CHAPTER III
THE INNKEEPER'S LESSON
The chief inn of Fontainebleau town was a rambling galleried quadrangleof semi-deserted buildings situated on the Rue Basse, and bearing thesign of "The Holy Ghost."
This town, in the heart of the woods, had no other sources of livelihoodthan a vegetable market for the Palace, the small wants of thewooden-shoed foresters and of the workmen employed by the Master ofWoods and Waters in planting new trees, and those of the crowd ofstrangers who flocked to the place during five or six weeks in theautumn of each year, when the king and Court arrived for the pleasuresof the hunt.
The host of the inn--formerly an assistant butler in Madame du Barry'shotel at Versailles, was a sharp, sour-natured old fellow, truculent andavaricious. The spine of this man was a sort of social barometer; by itsexact degree of curvature or stiffness in the presence of a guest thestable-boys and housemaids knew whether his rank was great or small, andwhether, to please their cantankerous master, they were to fly or walkat his beck, or in the case of a mere bourgeois, to drink his wine onthe way to his room.
Germain, on first arriving a few days previously, found himself in anatmosphere of Oriental abjectness; for when the Rouen diligence drovethrough the inn gateway, and mine host at his pot-room window remarkedhis smart belongings, his landlord soul settled him as a person ofquality. But when the innkeeper had thought it out for an hour over hiswine, his attitude became one of doubt.
"No valet, no people," he muttered, "this fish then is no noble, andyet, by his mien, no bourgeois. Luggage scanty, dress fine. What is he?Gambler of Paris? Swiss? Italian? No, he speaks French, but without theCourt accent. By that he is none of _our_ people--that is one pointfixed. A prodigal son, then? Parbleu, I must make him pay in advance."
"Sir," said the landlord, knocking at the door of Germain's room, andthen stepping in rather freely, "I regret to tell you that it is therule in Fontainebleau for travellers to pay in advance."
"How much?" replied Germain, pulling out a purse full of pistoles.
The rascal was taken aback.
"I was about to say," said he, retreating, "that though such is therule, I am making of your honour an exception."
And he disappeared to further correct his speculations upon the visitor."Some little spendthrift of the provinces, I wager," was his nextconclusion. He instructed the senior stable-boy to go in and light threecandles, and chalked up the guest for nine. He also began to concoct hisbill. The household thenceforth took small liberties with Lecour'sorders.
Next day the landlord, when Monsieur was about to mount the handsomesthorse which could be hired in the town, again quitted his post ofobservation at the pot-room window and advanced. He knew the animal andits saddlery; his suave smile reappeared, and his back bent a little ashe noticed with the eye of an expert Germain's ease in his seat.
"Monsieur desires to see the Court, no doubt? He knows, perhaps, that itdoes not arrive till Thursday?"
"Indeed. Tell me about the doings of the Court. I have never heard aboutit."
A triumphant, hard expression came over Boniface's visage. He looked upat his guest, straightened himself, turned his back, and went into thehouse.
"What," he muttered, "I, the entertainer of counts of twenty quarteringsand the neighbour of a king--am I to have a plebeian in my house sopeasant that he ignores the topic of _all_ society? He shall feel thathe does not impose on Fontainebleau."
Germain's apartment, situated in front of the house, consisted of tworooms fitted up with some elegance, and both looking out upon themarket-place and church. He was now told that these quarters wereengaged by "persons of quality to whom Monsieur would doubtless giveplace in the usual manner." He submitted without protest, and accepteduncomplainingly the inferior chamber assigned to him on the courtyard inthe rear.
The little town shortly began to fill with liveliness and tradesmen. Afine carriage drove up before the inn, its horses ridden by postillions,and followed by two mounted grooms. Three young noblemen, brothers, ofan exceedingly handsome type, alighted. The keeper of the "Holy Ghost"and his two rows of servants grovelled before them in a body andconducted them to the best suites within, including that taken fromGermain.
It was next morning that the latter met de Bailleul.
His host now placed the final insult upon him. At dinner he motioned himroughly to sit at the table of the rustics.
Germain refused; he was paying for better.
The landlord angrily resisted. The Canadian, now aroused, for he saw atlast the intention to slight him, stopped, laid his hand significantlyon the hilt of his sword, and looked at the man. That motion in thosedays had but one meaning. He was let alone.
Within an hour the coach of the Chevalier drove in for him and hisbaggage. The sycophant recognised the arms on the panel and collapsed.Yet that hour's reflection on the innkeeper's conduct woke Lecour to thepower of rank in old Europe.