Alfred; or, The Adventures of a French Gentleman — page 150: what you’re looking at

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OF A FRENCH GENTLEMAN. 123 ful bow, and stood staring like an owl on his benefactor; till at length De Rosann was obliged to turn away, to avoid bursting out into a violent fit of laughter. Champignon followed our hero to the dairy, and wished both him and Belle-Rose a prosperous jour- ney, with tears in his eyes, adding, ‘ that the next time they met, he hoped to have the pleasure of cooking them a dish of his newly- invented cutlets.” CHAPTER XVII. THE MYSTERIOUS PAPERS, ArRIvED at St. Malo, De Rosann and Belle-Rose bent their steps towards an inn of second-rate repute—it not being more usual in France than it is in England for foot-passengers to seek the prin- cipal hotels. The landlord was a civil and obliging man, and wil- lingly charged himself with the task of obtaining the necessary sig- natures to his guests’ passports at the town-hall. De Rosann then despatched a commisstonnaire or porter to procure cash for his bills on the merchant’s house which Mr. Clayton had indicated ; while Belle-Rose indulged in the refreshing luxury of a bath, where he amused himself with a bowl of rich soup called consommée.* The reader may readily suppose that Alfred was dying with curiosity once more to examine the mysterious papers of which he had lately become possessed in so miraculous a manner ; and the longer he was.deprived of a proper opportunity, the greater became his impatience to investigate their contents—a_ proceed- ing to which he had entirely reconciled his conscience, by means of the following arguments. “Tf,” said he to himself, “I preserve these documents un- touched till I have an opportunity of advertising them in the public journals, or of making inquiries in the metropolis and principal towns of France, relative to the existence of an heir to the name and estates of the late Marquis of Denneville, I may keep them for years in my possession, and then eventually have done no good. If I read them, they may probably furnish me with some clue to discover whether there be a living scion’ of the ancient family, or whether the race of Denneville be en- tirely extinct. It is therefore my duty to take cognizance of papers which the hand of Providence has apparently thrown in my way; and I will act according to their contents.” These just and proper reflections, decided our hero to peruse the documents in question; and when the porter returned, with notes of the bank of France for a thousand francs each, in lieu of the ef- fects that had been placed in his hands, De Rosann desired to be shown to a bed-room, under pretence of taking an hour’s repose; and having carefully locked the door, he seated himself at a table, on * A common custom in France. ECORNICLOOOKS.€©