With such a profusion of
good things, it may appear surprising that Sir Francis should find very
little to eat; but the attendants all seemed in league against him, and
whenever he set his eye upon a dish, it was sure to be placed out of
reach. Sir Francis was a great epicure, and the Thames salmon looked
delicious; but he would have failed in obtaining a slice of it, if his
neighbour (the young man who had made room for him) had not given him
the well-filled trencher intended for himself. In the same way he
secured the wing of a boiled capon, larded with preserved lemons, the
sauce of which was exquisite, as he well knew, from experience. Cyprien,
however, took care he should get none of the turkey poults, or the
florentines, but whipped off both dishes from under his very nose; and a
like fate would have attended a lumbar pie but for the interference of
his good-natured neighbour, who again came to his aid, and rescued it
from the clutches of the saucy Gascon, just as it was being borne away.
CHAPTER IV.
A Star-Chamber victim.
His hunger being somewhat stayed, Sir Francis now found leisure to
consider the young man who had so greatly befriended him, and, as a
means of promoting conversation between them, began by filling his glass
from a flask of excellent Bordeaux, of which, in spite of Cyprien's
efforts to prevent him, he had contrived to gain possession. The young
man acknowledged his courtesy with a smile, praised the wine, and
expressed his astonishment at the wonderful variety and excellence of
the repast, for which he said he was quite unprepared.
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