Page:Devil stories - an anthology.djvu/189

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THE THREE LOW MASSES[1]

A CHRISTMAS STORY


BY ALPHONSE DAUDET


I


"Two truffled turkeys, Garrigou?"

"Yes, your reverence, two magnificent turkeys, stuffed with truffles. I should know something about it, for I myself helped to fill them. One would have said their skin would crack as they were roasting, it is that stretched. …"

"Jesu-Maria! I who like truffles so much! … Quick, give me my surplice, Garrigou. … And have you seen anything else in the kitchen besides the turkeys?"

"Yes, all kinds of good things. … Since noon, we have done nothing but pluck pheasants, hoopoes, barnfowls, and woodcocks. Feathers were flying about all over. … Then they have brought eels, gold carp, and trout out of the pond, besides. …"

"What size were the trout, Garrigou?"

"As big as that, your reverence. … Enormous!"

"Oh heavens! I think I see them. … Have you put the wine in the vessels?"

  1. From The Fig and the Idler, an Algerian Legend, and Other Stories, by Alphonse Daudet. London, T. Fisher Unwin, 1892. (By permission of the Publisher.)

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