“The bar man was an American who could mix a cocktail, and so we drank to the old flag and went to our dinner. The wine at the place is excellent.
“After dinner we walked up to the village with an American to whom I was introduced, and he took us to a very comfortable place where the cognac was good, very good, and we sampled it several times.
“If there is a place on earth where the alcohol appetite can be cured it is here.
“On the way down the main street of the village we stopped in another place like the first one, for the purpose of seeing whether there was any difference in cognac.
“There are superior facilities for getting away from rum at this place.
“There is a museum in the village which has a smoking room attached, which we visited that evening. The cognac was better than at the first place.
“To have the vile stuff out of reach is a great help to the struggling victim of strong drink.
“What we would call a drug store in America was the next place we visited, to have some prescriptions filled, and the proprietor, an Englishman, insisted upon our tasting some very old brandy he kept for medicinal purposes.