MS-WU-MSS008-3-50-2

[2652] I wanted to know, to hear him say rather, for I knew it already. [2653] Very good,
I said. [2654] I went to the door. [2655] You shall leave both your albums at home, I
said, the small one as well as the large one. [2656] Not a word of reproach, a
simple prophetic future, on the model of those employed by Youdi. [2657] Your
son shall go with you.

[2658] I went out. [2659] But as with delicate steps, almost
mincing, congratulating myself as usual on the resilience of my ^Wilton,
I followed the corridor towards my room, I was struck by a thought which
made me go back to my son's room. [2660] He was sitting in the same place, but
in a slightly different attitude, his arms on the table and his head on
his arms.

[2661] This sight went straight to my heart, but nevertheless I did
my duty. [2662] He did not move. [2663] To make assurance doubly sure, I said, ^we shall
put the albums in the safe, until our return. [2664] He still did not move. [2665] Do
you hear me? I said. [2666] He rose with a bound that knocked over his chair and
uttered the furious words, Do what you like with them! [2667] I never want to
see them again! [2668] Anger should be left to cool, in my opinion, crisis to
pass, before one operates. [2669] I took the albums and withdrew, without a word.

[2670] He had been lacking in respect, but this was not the moment to have him
admit it. [2671] Motionless in the corridor I heard sounds of falling and
collision. [2672] Another, less master of himself than I of myself, would have
intervened. [2673] But it did not positively displease me that my son should
give free vent to his grief. [2674] It purges. [2675] Sorrow does more harm when dumb,
to my mind.

[2676] The albums under my arm, I returned to my room. [2677] I had spared my son
a grave temptation, that of putting in his pocket his most cherished stamps,
in order to gloat on them, during our journey. [2678] Not that his having one or
two stamps about him was reprehensible in itself. [2679] But it would have been
an act of disobedience. [2680] To look at them he would have had to hide from
his father. [2681] And when he had lost them, as he inevitably would, he would