The French judicial system seems to demand perpetual judicial
inquiries (enquetes) in little country places. M. Ducros invited
me to accompany him, the President, and the "Substitut" on one of
these enquetes, and these three, with their tremendous spirits,
their perpetual jokes, and above all with their delightful gaiete
francaise, amused me so enormously, that I jumped at a second
invitation. So it came about in time, that I invariably
accompanied them, and when we started in the shabby old one-horse
cabriolet soon after 7 a.m., "notre ami le petit Angliche" was
always perched on the box. My suspicions may be unfounded, but I
somehow think that these enquetes were conducted not so much on
account of legal exigencies as for the gastronomic possibilities
at the end of the journey, for all our inquiries were made in
little towns celebrated for some local chef. These three merry
bons-vivants revelled in the pleasures of the table, and on our
arrival at our destinations, before the day's work was entered
upon, there were anxious and even heated discussions with "Papa
Charron," "Pere Vinay," or whatever the name of the local artist
might be, as to the comparative merits of truffles or olives as an
accompaniment to a filet, or the rival claims of mushrooms or
tunny-fish as a worthy lining of an omelet.
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