“It ends thus: 

“’Do not forget me, especially when you are with your holy spouse, and intercede with God the Father that he may grant me a good husband, like your own.’

“This prayer, which was suppressed by the clergy of the district, is sold by him privately, and is said to be very efficacious for those who recite it with unction.

“In fact he talks of the good Virgin as the valet de chambre of a redoubted prince might talk of his master who confided in him all his little private secrets.  He knows a number of amusing anecdotes at his expense which he tells confidentially among friends as they sit over their glasses.

“But you will see for yourself.

“As the fees coming from the Virgin did not appear sufficient to him, he added to the main figure a little business in saints.  He has them all, or nearly all.  There was not room enough in the chapel, so he stored them in the wood-shed and brings them forth as soon as the faithful ask for them.  He carved these little wooden statues himself—­they are comical in the extreme—­and painted them all bright green one year when they were painting his house.  You know that saints cure diseases, but each saint has his specialty, and you must not confound them or make any blunders.  They are as jealous of each other as mountebanks.

“In order that they may make no mistake, the old women come and consult Matthew.

“‘For diseases of the ear which saint is the best?’

“‘Why, Saint Osyme is good and Saint Pamphilius is not bad.’  But that is not all.

“As Matthew has some time to spare, he drinks; but he drinks like a professional, with conviction, so much so that he is intoxicated regularly every evening.  He is drunk, but he is aware of it.  He is so well aware of it that he notices each day his exact degree of intoxication.  That is his chief occupation; the chapel is a secondary matter.

“And he has invented—­listen and catch on—­he has invented the ‘Saoulometre.’

“There is no such instrument, but Matthew’s observations are as precise as those of a mathematician.  You may hear him repeating incessantly:  ‘Since Monday I have had more than forty-five,’ or else ’I was between fifty-two and fifty-eight,’ or else ’I had at least sixty-six to seventy,’ or ’Hullo, cheat, I thought I was in the fifties and here I find I had had seventy-five!’

“He never makes a mistake.

“He declares that he never reached his limit, but as he acknowledges that his observations cease to be exact when he has passed ninety, one cannot depend absolutely on the truth of that statement.

“When Matthew acknowledges that he has passed ninety, you may rest assured that he is blind drunk.

“On these occasions his wife, Melie, another marvel, flies into a fury.  She waits for him at the door of the house, and as he enters she roars at him: 

“‘So there you are, slut, hog, giggling sot!’