Then I discovered that there was no butter to be
had, and no milk; and when coffee was mentioned, a pan was brought out
for making that beverage, which a bullet-maker with any regard for
appearances would have declined to use for melting his lead in. Finally,
under the pressure of dire hunger, I returned to the mutton, and
contrived to swallow a small piece, the taste of which did not leave me
for four or five days.
The interior of the house, where the bedrooms were, gave forth an odour
which must be familiar to all who have burrowed in out-of-the-way places
in France, approaching more nearly, perhaps, to the smell of damp cocks
and hens than anything else; and the bedroom door was guarded by a huge
mis-shapen dog, which evidently intended to pass the night there, if it
could not get into the room itself. The street on to which the window
looked was still populous with the inhabitants of Die; and a man with
whom I had already had a conversation respecting the glaciere, who
appeared to perform some of the functions of landlord of the hotel, was
audibly engaged in hiring a man to accompany me on the following day.
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