Then, being a practical man, he declared he should like to
contract for my keep, and thought he could afford to do it at very small
cost to me, and still leave a fair margin for himself. He thought it
right to make up for my want of appetite; and so, in addition to his own
share, he took in an exemplary manner the share of wine which I should
have taken, had I been a man like himself. The master of the chalet sat
on the family bed, smoking silently and sullenly; and as soon as Liotir
had come to an end of his second bottle, he proposed to accompany us
himself to the cave, as he doubted whether any of his men knew the way,
and he was sure they were all busy. When I came to pay his wife for what
we had consumed, I administered thanks as well as money; to which she
sternly rejoined, 'Who pays need not give thanks;' and to that surly
view she held, in spite of my attempts to soften her down. There was,
after all, much force in what she said, under the circumstances. They
had given us no welcome, nothing but mere food, and all they expected in
return was a due amount of money; thanks were a mockery in their eyes.
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