The Pont du Gard Inn
The Pont du Gard Inn A small roadside inn is located midway between Beaucaire and Bellegarde, slightly nearer to Beaucaire, on the left side of the post road with its back to the Rhône. A sheet of tin depicting the Pont du Gard creaks and flaps in the wind at its entrance. The inn also has a modest garden on the side opposite the main entrance, reserved for guests.
The Barren Surroundings
The Barren Surroundings The garden contains a few sickly olive and fig trees with withered, dusty foliage, struggling against the harsh climate. A scanty supply of garlic, tomatoes, and eschalots grows between the shrubs, and a lone tall pine stands like a forgotten sentinel in one corner. All trees bend in the direction of the Mistral wind. The surrounding plain resembles a dusty lake, scattered with sparse wheat stalks, each serving as a perch for a strident grasshopper, creating an Egyptian scene.
The Inn’s Decline
The Inn’s Decline For about seven or eight years, the tavern has been kept by a man and his wife with two servants, a chambermaid named Trinette and a hostler called Pecaud. A new canal between Beaucaire and Aiguemortes has revolutionized transportation, substituting boats for carts and stagecoaches. This canal, situated between the Rhône and the depleted post road, not a hundred steps from the inn, has inflicted daily misery and is fast accomplishing the ruin of the unfortunate innkeeper.
Caderousse the Innkeeper
Caderousse the Innkeeper The innkeeper is a tall, strong, bony man of forty to fifty-five years old, a perfect specimen of southern native stock. He has dark, sparkling, deep-set eyes, a hooked nose, and white teeth like a carnivorous animal. His thick, curly hair and beard show only a few silvery threads despite his age. His dark complexion has darkened further from standing at his doorstep from morning to evening under the burning sun, his head wrapped in a red handkerchief Spanish-muleteer style. This man is Gaspard Caderousse, an old acquaintance.
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