{"product_id":"2940013696570","title":"Sir Percy Hits Back","description":"On the spot where the Hotel Moderne now rears its more ambitous head,\u003cbr\u003ethere stood at that time a cottage with sloping red-tiled roof and\u003cbr\u003ewhite-washed walls. It was owned by one Baptiste Portal, an old\u003cbr\u003epeasant of the Dauphine, who dispensed refreshments to travellers and\u003cbr\u003epassers-by, as his father and grandfather had done before him, in the\u003cbr\u003eshape of somewhat thin vin du pays and an occasional glass of eau-de-\u003cbr\u003evie, while he spent his slack time chiefly in grumbling at the fact\u003cbr\u003ethat the new posting-inn on the high road had taken all his trade\u003cbr\u003eaway. He did not see the necessity of the posting-inn, did not old\u003cbr\u003eBaptiste, nor for that matter that of the high-road or the post-\u003cbr\u003echaise. Before all these new notions had come into the heads of the\u003cbr\u003egovernment people up in Paris, travellers had been content to come\u003cbr\u003esquelching through the mud on the back of a good horse, or come\u003cbr\u003eploughing through inches of dust in the old coche. So why not now? And\u003cbr\u003ewas not the old wine of Les Amandiers as good and better than the\u003cbr\u003evinegar dispensed at the more pretentious posting-inn? The place was\u003cbr\u003ecalled Les Amandiers because at the back of the house there were two\u003cbr\u003eanaemic almond-trees with gaunt, twisted arms which covered themselves\u003cbr\u003ein the spring with sickly blooms, and in the summer with dust. In the\u003cbr\u003efront of the house, up against the white-washed wall, there was a\u003cbr\u003ewooden bench on which Baptiste's priveleged customers were wont to sit\u003cbr\u003eon fine evenings, to drink their vin du pays and join the old man in\u003cbr\u003ehis wholesale condemnation of the goverment \"up in Paris\" and its new-\u003cbr\u003efangled ways. From this vantage-point a glorious view was obtained\u003cbr\u003eover the valley of the Bueche, and beyond Laragne as far as the peaks\u003cbr\u003eof Pelvoux: whilest to the right towered in the distance the grand old\u003cbr\u003ecitadel of Sisteron with its turets and fortifications dating from the\u003cbr\u003efourteenth century, and the stately church of Notre Dame. But views\u003cbr\u003eand winding rivers, snowy peaks, and medieval fortresses did not\u003cbr\u003einterest Baptiste Portal's customers nearly as much as the price of\u003cbr\u003ealmonds or the alarming increase in the cost of living.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow, on this particular afternoon in May the mistral was blowing\u003cbr\u003emercilessly across the valley from over the snows of Pelvoux, and the\u003cbr\u003ecold and the dust had driven all of good Portal's customers indoors.\u003cbr\u003eThe low-raftered room, decorated with strings of onions which hung\u003cbr\u003efrom the ceiling together with a bunch or two of garlic, of basil and\u003cbr\u003eother pot-herbs, and perfumed also with the aroma of the pot-au-feu\u003cbr\u003esimmering in the kitchen, had acquired just that right atmosphere,\u003cbr\u003ecosy, warm, and odorous, beloved of every true man born in the\u003cbr\u003eDauphine. It was a memorable afternoon, remembered long afterwards and\u003cbr\u003eretold by the gossips of Sisteron and Laragne in all its dramatic\u003cbr\u003edetails. But at this hour, nothing more dramatic had occurred than the\u003cbr\u003earrival of a detachment of soldiers, under the command of an under-\u003cbr\u003eofficer, who had come up from Orange, so they said, in order to fetch\u003cbr\u003eaway the young men who were wanted for the army. They had demanded\u003cbr\u003esupper and shelter for the night.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOf course soldiers, as soldiers, were very much disapproved of by\u003cbr\u003ethose worthies of Sisteron who frequented Les Amandiers, more\u003cbr\u003eespecially now when what they did was to fetch away the young men for\u003cbr\u003ecannon-fodder, to fight the English and prolong this awful war which\u003cbr\u003ecaused food to be so dear and hands for harvesting so scarce. But, on\u003cbr\u003ethe other hand, soldiers, as company, were welcome. They brought news\u003cbr\u003eof the outside world, most of it bad, it is true--nothing good did\u003cbr\u003ehappen anywhere these days--but news nevertheless. And though at the\u003cbr\u003erecital of what went on in Paris, in Lyons, or even as near as Orange,\u003cbr\u003ethe guillotine, the tumbrils, the wholesale slaughter of tyrants and\u003cbr\u003earistos, one shuddered with horror and apprehension, there were always\u003cbr\u003ethe lively tales of barrack-life to follow, the laughter, the ribald\u003cbr\u003esong, and something of life seemed to infiltrate into this sleepy\u003cbr\u003ehalf-dead corner of the old Dauphine.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe soldiers--there were a score of them--occupied the best place in\u003cbr\u003ethe room, as was only fitting; they sat squeezed tightly against one\u003cbr\u003eanother like dried figs in a box, on the two benches on either side of\u003cbr\u003ethe centre trestle table. Old Baptiste Portal sat with them, beside\u003cbr\u003ethe officer. Some kind of lieutenant this man appeared to be, or other\u003cbr\u003esubaltern: but, oh dear me! these days one could hardly tell an\u003cbr\u003eofficer from the rag-tab and bob-tail of the army, save for the fact\u003cbr\u003ethat he wore epaulettes. Now this man--but there! What was the use of\u003cbr\u003ecomparing these ruffians with the splendid officers of the King's\u003cbr\u003earmies in the past?","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47152727097584,"sku":"2940013696570","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013696570_p0.jpg?v=1763584513","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013696570","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}