Volume I Part 29 (1/2)
”I am certainly not likely to live for er I ato die, and could hardlyto be taken in
”Co as the church tower, and will live till you are a hundred at least; you will be sure to see round first”
The whole day was spent in discussing the ive way, the landlord consented to give the fifty crowns, and she insisted upon having ten crowns over and above to strike the bargain
Three years passed by, and the old darown a day older Chicot was in despair, and it see that annuity for fifty years, that he had been taken in, done, that he was ruined Frooes in July to see when the harvest is likely to begin She alwayslook, and one would have felt inclined to think that she was congratulating herself on the trick she had played hiot into his tilbury again, growling to himself:
”Will you never die, you old brute?”
He did not knohat to do, and he felt inclined to strangle her when he saw her He hated her with a ferocious, cunning hatred, the hatred of a peasant who has been robbed, and began to cast about forrid of her
One day he ca his hands like he did the first ti chatted for a few minutes, he said:
”Why do you never come and have a bit of dinner atabout it, and saying that we are not on friendly ter if you come, for I don't look at the price of a dinner Colad to see you”
Old Mother Magloire did not need to be told twice, and the next day but one, as she was going to town in any case, it being , driven by her man, she, without any demur, put her trap up in Chicot's stable, and went in search of her prohted, and treated her like a lady, giving her roast fowl, blackpudding, leg ofShe had always been a senerally lived on a little soup and a crust of bread and butter
Chicot was disappointed, and pressed her to eateither, and declined any coffee, so he asked her:
”But surely, you will take a little drop of brandy or liqueur?”
”Well, as to that, I don't know that I will refuse” Whereupon he shouted out:
”Rosalie, bring the superfine brandy,--_the special_,--you know”
The servant appeared, carrying a long bottle ornalasses
”Just try that; you will find it first-rate”
The good woman drank it slowly in sips, so as to er, and when she had finished her glass, draining the last drops so as to er, she said:
”Yes, that is first-rate!”
Almost before she had said it, Chicot had poured her out another glassful She wished to refuse, but it was too late, and she drank it very slowly, like she had done the first, and he asked her to have a third She objected, but he persisted
”It is as mild as milk, you know; I can drink ten or a dozen without any ill effects; it goes down like sugar, and leaves no signs in the head, one would think that it evaporated on the tongue It is theyou can drink”
She took it, for she really wished to have it, but she left half the glass
Then Chicot, in an excess of generosity, said:
”Look here, as it is soof it, just to show that you and I are still excellent friends” So she took one aith her, feeling slightly overcome by the effects of what she had drunk