'I'm sure he'd be very interested,' I said.

'But his interest has to be active,' he said vehemently.'They 'all tell me it's remarkable, it's fascinating! But when it comes to publishing it, they get frightened. If Robert Dubreuilh understands the importance of this work, to which I have - and I can say it without exaggerating - consecrated many years of my life, he owes it to himself to lend it his support. A preface by him would suffice.'

‘I’ll speak to him about it,' I said.

He was getting on my nerves, that old man, but I felt sorry for him. When you succeed, you have a lot of problems, but you have them too when you don't succeed. It must be dismal to speak and speak without ever awakening an echo. He had previously published two or three obscure books; this one represented his last chance, and I was afraid it wasn't any better than the others. I was suspicious of every person in that room.