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But whatever light-mannered goddess may have been their patroness then, she is their patroness now; and from their sowing we date the beginning of our Christmas feast." It was obvious that this explanation of the custom went much too far for Misè Fougueiroun.
With a little stretching, it may be rendered by our English old-fashioned title of "mistress"; and Misè Fougueiroun, who is the Vidame's housekeeper, is mistress over his household in a truly masterful way.
While I still was drinking my coffee in the excellence and delicate service of which I recognized the friendly hand of Misè Fougueiroun there came a knock at my door; and, upon my answer, the Vidame entered looking so elate and wearing so blithe an air that he easily might have been mistaken for a frolicsome middle-aged sunbeam. "Hurry! Hurry!" he cried, while still shaking both my hands.
All the household went with us. The Vidame gallantly gave his arm to Misè Fougueiroun; I followed with her first officer a sauce-box named Mouneto, so plumply provoking and charming in her Arlesian dress that I will not say what did or did not happen in the darkness as we passed the well!
Janetoun and one of her sisters-in-law were the only members of our party who had a hatchet to bury; and the burial was over so quickly being but an extra hug and an explosion of kisses that I should have known nothing about it but for the over-long tongue of Misè Fougueiroun: who, in a kindly way, is as thorough-going a gossip as ever lived.
The Vidame even said that Nanoun's matrimonial chances already good, for the baggage had set half the lads of the country-side at loggerheads about her would be decidedly bettered by this discipline under Misè Fougueiroun: whose name long has been one to conjure with in all the kitchens between Saint-Remy and the Rhône.
What may be termed its by-laws are that the principal dish shall be a roast turkey, and that nougat and poumpo shall figure at the dessert. Why poumpo is held in high esteem by the Provençaux I am not prepared to say. It seemed to me a cake of only a humdrum quality; but even Misè Fougueiroun to whom I am indebted for the appended recipe spoke of it in a sincerely admiring and chop-smacking way.
But Misè Fougueiroun, to guard against this ominous catastrophe, had played a trick on Fate by providing wax candles with wicks so fine that they wasted away imperceptibly in their own flame.
In truth I never can dwell upon such genially picturesque doings of the past without feeling that Fate treated me very shabbily in not making me one of my own ancestors and so setting me back in that hard-fighting, gay-going, and eminently light-opera age. As Christmas Day drew near I observed that Misè Fougueiroun walked thoughtfully and seemed to be oppressed by heavy cares.
In the dominion of Vièlmur there is an inner empire. Nominally, the Vidame is the reigning sovereign; but the power behind his throne is Misè Fougueiroun.
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