"What was all that green mess in the dish?" asked his wife.
"The saints know," groaned the common-councilman. "Perhaps it's the fashion here to cook frogs in their own rushes."
Up came the waiter with another dish, that attentive functionary observing that the Monsieur Anglais ate nothing. A solid piece of meat, with little white ends sticking out of it, rising out of another bed of green. "Oseille" is much favoured in these parts of France.
"Whatever's this?" ejaculated the common-councilman, eyeing the dish with wondering suspicion. "It's as much like a porkipine as anything I ever saw. What d'ye call it?" rapping the edge of the dish as before.
"Foie-de-veau lardé, à l'oseille, monsieur."
The common-councilman was as wise as before, and sat staring at it.
"It can't be frogs, David, this can't," suggested Mrs. Dundyke, "it is too large and solid; and I don't think it's any foreign animal. It looks to me like veal. Veal, waiter?" she asked, appealingly.
"Oui, madame," was the answer, at a venture.
"And the green stuff round it is spinach, of course. Veal and spinach, my dear."