The neighbors came over for dinner and started talking about the Masons, or as they are called in France, les francmaçons (while looking that up I discovered that there is a research specialty called la maçonnologie!). They were full of gossip about it and exchanged lots of anecdotes.
Prince Philip is supposedly a Freemason, so is Sean Connery in "The Man Who Would Be King," and the hero of War and Peace joins the Masons in Moscow, hoping to find enlightened comrades (he doesn't). In the old days, Catholics could be excommunicated for joining, so being a French Freemason could be socially dangerous--much of the upper class in France is very Catholic to this day. So I was surprised to hear how powerful the neighbors thought the Masons were.
"And they have to obey their hierarchy," said Joséphine. "It can help you a lot in business."
"I was looking at photos of the gorgeous villa where someone I know spent his holiday, on the Côte d'Azur," said Jean-Louis. "He said it was lent to him by someone who works for him. In the month of August! Lent to him for nothing!
"When we asked him how he managed that, he just said, 'He had to.' The other man was below him in the Masonic lodge!"
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