room to inquire if he spat white, if he coughed, if he had slept well; but the old servant told him that the canon, hearing the bells of St Maurice, the first patron of Notre Dame, ring for matins, he had gone out of reverence to the cathedral, where all the Chapter were to breakfast with the Bishop of Paris; upon which Chiquon replied:  “Is his reverence the canon out of his senses thus to disport himself, to catch a cold, to get rheumatism?  Does he wish to die?  I’ll light a big fire to warm him when he returns;” and the good shepherd ran into the room where the canon generally sat, and to his great astonishment beheld him seated in his chair.

“Ah, ah!  What did she mean, that fool of a Bruyette?  I knew you were too well advised to be shivering at this hour in your stall.”

The canon said not a word.  The shepherd who was like all thinkers, a man of hidden sense, was quite aware that sometimes old men have strange crotchets, converse with the essence of occult things, and mumble to themselves discourses concerning matters not under consideration; so that, from reverence and great respect for the secret meditations of the canon, he went and sat down at a distance, and waited the termination of these dreams; noticing, silently the length of the good man’s nails, which looked like cobbler’s awls, and looking attentively at the feet of his uncle, he was astonished to see the flesh of his legs so crimson, that it reddened his breeches and seemed all on fire through his hose.

He is dead, thought Chiquon.  At this moment the door of the room opened, and he still saw the canon, who, his nose frozen, came back from church.

“Ho, ho!” said Chiquon, “my dear Uncle, are you out of your senses?  Kindly take notice that you ought not to be at the door, because you are already seated in your chair in the chimney corner, and that it is impossible for there to be two canons like you in the world.”

“Ah!  Chiquon, there was a time when I could have wished to be in two places at once, but such is not the fate of a man, he would be too happy.  Are you getting dim-sighted?  I am alone here.”

Then Chiquon turned his head towards the chair, and found it empty; and much astonished, as you will easily believe, he approached it, and found on the seat a little pat of cinders, from which ascended a strong odour of sulphur.

“Ah!” said he merrily, “I perceive that the devil has behaved well towards me—­I will pray God for him.”

And thereupon he related naively to the canon how the devil had amused himself by playing at providence, and had loyally aided him to get rid of his wicked cousins, the which the canon admired much, and thought very good, seeing that he had plenty of good sense left, and often had observed things which were to the devil’s advantage.  So the good old priest remarked that ’as much good was always met with in evil as evil in good, and that therefore one should not trouble too much after the other world, the which was a grave heresy, which many councils have put right’.