A new chapter

Friday, November 4th., Les Sablons.

I saw Liane de Pougy last night for the first time, in a little ballet at the Casino de Paris. She still looked young, and, though she was too thin, like Cleo de Merode, I thought her better than most Parisians will allow. I mentioned her name to Davray and Vallee today, and they both guffawed. Clearly they know things I am not aware of, and are not disposed to enlighten me; possibly my deficiencies of language are part of the problem.

Today I came down to my new lodgings at Les Sablons. The bed-sitting room is large with a bare polished floor and a portrait of Melanchthon (in a fur coat) on the wall. Antoine Lebert and his wife, the householders, have lived in Paris 31 years and have retired here. They keep a large garden and grow grapes on long walls. Bunches still remain on certain vines which are covered with a kind of coarse muslin. I realise that I know nothing at all of viniculture - it wasn't much practised in Burslem.

The rooms face south and the weather is cold and lovely. I went for a walk in the forest which was magnificent, but I felt suddenly tired and came back and fell asleep over Butler's "The Way of all Flesh" in an armchair which at first I had thought to be extremely comfortable. I am very much looking forward to making this space my own. This is a new chapter in my life which has already wandered far from original expectations. How many places have I lived in now? And how many more in the future? In a way I can envy the Leberts who are settled contentedly, in harmony with their place in life, and not in search of new experience, but I am not yet forty and have my name to make. I may one day settle into comfortable retirement, but I can't imagine it.

"The Way of all Flesh" is exceedingly good in parts. Whenever the author is satirical he is excellent. And every now and then he gets a sudden sharp effect of pathos. He is very careless in details of construction, writes without dignity, and has a tendency to moralise at length. But I read the book with real zest, which is rare. There is a vast amount of naked truth in the book.