The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1894-12-08
THE JUDGES TROUT.
Why He Fed 1t to the Charcoal
Burners Daughter.

| Why He Fed 1t to the Charcoal
Burners Daughter.
''Scholastique!'
M. Sourdat.''
Take the utmost pains in cooking
the trout short boil, white wine.
parsley, thyme. laurel, oil and onions
! in full strcngth.'
! functions to his cook, Judge Sourdat
| crossed the chief street of Maryville
| with alert steps and gained the palais
de justice, which was situated back
of the Sous prefecture. Judge Sourdat
was about forty-five years of age;
very active. notwithstanding ten
| dency to stoutness; square of
squeaking voice and a round, close
shaver head; eyes gray, clear and
hard under bushy eyebrows; mouth
closely shut, with thin and irrita bic
lips; Drowned cheeks, surrounded
with vvhiskers badly trimmed; in fact,
one says: HE can't be good every
day" And surely he was not very
kind, and he boosted of it. despot,
he used all of his little realm in the
palais. Hard as stone toward the
guilty. rough with the witnesses. ag-
gressive with the advocates, he was a
veritable furnace who famed himself
constantly into a glow. He was feared
like the fire, and he was loved very
little.
HoweveriAhis man of iron had two
vulncrable9de Firstly. he responded
to the paS&Oral name OF Hemorln.
which expS led him to ridicule' and
| secondly, Il was a gourmand, and
gave pointss to Brillat Savarin. His
gastronomy, which was profound. had
become a mania.
It was lie who imagined that to
plunge shelltish into boiling water be-
fore cooking them in their ordinary
dressing gave them richness and vel
vety SAVIOR particularly exquisite. On
the day when he taught that latest re-
fnement to the priest of St Victor the
latter could not help blushing. and
raising his puffy hands to heaven he
cried: TOO much! This is too much.
Judge Sourdat! Assuredly it is per-
mitted to taste with discretion the
good things which divine wisdom has
provided, but such sensuality as this
borders upon mortal sin, and you will
have to render account for it to the
good God.''
To the scruples of the excellent
priest the judge responded with a mis-
anthropic laugh. 1t was one of his
malign joys to expose his neighbors to
temptation, and this very morning the
priest was to breakfast with him, the
recorder being the only other guest.
ing before a two-pound salmon trout
taken from the beautiful clear water
of the rocky Semois. 1t was his IA
vorite fish, and had fully occupied the
first hours of his morning. He had
demonstrated to the cook the superior
ing in Geneva or Holland sauce of the
books The trout must be served cold
and in the seasoning in which it was
cooked.
This was with him a principle as
| we'll a dogma. as indispen sable as
an article of the penal CODE He con-
tinued to repeat it to himself after
having clothed himself in his robe and
taken his seat, though he was turning
over the leaves of a document bearing
upon an important case now pending.
This was a criminal affair, the dra-
matte details of which contrasted
singularly with the epicurian specula-
tions which persisted in haunting the
Uranium of Judge Sourt;at.
The case was thus: During the pre-
| vious week at sunrise there had been
found in the thiclSct of forest the
body of a gamekeeper, who had evil
IDENTIFY been assassinated and then con-
cealed among the brambles of a ditch.
1t was supposed that the crime had
been committed by some strolling
poacher, but up to the present time
there had been ELECTED no precise evil
dence and the witnesses examined had
only made the mystery deeper.
The murder had taken place near the
frontier, where charcoal burners were
at work. The suspicious of the Judge
had, therefore, been directed toward
them. The dispositions thus far had
revealed that On the iCht OF the MUIR
der these people had been absent from
their shanty and the furnaces had re-
NAMED in the care of q young daugh-
ter Of the charcoal burner.
Toward ten o'clock the door of his
cabinet opened, framing the cooked
hat and yellow shoulder belt of the
| constable.
'.Eh! vell?'' grunted the judge.
:Eh! we'll, judge, cannot find the
girl. She has disappeared. The char.
coal burners pretend utter ignorance
The Judge consulted his watch. The
business was at a standstil1; the case
could not be called, and he wished to
rive q glance of oversight to the mat
ters of the dining-room before the ar
rival of his guests He disrobed him
self and hurried home.
The pleasant dining-room, bright
.ned by the June sunshine, presented
most attractive aspect, with its
white woodwork, its gray curtains, its
aigh stove of blue faience with its
marble top. and its round table COW
cred with a dazzling white linen cloth,
| upon which were placed three covers
lrtisticat]y trimmed.
This spectacle softened the ill-humor
| IF the Judge, and he was calming lit