Argosy, September 1955 — page 64: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

62 PAUL GALLICO In fact, there were quite a number of villagers who were of the opinion that for a gentleman whose motto it was that there was nothing in life that could not be arranged, Colonel Bobet had not managed to organize the declining years of his life very well. Héloise, his wife, was known as a prohibitionist, a terma- gant, a scold, an iron, embittered woman, whose temper was not improved by her near-sightedness which was such that she was barely able to get about in spite of the thick lenses she wore. She was anti-drink, ~ anti-tobacco, ~anti-love—in fact, anti- everything that was pleasant, stimulating, or relaxing. But her greatest energies and virulence were marshalled in combating the evils of drink. Her chief battle-ground was the person of her husband, the prop of whose remaining days was his bottle of Aurac, the Cognac of Aristocrats, product of the locality and manufactured by the Marquis d’Aurac whose country-seat was located on the hill over- looking Aurance-sur-Cher. The Colonel was a beloved and popular figure in the whole community. Indeed, he was something of a legend, for, unable to command in World War II on account of an old wound, he had played a redoubtable part in the Resistance under the name of Mystere, aided by a companion whose real identity was still not revealed in the district and who had been known only as Pantoufle. Between them, they had led the Boche a fine dance. But now the war was over, the old fellow’s time was nearly up, and his only solace was getting mellow nightly on Cognac Aurac. For by the third beaker of the golden liquid, he was able to forget the pain caused by the fact that he had lived on into an age where there were Frenchmen who, blithely betraying their country to the Nazis, had collaborated to the hilt... But if the Colonel was a popular figure, you may well imagine that his wife was just the opposite, in a town which not only raised, distilled, and sold Cognac Aurac, but also drank it exclusively for two reasons, the first being, as Colonel Bobet put it, “‘ No finer liquor ever emerged from a charred cask,” and the second, that the powerful Marquis who produced it would brook no competition either in dispensing or advertising, and in particular, not that of the neighbouring Cognac Renier, the Brandy of the Marshals of Napoleon, and one of the best known in all France. Indeed, Dubois, the advertising manager of Cognac Renier, had long tried to invade the Aurance district, but up to now without success. Auberges, bistros, and estaminets that attempted to sell or — 7 3 3 4 re . ‘ ae. ae ee Ta ae | se ‘ a) oe a ed conicbooks.conn