Page:The Writings of Prosper Merimee-Volume 5.djvu/85

63 crippled with gout, and I ventured to hope you would be so good as to act in his stead.

" Believe me, my dear Professor,

"." At the end of the letter, in the form of a postscript, had been added in Jmoudic, in a pretty feminine handwriting :

" I, the muse of Lithuania, write in Jmoudic. Michel is very impertinent to question your approval. There is no one but I, indeed, who would be so silly as to marry such a feUow as he. You will see. Professor, on the 8th of next month, a bride who may be called chic. That is not a Jmoudic word; it is French. But please do not be distracted during the ceremony."

Neither the letter nor the postscript pleased me. I thought the engaged couple showed an inexcusable levity concerning such a solemn occasion. However, how was I to decline? And yet I will admit that the promised pageant had its attractions for me. According to all appearance, I should not fail to find among the great number of gentlefolk, who would be gathered together at the Castle of Medintiltas, some learned people who would furnish me with useful information. My Jmoudic glossary was very good; but the sense of a certain number of words which I had