The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1894-10-12
The Trout.
"Scholastique!"

"Scholastique!'
Monsieur Sourdat!'
Take the utmost pains in cooking
the trout-short boil, white wine, pars-
ley, thyme, laurel, oil and onions, in
full strength"
care you not afriad to use all the
herbs of st. John, Monsieur"
"No,-and above all no vinegar,-just
q sprinkling Of lemon juice. Let the
cover be laid at half-past ten, and let
dinner be ready at eleven exactly,-not
at five minutes past eleven. Do you
hear?"
After having uttered these injunc-
tf0ns to his cook, Judge Sourdat crossed
the chief street of Marville with alert
steps and gained the Palais de Justice,
which was situated back of the Sous
Prefecture. Judge Sourdat was about
forty-fve years Of age; very active,
Notwithstanding a tendency to stout
ness; square of shoulders; short in
stature; with a squeaking voice and
q round, close-shaven head; eyes grey,
clear and hard, Under busy eyebrows;
mouth closely shut, with thin and
irritable lips; Drowned cheeks sur
rounded with whiskers badly trimmed
IN fact, one of those mastiff faces of
which one says, "He can't be good
every day" And surely he was not
very kind, and he boasted of it. A des-
pot, he used harshly all of his little
realm In the Palais. Hard as stone to-
ward the guilty, rough with the wit
nesses, aggressive with 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.
However, this man of iron had two
vulnerable sides. Firstly, he responded
to the pastoral name of Nemorin,
which exposed him to ridicule, and,
secondly, he was gourmand, and gave
points to Brillat Savarin. His gas
tronomy, which was profound, had be.
come q mania.
Living in a little, sleepy, narrow
city on the frontier Of the Belgian Ar
dennes, where the pleasures of the
table constituted the only diversion of
the easy bourgmasters, the culinary
accomplishments of the judge were
quoted for ten leagues around. It was
said that he ate only fish caught at the
break of day, because the repose OF
night and the absence of emotion rem
dered the flesh more delicate at that
time. 1t was he who imagined that tc
plunge shell-fish into boiling milk, be
fore cooking them in their ordinary
dressing, gave them a richness and q
velvety flavor particularly exquisite
On the day when he taught the latest
refinement to the priest of st Victor
the latter, who was always carried
away by his appetite, could not hell
blushing; and raising his puffy hands
to heaven, he cried, :Too much! This
is too much, Judge Sourdat! Assur
edly it is permitted to taste with des
cretion the good things which divine
providence has provided, but such
sensuality as this borders upon morta
sin, and you will have to render ar
account for it to the good God"
To the scruples of the excellen
priest, the judge responded with a mis-
anthropic laugh. 1t was one of hi.
malign joys to expose his neighbors tt
temptation, and this very morning tn,
priest was to breakfast with him, the
recorder being the only other guest
Judge Sourdat had received, the even
ing before, two-pound salmon trout
taken from the beautiful clear water
OF the rocky Semois. 1t was his fa
vorite fish, and had fully occupied tn.
first hours Of his morning. He hat
demonstrated to the cook the superior
ity of quick boil to the slow cookin;
in Geneva or Holland sauce of tn,
books. The trout must be served cold
and in the seasoning in which it wa.
cooked. This was with him a principle
as we'll as dogma, as Indispensable a.
an article of the penal code. He con
tinued to repeat it to himself ever
after he had clothed himself In hi
robe and taken his seat, though ht
was turning over the leaves of a doc
ument bearing upon an important cast
now pending.
This was criminal affair, the dram
attic details of which contrasted singu
1arly with the epicurean speculation,
which persisted in haunting the Gran
ium of Judge Sourdat.
The case was thus: During the pres
ent week at sunrise, there had beer
found in thicket of the forest thu
body of a game-keeper, who had evi
IDENTIFY been assassinated and concealed
among the brambles of a ditch. 1t wa,
supposed that the crime had been con,
mitted by some strolling poacher, bu
up to the present time there had beer
elected no precise evidence, and the
witnesses examined had only made
the mystery deeper. The murder hat
taken place near the frontier, where
charcoal burners were at work. The
suspicious of the judge had, therefore
been directed toward them. The depo
sitions thus far had revealed that OF
the night of the murder these people
had been absent from their shanty
and the furniture had remained in the
care of young daughter of the char
coal burner.
Nevertheless, Judge Sourdat had
given the order to re-examine one OF
the men, a stolid boy of twenty, who
had once had falling out with the
murdered guard; and the judge had