MS-HRC-SB-4-3

[0635] and rooting everywhere. [0637] And the cupboard, far from containing my
boot, is empty. [0638] No, I am now without this boot, just as I am now
without certain other objects of less value, which I thought I
had preserved, among them a zinc ring that shone like silver.
[0639] I note on the other hand, in the heap, the presence of two or
three objects I had quite forgotten and one of which at least,
the bowl of a pipe, strikes no chord in my memory. [0640] I do not
remember ever having smoked a tobacco-pipe.

[0641] I remember the
soap-pipe with which, as a child, I used to blow bubbles, an odd
bubble. [0642] Never mind, this bowl is now mine, wherever it comes from.
[0643] A number of my treasures are derived from the same source. [0644] I also
discovered a li^ttle packet tied up in age-yellowed ⁿewspaper.
[0645] It reminds me of something, but of what? [0646] I drew it over beside the
bed and felt it with the knob of my stick.

[0647] And my hand understood,
it un^derstood softness and lightness, better I think than if it
had touched the thing directly, fingering it and weighing it
in its palm. [0648] I resolved, I don't know why, not to undo it. [0649] I sent
it back into the corner, with the rest. [0650] I shall speak of it
again perhaps, when the time comes.

[0651] I shall say, I can hear
myself already, Item, a little packet, soft, and light as a
f^eather, tied up in newspaper. [0652] It will be my little mystery, all
my own. [0653] Perhaps it is a lack of rupees. [0654] Or a lock of hair.

[0655] I told myself too taht ^[  ] I must make better speed. [0656] True lives
do not tolerate this excess of circumstance. [0657] It is there the
demon lurks, like the gonococcus in the folds of the prostate.
[0658] My time is limited. [0659] It is thence that one fine day, when all
nature smiles and shines, the rack lets loose its black unfor-