him, and which, together with the deafness of which he sometimes

complained in rainy weather, was thought in Saumur to be a natural

defect, became at this crisis so wearisome to the two Cruchots that

while they listened they unconsciously made faces and moved their

lips, as if pronouncing the words over which he was hesitating and

stuttering at will. Here it may be well to give the history of this

impediment of the speech and hearing of Monsieur Grandet. No one in

Anjou heard better, or could pronounce more crisply the French