CHAPTER XXXIX.
MERE MALHEUR.
La Corriveau, eager to commence her work of wickedness, took up her
abode at the house of her ancient friend, Mere Malheur, whither she
went on the night of her first interview with Angelique.
It was a small house, built of uncut stones, with rough stone steps
and lintels, a peaked roof, and low overhanging eaves, hiding itself
under the shadow of the cliff, so closely that it seemed to form a
part of the rock itself.
Its sole inmate, an old crone who had reached the last degree of
woman's ugliness and woman's heartlessness,--Mere Malheur--sold
fair winds to superstitious sailors and good luck to hunters and
voyageurs. She was not a little suspected of dabbling in other
forbidden things. Half believing in her own impostures, she
regarded La Corriveau with a feeling akin to worship, who in return
for this devotion imparted to her a few secrets of minor importance
in her diabolic arts.
La Corriveau was ever a welcome guest at the house of Mere Malheur,
who feasted her lavishly, and served her obsequiously, but did not
press with undue curiosity to learn her business in the city.
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