"
"We don't always allow them to fulfil that last condition," observed
Mr. Heard.
"I know we don't. That is precisely why we are so often poisoned or
starved, instead of being cheered with wholesome food."
"You were speaking of woman-cooks?" asked van Koppen.
"I was. But it stands to reason that no woman can be trusted with so
responsible a task--so sacred a mission, I ought to call it--in regions
south of Bordeaux or east of Vienna. Among many other reasons the whole
sex is too drowsy, outside that radius. And if she drinks a little--"
"Drinks a little?"
"If she drinks a little, why it is all to the good. It shows that she
is fully equipped on the other side of her dual nature. It proves that
she possesses the prime requisite of the artist; sensitiveness and a
capacity for enthusiasm. Indeed, I often doubt whether you will ever
derive well-flavoured victuals from the atelier of an individual who
honestly despises or fears--it is the same thing--the choicest gift of
God. Andrea, my man here, is abstemious to the last degree; not, I am
glad to say, from conviction or ill-health--it is the same thing--but
because he is incurably desirous of saving my money.
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