“For myself I had rather have of the bread, believing it to be the more substantial blessing.”
“Which proves, Benoit, that you speak without consideration. A fool and his loaf are soon parted, but a wise man has that within his head which will stock a bakery.”
“May it prove so with you, m’sieur.”
“A thousand thanks. But, to return to our muttons, how am I to use my brains to best advantage?”
“By considering the lives of the saints, m’sieur.”
“A pious answer, Benoit, but I seek to use them to more profitable account. When I am relieved of the immediate anxiety of prematurely meeting these personages, I shall doubtless be better able to direct my thoughts toward them.”
“I can only repeat, m’sieur, that in divine consideration lies the province of the brain. If it be the body you desire to profit, then, beyond doubt, it is your hands must seek employment.”
“But I have no skill of the hands, Benoit.”
“There is no great skill required, m’sieur, to carry a basket at Les Arles.”[[1]]
“I urge you, Benoit, to avoid words of folly. Am I of the fibre to lift crates from a market cart? And if I were, do you suppose I could adjust my intellect to so clumsy a calling?”