Dijon (for instance) might get paid for some of his pot-boiling work, or else an old friend would pass through Paris; and then I would be entertained to a meal after my own soul, and contract a Latin Quarter loan, which would keep me in tobacco and my morning coffee for a fortnight.

It might be thought the latter would appear the more important.

It might be supposed that a life, led so near the confines of actual famine, should have dulled the nicety of my palate.

On the contrary, the poorer a man's diet, the more sharply is he set on dainties.

The last of my ready cash, about thirty francs, was deliberately squandered on a single dinner; and a great part of my time when I was alone was passed upon the details of imaginary feasts.
One gleam of hope visited me--an order for a bust from a rich Southerner.