But a word with you in all gravity. We face a situation unparalleled. It is not with pigs' trotters and sour kraut that we can raise this new ministry to a sense of national dignity. None knows better than you the elevating influence of cultivated fare. It is with truffled quails or a turbot boiled in wine that we will strike the proper note."
"On this new budget you allow me!" exclaimed the chef. "Absurd! Besides I thought it best to refrain from fish. It might be considered an allusion."
"You, who are master of your art, will know best how to proceed," said Romsteck tactfully. "Strike terror into their hearts with the delicacy of your cuisine. It is the subtlest form of revenge."
"It is true," said the chef, "that my truffled quails au basilic, and a Strasbourg pâté in the shape of a prostrate nymph, did much to mollify the tyrants from Geneva. I attribute it to that pâté that we were not annexed to Jugoslavia."
