you never die, you old hag?"

He did not know what 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 for some means of
getting rid of her.

One day he came to see her again, rubbing his hands as he did the
first time he proposed the bargain, and, after having chatted for a few
minutes, he said:

"Why do you never come and have a bit of dinner at my place when you are
in Spreville? The people are talking about it, and saying we are not on
friendly terms, and that pains me. You know it will cost you nothing if
you come, for I don't look at the price of a dinner. Come whenever you
feel inclined; I shall be very glad to see you."

Old Mother Magloire did not need to be asked twice, and the next day but
one, as she had to go to the town in any case, it being market day, she
let her man drive her to Chicot's place, where the buggy was put in the
barn while she went into the house to get her dinner.

The innkeeper was delighted and treated her like a lady, giving her
roast fowl, black pudding, leg of mutton and bacon and cabbage. But
she ate next to nothing. She had always been a small eater, and had
generally lived on a little soup and a crust of bread and butter.

Chicot was disappointed and pressed her to eat more, but she refused,
and she would drink little, and declined 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 ornamented with a paper
vine-leaf, and he filled two liqueur glasses.

"Just try that; you will find it first rate."

The good woman drank it slowly in sips, so as to make the pleasure last
all the longer, and when she had finished her glass, 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, as 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 glasses
without any ill effects; it goes down like sugar and does not go to the
head; one would think that it evaporated on the tongue: It is the most
wholesome thing