The dining room, dotted with candlelight, saw white-clad waiters serving dish after dish on silver platters. The airship offered an extensive menu, and Marvin had chosen the whole goose banquet. The appetizer was goose liver pâté with fragrant pan-fried butter bread, a small portion that could be finished in one bite.
After the appetizer came the onion clam soup, followed by the main course—a whole roast goose. Marvin, of course, was unable to finish it by himself, and would cut the roast goose to share with others.
"It seems Nicholas.... Please forgive me for the offense of calling you by your name directly, but since you and your brothers all carry the Manshtein surname, I thought I might address you with a more intimate name to distinguish between you."
