"Go to bed, madame," said Annette's soft voice to Mother Grédel; "I will stay till these gentlemen go."
The carousers, tipsy as they were, understood the hint, and took their leave, one by one.
"At last," thought I, as I heard the last one go, stumbling and hiccoughing through the door—"they are all gone. Mother Grédel will go to bed. Annette will come, without delay, to deliver me."
In this agreeable anticipation, I had already disentangled my numb limbs, when these dreadful words of the portly landlady met my ears:
"Annette, go and close up, and do not forget the bar. I am going myself into the cellar."
Alas! this seemed to be the praiseworthy, but for me most unlucky, custom of the good lady—so as to see herself that all was right.
"But, madame," stammered Annette, "there is no need; the cask is not empty——"
"Mind your own business," interrupted her mistress, whose candle already was shining at the top of the steps.
I had hardly time to crouch again behind the cask. The old woman went from one cask to the other, stooping beneath the low ceiling of the vault.
"Oh, the hussy!" I heard her mutter; "how she lets the wine leak out! But only wait—I will teach her to close the stopcocks better. Just to see! just to see!"