And what woman would not do the same? How could any one refuse to comply with a request of this kind:
“My good Madame Bajot,—I have been in the lock-. up for four days. I have not a penny nor even a morsel of tobacco to put in my pipe. I entreat you to send me six sous’ worth of tobacco—and a quart of brandy—for I am very thirsty—through my comrade, and in a little bottle on account of the corporal. By so doing you will save my life, and I will settle your bill next pay-day. Let the tobacco be very dry and of the best quality.
“Be assured of my eternal gratitude,
“Brulard,
“Of the 1st Division, 3d Squadron.”
The excellent woman shudders on contemplating the prisoner’s privations, and sends him the tobacco and brandy.
Moreover, if a trooper be sick or wounded, though not sufficiently to be sent to the hospital, she nurses him, dresses his wound, and prepares the tisane, for which she will never accept any pay.
If the cantinière is ugly, no one thinks of criticising her.
It is her right, and no one even perceives it; but if she is pretty, it is a very different matter. She makes havoc in the regiment, and all the young conscripts are speedily subjugated by her conquering charms.
It is an old trooper’s axiom, that the goodness of the wine is in an inverse ratio to the beauty of the cantinière.