If
he did happen now and then to settle a dispute between neighbors, he
made ample amends for it by setting half the rest of the parish by
the ears.
Master Pothier's nose, sharp and fiery as if dipped in red ink,
almost touched the sheet of paper on the table before him, as he
wrote down from the dictation of Dame Bedard the articles of a
marriage contract between her pretty daughter, Zoe, and Antoine La
Chance, the son of a comfortable but keen widow of Beauport.
Dame Bedard had shrewdly availed herself of the presence of Master
Pothier, and in payment of a night's lodging at the Crown of France,
to have him write out the contract of marriage in the absence of
Dame La Chance, the mother of Antoine, who would, of course, object
to the insertion of certain conditions in the contract which Dame
Bedard was quite determined upon as the price of Zoe's hand and
fortune.
"There! Dame Bedard!" cried Master Pothier, sticking the pen behind
his ear, after a magnificent flourish at the last word," there is a
marriage contract fit to espouse King Solomon to the Queen of Sheba!
A dowry of a hundred livres tournoises, two cows, and a feather bed,
bedstead, and chest of linen! A donation entre vifs!"
"A what? Master Pothier, now mind! are you sure that is the right
word of the grimoire?" cried Dame Bedard, instinctively perceiving
that here lay the very point of the contract.
Pages:
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103