The Golden Lion of Granpere | Page 8

his well-doing.
CHAPTER II.
Exactly at eight o'clock every evening a loud bell was sounded in the
hotel of the Lion d'Or at Granpere, and all within the house sat down
together to supper. The supper was spread on a long table in the saloon
up-stairs, and the room was lighted with camphine lamps,- -for as yet
gas had not found its way to Granpere. At this meal assembled not only
the guests in the house and the members of the family of the
landlord,--but also many persons living in the village whom it suited to
take, at a certain price per month, the chief meal of the day, at the
house of the innkeeper, instead of eating in their own houses a more
costly, a less dainty, and probably a lonely supper. Therefore when the
bell was heard there came together some dozen residents of Granpere,
mostly young men engaged in the linen trade, from their different
lodgings, and each took his accustomed seat down the sides of the long
board, at which, tied in a knot, was placed his own napkin. At the top
of the table was the place of Madame Voss, which she never failed to
fill exactly three minutes after the bell had been rung. At her right hand
was the chair of the master of the house,--never occupied by any one
else;--but it would often happen that some business would keep him
away. Since George had left him he had taken the timber into his own
hands, and was accustomed to think and sometimes to say that the
necessity was cruel on him. Below his chair and on the other side of
Madame Voss there would generally be two or three places kept for
guests who might be specially looked upon as the intimate friends of
the mistress of the house; and at the farther end of the table, close to the

window, was the space allotted to travellers. Here the napkins were not
tied in knots, but were always clean. And, though the little plates of
radishes, cakes, and dried fruits were continued from one of the tables
to the other, the long-necked thin bottles of common wine came to an
end before they reached the strangers' portion of the board; for it had
been found that strangers would take at that hour either tea or a better
kind of wine than that which Michel Voss gave to his accustomed
guests without any special charge. When, however, the stranger should
please to take the common wine, he was by no means thereby
prejudiced in the eyes of Madame Voss or her husband. Michel Voss
liked a profit, but he liked the habits of his country almost as well.
One evening in September, about twelve months after the departure of
George, Madame Voss took her seat at the table, and the young men of
the place who had been waiting round the door of the hotel for a few
minutes, followed her into the room. And there was M. Goudin, the
Cure, with another young clergyman, his friend. On Sundays the Cure
always dined at the hotel at half-past twelve o'clock, as the friend of the
family; but for his supper he paid, as did the other guests. I rather fancy
that on week days he had no particular dinner; and indeed there was no
such formal meal given in the house of Michel Voss on week days.
There was something put on the table about noon in the little room
between the kitchen and the public window; but except on Sundays it
could hardly be called a dinner. On Sundays a real dinner was served in
the room up-stairs, with soup, and removes, and entrees and the roti, all
in the right place,--which showed that they knew what a dinner was at
the Lion d'Or;--but, throughout the week, supper was the meal of the
day. After M. Goudin, on this occasion, there came two maiden ladies
from Epinal who were lodging at Granpere for change of air. They
seated themselves near to Madame Voss, but still leaving a place or
two vacant. And presently at the bottom of the table there came an
Englishman and his wife, who were travelling through the country; and
so the table was made up. A lad of about fifteen, who was known in
Granpere as the waiter at the Lion d'Or, looked after the two strangers
and the young men, and Marie Bromar, who herself had arranged the
board, stood at the top of the room, by a second table, and dispensed
the soup. It was pleasant to watch her eyes, as she marked the moment

when the dispensing should begin, and counted her guests, thoughtful
as to the sufficiency of the dishes to come; and noticed that Edmond