You, however, must
aid me in this great work; in your hands, Signor Gianettino, lies a
considerable part of my triumph and my laurels. For what does it help
me, if the arrangements and decorations, if the whole establishment,
are excellent, should there be a failure in the highest and most sublime
part of the entertainment--in the food. The food, my dear sir, and a
well-ordered table, is the gist of a festival, and should there be the
least failure in that, the whole is profaned and desecrated, and must
be covered with a mourning-veil. Take my words to heart, signor; let
us have a table covered with food the mere odor of which shall set our
first gourmets in ecstatic astonishment, while its judicious arrangement
will give pleasure to the poetic mind! This is what I expect of you, and
if you succeed in satisfying my requirements, I am ready to reward your
exertions with fifty bottles of our best French wines."
Signor Gianettino returned his thanks with a pleasant, thoughtful smile,
and with a majestic step repaired to his boudoir, where he was seen for
a long time, walking back and forth in deep thought and with a wrinkled
brow. Then, stepping to his writing-table, he sketched the plan of this
inordinately great dinner, at first slowly and thoughtfully, and then
with constantly more and more fire and enthusiasm, carried away by the
greatness of the occasion, and animated by the importance of his mission
and his calling.
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