But it was her cue to pretend
ignorance in order to impose on Fanchon.
"Yes, ill-natured people call her La Corriveau, but she is my aunt,
nevertheless. She is married to my uncle Louis Dodier, but is a
lady, by right of her mother, who came from France, and was once
familiar with all the great dames of the Court. It was a great
secret why her mother left France and came to St. Valier; but I
never knew what it was. People used to shake their heads and cross
themselves when speaking of her, as they do now when speaking of
Aunt Josephte, whom they call La Corriveau; but they tremble when
she looks at them with her black, evil eye, as they call it. She is
a terrible woman, is Aunt Josephte! but oh, Mademoiselle, she can
tell you things past, present, and to come! If she rails at the
world, it is because she knows every wicked thing that is done in
it, and the world rails at her in return; but people are afraid of
her all the same."
"But is it not wicked? Is it not forbidden by the Church to consult
a woman like her, a sorciere?" Angelique took a sort of perverse
merit to herself for arguing against her own resolution.
Pages:
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657