Wolflure Author:Agnes Castle Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III THE LAST OP THE RUFFELEUS THREE minutes later I entered Rozac, and cast down my knapsack on the stone bench outside its unique hostelry. "A ... more »la Rose d'Or"; the sign had a noble enough claim; but, as my informant had warned me, the low-eaved, chalk- built tumbledown place gave but poor promise of entertainment. Mine host was standing at the door, blocking the way. He eyed me attentively as I explained my requirements. "The gentleman, I perceive, is a stranger," he remarked ; by which word he implied that I was not a countryman of France. "Yes," I answered a little testily, for he seemed to ignore my inquiry for refreshment, "and one that is very tired and very hungry." "The fact is," said the man, looking back into the house, and jerking his head as if to beckon to someone from within, "that the rooms—well, you see, we mostly have only such people as carriers, packmen, or shepherds stopping here. A person of your quality—for one can see that with half an eye—will find it pretty bad. But I think I can propose something better. Here is M. Loura- dour who will bear me out. It is just a piece of luck that he happened to be calling for some trout. He has, infact, bought my last. M. Louradour," he went on, as a round, gray-headed, clean-shaven man, dressed in rather shabby, dark-green livery, made his appearance in the doorway, "is the maitre d'hotel to Monsieur le comte— seigneur of this place, as I may inform you." The newcomer bowed in an exuberant style that delighted me; it was quaint amid such surroundings. "For centuries," he said, in a rolling Gascon brogue, "for centuries, oh, beyond counting! there has always lived at our Caste-Rozac, a comte de Ruffeleu-Rozac. Ah," he added, glancing at the innkeeper with a smile of self-importance, "I see th...« less