Since the author has only eighty francs to last him the rest of the month, he is anxious about eating at the restaurant where French senators dine that she suggests. However, his lady friend reassures him, "I never eat anything for luncheon," adding that she never eats more than one thing. What she should have said is that she never eats more than one thing at a time because she orders several things, but each one individually, and sometimes they are not even à la carte: salmon, caviar, champagne, giant asparagus that has just arrived, a peach from Italy, and coffee and ice-cream. All the time that she is consuming such rich foods and drink, she scolds Maugham for eating red meat, as he has ordered mutton: