"You have had no disputes on the road, have you," said Madame, taking hold of the skirt of my habit and shaking it, to ascertain its weight.
"Very well, then you won't dispute with me; where are you going?"
"Is your husband your age?" This time raising her flambeau under the rim of my hat, so as to blind me.
"How many?" asked the indefatigable landlady.
"I can't tell exactly at this moment," I said, getting tired, as I never before saw so much curiosity lodged in one fat human being.
"Not tell; you must know his age; is he thirty, thirty-five, thirty-eight; where is he?"
"In the stable, and I dare say ready for dinner."
The hint took her to the door, but I unhappily undid the valise, and she rushed back to the table and asked what was in it. I answered rather impatiently, that she had better wait while I unpacked it, so she took me at my word, and when it was quite empty said, "bien," and went away. The air was insupportable; but for this there would have been little to complain of, for the people are civil,--the landlady's inquisitiveness, perhaps, excepted,--and the cooking excellent. I imagine the unusual light dinner they served us might be accounted for, by our arriving so late; we commenced dining to the sound of a sweet chime, which was the Angelus ringing in Savoy. To sleep was out of the question; for as I told you, the post stables were on a level with us, and over our heads was lodged a commis voyageur, who started at daybreak. D---- saw his saddle and portmanteaux, weighing altogether three hundred pounds! The landlord strove hard to induce us to stay; we are driven out to breathe. Madame, who peeped into my room before I was up this morning, came to inquire, "whether I kept a regular note of expenses along the road, as everybody ought." Monsieur praised the excursions within the reach of horse travellers; but the inn stable, large and handsome as it is, is choked at its entrance by heaps of rotting manure, and into it is emptied all the kitchen refuse. I mounted Fanny in a hurry, for close to me in the yard were two enormous tubs of water, into which a man was emptying (there to take their breakfast) bags full of leeches, which arrived last night en poste! I should think no other animal would feel an appetite here.