name is a corruption of the Latin word _Turbulnera_. Nothing is more common than such inversions. Boulternère, monsieur, was a Roman city. I have always suspected as much, but I have never had a proof of it. Here is the proof. This Venus was the local divinity of the city of Boulternère; and this word Boulternère, whose antique origin I have just demonstrated, proves something even more interesting--namely, that Boulternère, before it became a Roman city, was a Phœnician city!” He paused a moment to take breath and to enjoy my surprise. I succeeded in restraining a very strong inclination to laugh.