tell me just how this thing came to pass.... You were trying out the
liqueur, weren't you? You were perhaps a little generous with your
measure.... Yes, yes, I understand.... It's just like Brother Schwartz,
the inventor of gunpowder: you succumbed to your own invention.... Tell
me, my dear friend, is it really necessary to test this terrific
liqueur on yourself?

--Alas, yes your Grace ... the elixir-strength-gauge tells me the
degree of the alcohol, but for the smoothness of the finished product,
I can trust nothing but my own palate....

--Oh yes, that's right ... but if I might press you a little further
... when you taste the elixir in that way, does it seem good to you? Is
it enjoyable?...

--Yes, I'm afraid it does your Grace, admitted the miserable Father,
flushing.... For two nights now, I found it had such a bouquet, such an
aroma!... The devil himself has played this dirty trick on me.... From
now on, I am determined only to try it by means of the
elixir-strength-gauge. Never mind if the liqueur is not good enough,
and if it isn't quite a diamond of a drink....

--Hold it right there, interrupted the Prior, sharply, We must not risk
upsetting the customers.... All you need to do for the moment, as a
precaution, is to keep a eye on yourself.... Let's see, how much does
it take to fully establish the quality?... Lets say twenty drops.... It
would need a hell of a devil to catch you out with just twenty
drops.... Moreover, to avoid any possibility of accident, I am giving
you a dispensation not to have to come to church. You can have a
private evening service in the distillery.... And now, you may go in
peace, Reverend, but ... be sure to count the drops.

Unfortunately, it was no use counting the drops.... The demon held of
him anyway, and having held him, wouldn't let go.

So, now it was the distillery that heard the _unusual_ service!

* * * * *

In the daytime all went well ... for a while. The Father was quite
relaxed: he prepared the stoves, the stills, and carefully selected the
herbs, fine, grey, dentate, the very scented essence of Provencal
sunshine.... But in the evening while the basic ingredients were
infusing and the elixir was cooling down in the large red coppers, the
poor man's torture began.

--... Seventeen ... eighteen ... nineteen ... twenty!...

The drops fell tantalisingly from the pipette into the silver-gilt
goblet. These twenty, the Father swallowed in o