When at length the flow of his eloquence was checked
by a display of ferocity on the part of the tyrant, and he was finally
brought to the point, he acknowledged that he could only give them some
of the soup called garbure--with which we have already made acquaintance
at the Chateau de Sigognac, some salt codfish, and a dish of bacon; with
plenty of wine, which according to his account was fit for the gods. Our
weary travellers were so hungry by this time that they were glad of even
this frugal fare, and when Mionnette, a gaunt, morose-looking creature,
the only servant that the inn could boast, announced that their supper
was ready in an adjoining room, they did not wait to be summoned a
second time.
They were still at table when a great barking of dogs was heard without,
together with the noise of horses' feet, and in a moment three loud,
impatient knocks upon the outer door resounded through the house.
Mionnette rushed to open it, whereupon a gentleman entered, followed by
a number of dogs, who nearly knocked the tall maid-servant over in their
eagerness to get in, and rushed into the dining-room where our friends
were assembled, barking, jumping over each other, and licking off the
plates that had been used and removed to a low side table, before their
master could stop them.
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