"What matters the number of dishes," said Jacob. "Yet the prohibition has produced good results, because it has set a limit to gormandizing."
"If you only knew, dear friend," said Simon, "what a savour there is in a sausage! A wealthy proprietor of Volhynie, although originally an Israelite, ate them to satiety, and afterward said: 'I stuff myself with sausages, for I eat them for myself and for my ancestors, who never tasted them during many generations.'"
"Truly," cried Henri, "the conversation takes an agreeable turn, thanks to sausages."
Mann, wearied with the lamentations of Jacob and the jests of Simon, started a new subject.
"Has any one here," asked he, "been at the house of Count A. Z. lately?"
The count was a person whose popularity increased daily, though it might be fleeting.
"I," responded the indefatigable Simon.
"And you were received?"
"Why not?"
"Very well. What did he say?"