ed
him with sweetmeats and finally did as she wished with him.

"Now one day, as they were together in the jeweller's bed, Master
Nicholas came home sooner than he was expected. He found the bolt drawn,
and heard his wife on the other side of the door exclaiming, 'My heart!
my angel! my love!' Then suspecting that she was shut up with a gallant,
he struck great blows upon the door and began to shout 'Slut! hussy!
wanton! open so that I may cut off your nose and ears!' In this peril,
the jeweller's wife besought St. Orberosia, and vowed her a large candle
if she helped her and the little page, who was dying of fear beside the
bed, out of their difficulty.

"The saint heard the prayer. She immediately changed Jean Violle into
a girl. Seeing this, Cecile was completely reassured, and began to call
out to her husband: 'Oh! you brutal villain, you jealous wretch! Speak
gently if you want the door to be opened.' And scolding in this way, she
ran to the wardrobe and took out of it an old hood, a pair of stays,
and a long grey petticoat, in which she hastily wrapped the transformed
page. Then when this was done, 'Catherine, dear Catherine,' said she,
loudly, 'open the door for your uncle; he is more fool than knave, and
won't do you any harm.' The boy who had become a girl, obeyed. Master
Nicholas entered the room and found in it a young maid whom he did not
know, and his wife in bed. 'Big booby,' said the latter to him, 'don't
stand gaping at what you see, just as I had come to bed because had
a stomach ache, I received a visit from Catherine, the daughter of my
sister Jeanne de Palaiseau, with whom we quarrelled fifteen years ago.
Kiss your niece. She is well worth the trouble.' The jeweller gave
Violle a hug, and from that moment wanted nothing so much as to be alone
with her a moment, so that he might embrace her as much as he liked. For
this reason he led her without any delay down to the kitchen, under the
pretext of giving her some walnuts and wine, and he was no sooner there
with her than he began to caress her very affectionately. He would not
have stopped at that if St. Orberosia had not inspired his good wife
with the idea of seeing what he was about. She found him with the
pretended niece sitting on his knee. She called him a debauched
creature, boxed his ears, and forced him to beg her pardon. The next day
Violle resumed his previous form."

Having heard this story the venerable Canon Monnoyer thanked Pierre
Mil