For several days she had been brooding over this mode of satisfying
her curiosity, when the unexpected visit of Mere Malheur set aside
all further hesitation about disobeying the Intendant's orders not
to inquire or allow any other person to make inquisition respecting
Caroline.
"Mere Malheur, you feel comfortable now!" said she. "That glass of
cognac has given you a color like a peony!"
"Yes, I am very comfortable now, dame! your cognac is heavenly: it
warms without burning. That glass is the best news I have to tell
of to-day!"
"Nay, but there is always something stirring in the city; somebody
born, married, or dead; somebody courted, won, lost, or undone;
somebody's name up, somebody's reputation down! Tell me all you
know, Mere Malheur! and then I will tell you something that will
make you glad you came to Beaumanoir to-day. Take another sip of
cognac and begin!"
"Ay, dame, that is indeed a temptation!" She took two deep sips,
and holding her glass in her hand, began with loose tongue to relate
the current gossip of the city, which was already known to Dame
Tremblay; but an ill-natured version of it from the lips of her
visitor seemed to give it a fresh seasoning and a relish which it
had not previously possessed.
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