France -- History -- Revolution, 1789-1799 -- Fiction; Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 -- Fiction
these monuments forty centuries are watching you!’ On my honor, my lord,
I long to meet a windmill this moment that I might tilt against it.”
And Roland, bursting into his accustomed laugh, dragged Sir John in the
direction of the château. But Sir John stopped him and asked: “Is there
nothing else to see in the city except the church?”
“Formerly, my lord,” replied Roland, “before they made a hay-loft of
it, I should have asked you to come down with me into the vaults of
the Dukes of Savoy. We could have hunted for that subterranean passage,
nearly three miles long, which is said to exist there, and which,
according to these rumors, communicates with the grotto of Ceyzeriat.
Please observe, I should never offer such a pleasure trip except to an
Englishman; it would have been like a scene from your celebrated Anne
Radcliffe in the ‘Mysteries of Udolpho.’ But, as you see, that is
impossible, so we will have to be satisfied with our regrets. Come.”
“Where are we going?”
“Faith, I don’t know. Ten years ago I should have taken you to the farms
where they fatten pullets. The pullets of Bresse, you must know, have a
European reputation. Bourg was an annex to the great coop of Strasburg.
But during the Terror, as you can readily imagine, these fatteners of
poultry shut up shop. You earned the reputation of being an aristocrat
if you ate a pullet, and you know the fraternal refrain: ‘Ah, ça ira, ça
ira--the aristocrats to the lantern!’ After Robespierre’s downfall
they opened up again; but since the 18th of Fructidor, France has been
commanded to fast, from fowls and all. Never mind; come on, anyway.
In default of pullets, I can show you one thing, the square where
they executed those who ate them. But since I was last in the town the
streets have changed their names. I know the way, but I don’t know the
names.”
“Look here!” demanded Sir John; “aren’t you a Republican?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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