"Yes they receive one or two infamous books, which they cannot destroy after they have taken them, neither can anyone else do away with these bad books. Yet, I remember quite well when there was one completely annihilated.
"It was when one of my aunt's died. She was a terrible witch; alas, the chairs; and all the cups and saucers, bowls and plates on the dresser danced when they carried her body out of the house."
Tommy looked at her. "Oh, it's true," he said, "you can laugh if you like--ain't it grand'ma?"
Mrs. Soher went on: "When we cleaned out the house, we found one of those awful books. No one dared to open it, yet everyone knew by its funny covers, its queer print and its yellow paper, that it was one of the 'devil's own.' My sister, who, by the way, was not very superstitious took----"
"Superlicious! what's that?" questioned the boy.
"People who don't believe in all sorts," immediately explained grandmamma.
"Now where was I? ah, my sister took the book and threw it into the fire but it did not burn!"
Adèle began to be credulous. It must be borne in mind that she was only seven years old.
Grand'ma proceeded: "She snatched it again from the fire and put it on the table. Now it happened that on that very day, my brother was going to seek for shell-fish at a place called _La Banque au Mouton_. He said that he would take the book and place it under a big stone; then, when the tide rose, it would be covered over, and, we all hoped, altogether destroyed.
"He took it as he had promised to do (we were gone home to dinner then, for we did not care to eat in the house of a witch), and placed it, so he told us, under a big stone which he could hardly lift."
"Ah, the Evil One was caught," remarked Tommy.
"He is not caught so easily as all that," said his grandmother. "When we returned to our work, do you know what we saw?"
"We beheld the book laid upon the table."
Tommy opened his mouth wide enough as to be in danger of dislocation, then he closed it with an exclamation: "Ah-a!"
"That's not all," continued Mrs. Soher, "we were determined to get rid of the book. This is what we did.
"My brother spoke to the minister about it. The clergyman declared that the book could only be stamped out of existence by a special process. He went to what had been my aunt's house, and summoned my brother and those who were there into the kitchen. Then one man thrust a bundle of furze into the oven and set it alight. Another one threw the book amongst the flames and firmly secured the door.