'That was a courageous thing you did,' Lucie said.

'What?'

'Denouncing all those horrors.'

'If that takes courage, then there are thousands of heroes in France,' Henri said. 'When you attack the Soviet Union nowadays, you don't run any risk of being shot.'

She examined Henri, looking slightly perplexed. 'Yes, but you more or less established a position for yourself on the left. That affair must have compromised it.'

'But think of the positions I can now find on the right!'

'Right, left, those are outmoded notions,' Dudule said. 'What people have to be made to understand is that the collaboration of capital and labour is necessary for the country's recovery. You did a useful piece of work in disposing of one of the myths opposed to their reconciliation.'