He looked at her good-humoredly, one might almost have said benevolently,
and the old woman returned his looks distrustfully, as if she suspected a
trap, and said:

"It seems all right as far as I am concerned, but it will not give you
the farm."

"Never mind about that," he said; "you may remain here as long as it
pleases God Almighty to let you live; it will be your home. Only you will
sign a deed before a lawyer making it over to me; after your death. You
have no children, only nephews and nieces for whom you don't care a
straw. Will that suit you? You will keep everything during your life, and
I will give you the thirty crowns a month. It is pure gain as far as you
are concerned."

The old woman was surprised, rather uneasy, but, nevertheless, very much
tempted to agree, and answered:

"I don't say that I will not agree to it, but I must think about it. Come
back in a week, and we will talk it over again, and I will then give you
my definite answer."

And Chicot went off as happy as a king who had conquered an empire.

Mother Magloire was thoughtful, and did not sleep at all that night; in
fact, for four days she was in a fever of hesitation. She suspected that
there was something underneath the offer which was not to her advantage;
but then the thought of thirty crowns a month, of all those coins
clinking in her apron, falling to her, as it were, from the skies,