Page:Tex; a chapter in the life of Alexander Teixeira de Mattos (IA texchapterinlife00mcke).pdf/110



''You outdo and outvie me. You never know anything. In other words, you know nothing. But I'll wager that these are worn without permission. What's the penalty? The Morning Post to-day names a couple of dozen to whom it's been granted.)''

Evidently feeling that I was living too much alone, Teixeira enclosed a copy of The Times' list of forthcoming dances:  (Don't wait for invitations, he urged in a post-*script. Ring the top bell and walk inside.)   The next letter needs to have Teixeira's use of the word palimpsest explained. His good-nature in reading his friends' manuscripts was inexhaustible. I never intended him to do more than give me a general opinion; but his critical vision was microscopic, and he filled the margins with questions and comments. In returning me one manuscript, he wrote:  ''I have made some 800 notes, of which 600 are purely frivolous. Six are worth serious attention.''

While this textual scrutiny was quite inval