nquered an empire.

Mother Magloire was thoughtful, and did not sleep at all that night; in
fact, for four days she was in a fever of hesitation. She _smelt_, so to
say, that there was something underneath the offer which was not to her
advantage; but then the thought of thirty crowns a month, of all those
coins chinking in her apron, falling to her, as it were, from the skies,
without her doing anything for it, filled her with covetousness.

She went to the notary, and told him about it. He advised her to accept
Chicot's offer, but said she ought to ask for an annuity of fifty
instead of thirty, as her farm was worth sixty thousand francs at the
lowest calculation.

"If you live for fifteen years longer," he said, "even then he will only
have paid forty-five thousand francs for it."

The old woman trembled with joy at this prospect of getting fifty crowns
a month; but she was still suspicious, fearing some trick, and she
remained a long time with the lawyer, asking questions without being
able to make up her mind to go. At last she gave him instructions to
draw up the deed, and returned home with her head in a whirl, just as if
she had drunk four jugs of new cider.

When Chicot came again to receive her answer she took a lot of
persuading, and declared that she could not make up her mind to agree to
his proposal, though she was all the time on tenter-hooks lest he should
not consent to give the fifty crowns: but at last, when he grew urgent,
she told him what she expected for her farm.

He looked surprised and disappointed, and refused.

Then, in order to convince him, she began to talk about the probable
duration of her life.

"I am certainly not likely to live for more than five or six years
longer. I am nearly seventy-three, and far from strong, even considering
my age. The other evening I thought I was going to die, and could
hardly manage to crawl into bed."

But Chicot was not going to be taken in.

"Come, come, old lady, you are as strong as the church tower, and will
live till you are a hundred at least; you will be sure to see me put
underground first."

The whole day was spent in discussing the money, and as the old woman
would not give 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 dame did not seem to have grown a day
older. Chico