"Holà!" cried the officer, calling him back; "before you go give me a stoup of wine; none of your tarred vinegar of Toro, pardi, but good wine of Valdepenas, something with a tang. Ventrebleu! it’s a poor thing if an officer of the emperor, who has to feed an army, can’t get good food for himself." ("Ah!" thought Jack, "we have a commissary here. He ought to be worth something.") The trembling landlord set a goat-skin and a cup before the blusterous commissary, and hurried off to ransack his larder for something wherewith to appease his Gargantuan appetite. After two or three draughts of wine the big man appeared to be somewhat mollified. He threw more than one glance at Jack, as he strode up and down the room, objurgating the landlord’s sluggishness. To Jack’s amusement and surprise, the Spaniard returned in a very few minutes, bearing a steaming tureen of soup. "Would the Señor like his meal served in a private room?" he asked. "There is only my own sitting-room, with no fire at present, but if his excellency pleases a fire shall be lit, and—" "Tenez, tenez!" said the officer; "let me fill my stomach, in the public room here by the fire. I may want the private room by and by," he added pompously; "but meanwhile I have no objection to your guest being present." He glanced at Jack, who at once said, in his politest tones: "I shall be happy to retire if I am in the noble marquis’s way. Personal convenience must, of course, give way to the public service, and anyone can see that the noble marquis is a very high functionary." The deferential tone and the barefaced flattery conciliated the big man. Puffing himself out he said: "Not marquis yet, young man, not yet, though it may come—yes, it may come in time. Lefebvre is Duke of Dantzig: he rose from the ranks, and there’s no reason in the world why I, Gustave Taberne, shouldn’t be a marquis before long. Personal business, you say? Well, my business is wholly personal at present, since it consists in lining my not inconsiderable person, hein! But I don’t regard your company as an intrusion, monsieur; far from it; I welcome you heartily." Jack bowed his acknowledgments. Meanwhile the officer had begun to gulp his soup with no little noise, gobbling like a turkey-cock, as Jack described him afterwards. As his meal progressed he unbent still further. "You are almost the first of your cursed countrymen I’ve met who can speak tolerable French," he said. "Where did you learn it, young man?" "I picked up a little in Barcelona, your excellency," replied Jack, "but not till now have I had the opportunity of improving myself by conversation with an officer used to high society." "Ah! you know a galant homme when you see him. You have some sense, young man. Yes, I’m commissary-general to the Duke of Dantzig’s forces, and, parbleu! in the emperor’s service I spare no one, neither myself nor others. Ohé, landlord, bring the next course." The landlord brought in a number of dishes.