George paid a good price for the service, far more than would
have been necessary, for the simple country woman was delighted
with the idea of taking care of the grandchild of the deputy of
her district. George came home and told his wife about this and
had a merry time as he pictured the woman boasting about it to
the travelers who stopped at her door. "Yes, ma'am, a great
piece of luck I've got, ma'am. I've got the daughter of the
daughter of our deputy--at your service ma'am. My! But she is
as fat as out little calf--and so clever! She understands
everything. A great piece of luck for me, ma'am. She's the
daughter of the daughter of our deputy!" Henriette was vastly
entertained, discovering in her husband a new talent, that of an
actor.
As for George's mother, she was hardly to be persuaded from
staying in the country with the child. She went twice a week, to
make sure that all went well. Henriette and she lived with the
child's picture before them; they spent their time sewing on caps
and underwear--all covered with laces and frills and pink and
blue ribbons. Every day, when George came home from his work, he
found some new article completed, and was ravished by the scent
of some new kind of sachet powder. What a lucky man he was!
You would think he must have been the happiest man in the whole
city of Paris. But George, alas, had to pay the penalty for his
early sins. There was, for instance, the deception he had
practiced upon his friend, away back in the early days.
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