"Yes, my Lady! but although forbidden by the Church, the girls all
consult her, nevertheless, in their losses and crosses; and many of
the men, too, for she does know what is to happen, and how to do
things, does Aunt Josephte. If the clergy cannot tell a poor girl
about her sweetheart, and how to keep him in hand, why should she
not go and consult La Corriveau, who can?"
"Fanchon, I would not care to consult your aunt. People would laugh
at my consulting La Corriveau, like a simple habitan girl; what
would the world say?"
"But the world need not know, my Lady. Aunt Josephte knows secrets,
they say, that would ruin, burn, and hang half the ladies of Paris.
She learned those terrible secrets from her mother, but she keeps
them safe in those close lips of hers. Not the faintest whisper of
one of them has ever been heard by her nearest neighbor. Indeed,
she has no gossips, and makes no friends, and wants none. Aunt
Josephte is a safe confidante, my Lady, if you wish to consult her."
"I have heard she is clever, supernatural, terrible, this aunt of
yours! But I could not go to St.
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