"But, pagan, idolater that you are, do you not know that gluttony is perhaps the most abominable of the seven capital sins?"
"In the first place, abbé, I pray you do not calumninate like that the seven capital sins, but speak of them with the deference which is their due. I have found them profoundly respected in general and in particular."
"Indeed, it is not only gluttony that he glorifies,—he pushes his paradox to the glorification of the seven capital sins!"
"Yes, dear abbé, all the seven, considered from a certain point of view."
"That is monomania."
"Will you be convinced, abbé?"
"Of what?"
"Of the possible excellence,—of the conditional existence of the worldly and philosophical excellence of the seven capital sins."
"Really, doctor, do you take me for a child?"
"Give me your evening on the twentieth of November; you will be convinced."