The hill, situated amid plains of vast extent and teeming with game, was often honored by the sojourn of noblemen of the province, who assembled to hunt the hare and to dine or sup at the sign of the Geault-Rouge.
This will explain the fact that an inn so small, situated so near a large town that it could not hope to entertain wealthy travellers, possessed in the person of Master Pignoux, landlord of the Geault-Rouge, a cook of the rarest excellence.
When the gentlemen of the neighborhood indulged in the sport of fishing in the ponds of Thevet, they always sent in haste for Master Pignoux, who would come with his wife, set up his canteen on the water's edge, and serve them, under some lovely arbor, those marvellous matelotes[6]—they were then called étuvées—which had made his reputation. He also went about to the towns and châteaux near by, for wedding and other festivals, and, it was said, could have taught Monsieur le Prince's master cooks a thing or two.
The Geault-Rouge was a solidly built structure, of two high stories, covered with tiles of a brilliant red which could be seen a league away. Through the influence of the noblemen of the neighborhood, Master Pignoux had obtained permission to put a vane on his roof, a privilege of the nobility to which he declared that he was entitled, as he so often had occasion to entertain the nobility. The incessant shrill shrieking of that vane, which seemed to be the objective point of all the winds of the plain, blended with the perpetual creaking of the great iron sign representing the Geault-Rouge in its glory, which swung haughtily at the end of a staff projecting from a window on the second floor.
Opposite the house, on the other side of the road, was a very large thatch-covered stable, and long sheds for the accommodation of the retinues by whom the noble sportsmen were commonly attended. The inn itself was specially reserved for the nobles themselves.
Everyone knows that in those days inns were distinguished as hostelleries, gîtes and repues. The gîtes gave special attention to providing lodging for the night, the repues to furnishing dinner for travellers; the latter were wretched taverns where well-to-do people stopped only in default of some better place, and where they were sometimes fed upon crow, ass's meat, and Sancerre eels, that is to say, snakes. The gîtes, on the contrary, were often very sumptuous.
Inns were also divided into those for people on foot and those for people on horseback. One could take two meals there. On the sign of the Geault-Rouge were these words, in huge letters:
HOSTELRY LICENSED BY THE KING
and below:
DINNER FOR MOUNTED TRAVELLERS, 12 SOLS;
LODGING FOR THE SAME, 20 SOLS