Excerpt from Needles and Pins: A Novel But if the Poitevins that counted - the Poitevins that were nobles and great captains and princes ecclesiastical - were well content to consider their province a little paradise, they looked upon it as a paradise whose deliciousness they were ready to keep to themselves, as is the way with those who are sworn in a fellowship of good fortune. He that was not Poitevin born and Poitevin bred was scarcely in their esteem so graced by heaven with those qualities of heart and head, taste and judgment, as to savor with appreciation the merits Of a matchless province and the flavor of a goose-pie. Hence they eyed with jealousy any alienation of their common inheritance. That Poitevin man should wed with Poitevin maid. Was one part of their creed; another, and Of greater moment, was that Poitevin maid should wed with Poitevin man. For if the men of Poitou were se knowledged by all the world to be the bravest that ever bore sword and the gallantest that ever carried kiss, the maids Of Poitou were as readily and generally admitted to hold supremacy for fairness of face and beauty Of body over the rest Of womankind. These incontestable premises once established to the com plete satisfaction of all Poitevins, it followed logically that for a Poitevin man to miss perfection in wedlock was a folly, and for a Poitevin maid so to blunder was very evidently a sin. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.