or the damsel,--something pretty, but cheap.

"Je voudrais inventer quelque petit cadeau
Qui coutat peu, mais qui parut nouveau."

Meeting with no opposition, the old gentleman gradually loses his relish
for matrimony; and Madame Argante, the mother, promises Ergaste to give
Isabelle to him, instead of to his uncle, provided Geronte will declare
his nephew heir to his estate. Unluckily, there are two other
collaterals, country cousins, whom Geronte has never seen, but whom he
wishes to remember. Crispin, valet to Ergaste, assisted by Lisette, the
old man's housekeeper and nurse, personifies first the male and then the
female relative from the rural districts so well that Geronte orders
them out of his house in disgust, swears that he will not leave them a
sous, and sends for a notary to draw his will in favor of Ergaste. But
the excitement of the last interview with Crispin, as a widow, is too
much for his strength. He becomes unconscious, and apparently breathes
his last just as the notary knocks at the door. In this moment of
agonizing disappointment, the indomitable Crispin comes to the rescue.
He puts on the dressing-gown and cap of Geronte, reclines in his
easy-chair, counterfeits his voice, and dictates a will to the notary.
Firstly, he bequeaths to Lisette two thousand crowns, on condition that
she marry Crispin; secondly, he leaves to Crispin an annuity of fifteen
hundred crowns, to reward his devotion to his master; the rest of the
estate, real and personal, to go to Ergaste. The residuary legatee
remonstrates warmly with the testator against his foolish generosity to
Crispin and Lisette; but the sham Geronte insists, and Ergaste is
obliged to submit. The notary withdraws to make the necessary copies of
the will, and the plotters are chuckling over the success of their
plans, when, to their dismay, Geronte enters, alive. He tells them that
he feels his strength departing, and bids them send at once for the
notary to settle his worldly affairs. The notary, who is ignorant of any
deceit, assures him that he has made his will already, and shows him the
document. The conspirators seize the chance of escape, confirm the
notary's story, and relate all the circumstances of the conference,
Geronte protests that he recollects nothing of it; he feels certain he
could not have given more than twenty crowns to Lisette; as to Crispin,
he had never heard of him. The answer is always, "_C'est votre
lethargie_." While