To them their stomach is the Holy Ghost; consequently, the great point is to tack and veer round that particular sin, never to commit it, while only just avoiding it, and not depriving themselves in the least.

What eloquence they will pour out on me to convince me of the penitential quality of water-fowl.
"During Lent they are possessed with the idea of giving dinners, and rack their brains to provide a lenten meal in which there is no meat, though it would be supposed that there was; and then come interminable discussions as to teal, wild duck, and cold-blooded birds.

They should consult a naturalist and not a priest on such cases of conscience.
"As to Holy Week, that is another affair; the mania for water-birds gives way to a hankering for the _Charlotte Russe_.

May they, without offence to God, enjoy a _Charlotte_?
There are eggs in it, to be sure, but so whipped and scourged that the dish is almost ascetic; culinary explanations are poured into my ear, the confessional becomes a kitchen, and the priest might be a master-cook.
"But as to the general sin of greediness, they hardly admit that they are guilty of it.

Is it not so, my dear colleague ?" The Abbe Gevresin nodded assent.