The fortune-teller occupied a spacious apartment richly furnished, for she gained a great deal of money by cheating the public. Her consultation-room was draped with hangings of black velvet sprinkled with gilt stars; upon a square table, in the centre of the chamber, stood painted tin obelisks, jars of electricity, retorts, and divers mathematical instruments, of whose uses the pretended sorceress was quite ignorant, but which she had placed there in order to impose on the weak-minded persons who came to consult her.
She at first showed some embarrassment on beholding Mother Michel; however, after having closed a glass door which communicated with the other apartments, she returned to salute her new client, and said in a solemn tone:—
"What is your desire?"
"To question the present, the past, and the future."
"I am the very one to satisfy you," replied Madame Bradamor; "but what you demand is very difficult, and will cost you three crowns."
"There they are; I give them to you with all my heart."
Madame Bradamor, full of regret that she had not insisted on having more, pocketed the money, and began in these terms:—
"What is the date of your birth?"
"The 24th of May, 1698."
"What are the initials of your name and the first letter of the place in which you were born?"