The Monticellonian., 1895-11-01
hundred sous, as he insists, she at last

hundred sous, as he insists, she at last announces her pretensions.
 He had shock of disappointment and refused. Therefore, to convince him, she began to reason with him upon the probable duration of her life.
 'fI have little more than five or six l years for certain. Here l am nearly seventy-three, and at that not vigorous. The other night thought was pass ing away. It seemed to me that they were obliged to carry me to my bed" But Chicot was not to be caught. l "Come, come, old experienced one, you are as solid as the church bell You will i live at least one hundred and ten years For certain it will be you who will bury me-"
 The whole day was lost in discussion. But as the old woman would not con- cede the innkeeper at last consented to give the fifty crowns.
 The following day they signed the agreement, and Mother Magloire de- handed ten crowns for some measures of wine.
 Three years passed. The old woman wa. miraculously well. She did not seem to have aged at all, and Chieot de- spaired. It seemed to him that he had been paying this income for half a century; that he had been deceived, cheated, ruined. Sometimes he went to pay a visit to the farm, just as one | goes in the fields in July to see if the wheat Is ripe for the fail. She received him with a mischieYous look. One would have said of her that she congratulated herself on the good joke she he'd played on him, and he remounted hl, tilbury, muttering: You old carcass; you won't die!'
 He did not know what to de. On seeing her he would like to have choked l her. He hated her with a sulky, fero- cious hatred--with the hatred of peas ant who had been robbed.
 Well then he would find the means.
 Accordingly, he came one day to see her, rubbing his hands as he had done the first time when he came to propose the arrangement. Then, after chatting a few minutes:
 Say, mother, why do you never dine ot my house when you go through EperviIle? People tatt1e; they say that we no longer are friends, and that makes me mourn. You know that at my house you do not need to pay. I do not grudge a dinner. Any time you feel inclined to come, eome,without cer- emony; that will please me"
 Mother Magloire did not wait for u second invitation. Two days after, on her way to market in her iaunting ear, conducted by Celestin, her groom, without formality, she put her horse in Mister Chieot's stable and claimed her promised dinner.
 The innleeper, radiant, treats her like a lady, serves her with chicken, meat pudding, leg of mutton, and cab bage with bacon. But, being from her infancy temperate, having always lived on little soup and buttered crust, she ate scarcely anything. Chicot, disappointed, insisted. Neither did she drink. She refused to take coffee.
 He asked: ''You will accept, of eotsse, a small glass of brandy ?"
 "Ah. as to that, yes. I do not say no"
 And he called across the inn with both Of his lungs: "Rosalie, bring the brandy, the superfne, the Eau-de-yie.9
 The servant appeared, holding a long bottle, decorated with paper vine leaf.
 He filled two small glasses.
 "Taste that, mother; 1t is famous"
 And the good woman began to drink, very slowly, taking small sips, thereby making the pleasure last longer. After emptying her glass she drained it, de- clearing:
 That, yes-that Is the fine cham pagne brandy"
 She hadn't finished speaking when Chicot poured her out second dose. She would have refused. but 1t was too late, and she slowly tasted it, as she had done the first.
 He then wanted to make her accept Il third allowance, but she resisted He inslsted: "This, this is milk, do you see? 1 drink ten, twelve without harm It goes down like sugar. Nothing in the stomach, nothing i'll the head, one might say 1t eyaporated on the tongue. There is nothing better for the health!"
 As she had desire for more she ac- quiesced, but she took only half glass 1'hereupon Chicot, with breath Of generosity, cried out to her;
 See, since it pleases you, will give you q small casl; this will let you see that we are always pair of good friends"
 The good woman does not sny no, and she goes away little tipsy.
 The next day the innkeeper entered Mother Magloire's court, and from the bottom of his carriage pulled out little barrel encircled with iron Then he wished her to taste its contents to prove that it was the same brandy; and when both drank three glasses on going away he declared:
 And besides, you know, when this is finished there is still more. Do onot feel embarrassed. I am not grudging. The sooner that is finished the more pleased l will be-"
 And he remounts his tilbury.
 Four days later he returns. The old woman was in front of her door cutting bread for her soup. He approached her, wished her good day, talked close te her face in order to inhale her breath. He noticed a whiff of alcohol. Now his face frightened.
 You surely will offer me a glass of brandy" said he.
 They touch glasses two or three