November — The Weasel Described. 31 



of an adolescent. The eyes were like the eyes of a wild 

 animal, quite clear and brilliant, but unpleasantly rapid 

 in their movements. He spoke in the most good- 

 humored manner, and after the first quarter of an hour 

 became extremely polite to us. ' Would we not accept 

 something to eat ? he would do what he could for our 

 entertainment.' Having kept a little inn some years 

 before, he confessed to some skill in cookery, and pro- 

 duced as a specimen of it a large earthen pan filled with 

 civet de lievre. He had wine, too, rather rough to the 

 palate, but sound — vin du pays, grown in a little ex- 

 perimental vineyard on the outskirts of the forest, with 

 sufficiently good soil and a southern aspect, but much 

 too high above the level of the sea for any delicacy of 

 flavor. There were goats' cheeses of his own making, 

 which were excellent ; and to conclude, he gave us 

 coffee and a dram of genievre, which consisted of brandy 

 made from pressed grapes, in which he had steeped 

 berries from the juniper bushes that abounded in the 

 forest. These luxuries, and the cigarettes he smoked 

 with us afterwards, were quite enough to prove that 

 the Weasel did not really and truly belong to the class 

 of woodcutters by his habits (for they live like ascetics), 

 nor did he appear in the least anxious to go to his daily 

 labor. His earlier life as an innkeeper, and his fre- 

 quent visits to the city, where he ate in the kitchens of 

 his patrons, had given him a taste for good living, which 

 may have been one of the incentives to his career as a 

 braconnier. 



It became evident in the course of our conversation 



