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 popularity. At his house Millet met Diaz, Barye, Daumier, Ziem, Etcheverry, etc. A plan was made by several of them: Barye, Dupré, Delacroix, Rousseau, Daumier, Diaz and Millet, to collaborate in illustrating La Fontaine's Fables; but the work was interrupted when only a few drawings had been made. A little later Millet made the acquaintance of Decamps, who came and took him by surprise in an odd way, almost incognito, had long talks with him, admired his pictures and said that he should have liked to paint so, but who would never consent to enter the house. Millet was much struck by his visits. He wrote about Decamps, giving in a few lines a portrait of which the psychology is searching: "I never heard him speak a word from the heart. His witticisms were cruel, his sarcasm crushing, his criticism very just, even about his own painting. One could see that he suffered like a man looking for his way and always losing it. His was a superior mind in a troubled soul."

But in spite of these distinguished friendships, in spite of the success which was beginning to come (partly owing to that