wn their throats, anyhow."

"Talking about liver, Mrs St. Felix, I once knew a friend of mine who
cured some geese of a liver complaint."

"Had they been long in the East Indies, poor creatures?"

"No, but they had been in a very hot climate. You see, he was over in
France during the last peace, and he went to the baths at Montpellier
for the benefit of his health. He lodged with an old Frenchman. Now,
you see, Mrs St. Felix, in the south of France they have a custom of
making certain pies, which are much esteemed, and are called _pates de
foie gras_--that means livers of geese, in French."

"It don't sound much like livers in English, doctor; but never mind
that, go on with your story."

"Here's a customer, Mrs St. Felix; serve him first, and then I will go
on with my story."

An old pensioner came in, and laying the coppers on the counter, asked
for a ha'p'orth of returns and a farthing of snuff.

"That's a large ready money order, doctor," said the widow, as the man
left the shop. "Ain't I making my fortune? Now go on; I'm as eager
about the liver as my own cat."

"Well, the great object is to increase the size of the geese's livers,
that is, to bring on a regular liver complaint; and, to effect this they
put the poor animals in a hot closet next the kitchen fire, cram the
food into their mouths through a funnel, and give them plenty of water
to drink. This produces the disease; and the livers of the geese, when
they are killed, very often weigh three or four pounds, while the
animals themselves are mere skeletons."

"And the French eat those liver complaints?" interrupted the widow,
making a face.

"Yes, they do, and are as fond of it as my boy Tom is of liquorice.
Well, this doctor, who is a friend of mine, quarrelled with his host,
who boasted of his geese having the largest livers in Montpellier, and
was very proud of it. My friend knew that he could not annoy him more
than by preventing his success; so, having a large quantity of
Cheltenham salts with him, he used every morning to put a quantity of
them in the water which the geese were given to drink. This had the
same effect upon them as it has upon men and women; and instead of
becoming more diseased every day, the geese recovered their health and
spirits. The Frenchman crammed and crammed, made his closet still
hotter, and _sacre bleu'd_, and actually tore his hair, because his
geese would be well and hearty; but, the more he tried to ma