'Oh, you can't deny yourself everything,' Dubreuilh said with a kind of impatience. 'Ascetism is all right if it's spontaneous, but for that you've got to have positive satisfactions elsewhere. And in the world of today, there aren't many. Let me tell you something. If you hadn't slept with Josette, you would have had regrets about it, regrets which would have led you to some other foolishness.'

'That's quite possible,' Henri said.

'You can't draw a straight line in a curved space,' Dubreuilh said. 'You can't lead a proper life in a society which isn't proper. Whichever way you turn, you're always caught. Still another illusion that has to be got rid of,' he concluded. 'No personal salvation possible.'

Henri looked at Dubreuilh uncertainly. 'Then what's left to us?'

'Not very much, I'm afraid,' Dubreuilh replied.

There was a silence. Henri didn't feel satisfied with that generalized indulgence. 'What I'd like to know is what you would have done in my place,' he said.

'I can't tell you, because I wasn't in your place,' Dubreuilh replied. 'You'd have to tell me everything in detail,' he added.

'I'll tell you everything,' Henri said.