The lady in question wanted to have lunch with the young writer as she wanted to discuss with him one of the books he had
written. Though it was far beyond his means, the writer agreed as he did not quite know how to say no to her…
The lady (her name is not revealed) began by saying that she did not want anything to eat. But then she ordered salmon, followed it up with caviar, ordered some champagne as she claimed it was good for her digestion, asked for some asparagus, and was easily persuaded to round off the meal with some coffee – and some (out of season) peaches. Each item more expensive than the other… The young writer’s heart sank as she ordered item after item, as his means were limited. Foyot’s was an expensive restaurant – and the lady had all the tastes of a gourmet. The lady, however, remained blissfully unawares of the misery she was causing her host! In fact, she even admonished her host for not eating a balanced meal (he was desperately trying to limit the costs). And to add insult to injury, the lady thought he was joking when he mentioned that he was too full to have dinner (he did not have any money left).
But the writer finally had his revenge – even if it was after all of twenty years. Meeting her again (at a play), he was delighted to observe that she had put on some weight – in fact, she weighed all of three hundred pounds!
The
Luncheon is set in the Latin Quarter – the haunt of students, artists and writers. The writer’s work is partly autobiographical; fact and fiction are so well blended together that it is often difficult to tell the one from the other. This tale – like so many of his other tales – has a twist of irony in it. Both the lady and the writer acted honorably, their actions were well intentioned, but the lady only ended up causing untold misery to the writer. True, the lady carried on an erudite conversation during the course of the luncheon; but the writer was only concerned about the cost of each item that she ordered!