Page:Tex; a chapter in the life of Alexander Teixeira de Mattos (IA texchapterinlife00mcke).pdf/111

 *uable, Teixeira seldom gave that general opinion of which I always felt in most need at the moment when I had lately finished a book and was unable to regard it with detachment. Accordingly, the manuscript, on leaving him, was usually sent to another friend, who commented not only on the text but also on the marginalia. As her occasional controversies with Teixeira (expressed in such minutes as:

"Pull yourself together, Mr. T!"

"You men! One's as bad as the other, you know."

"Never mind what Mr. T. says, Stephen: I understand."

"I wish my brain worked as quickly as that.")

and with me invited rejoinders, the first version of a manuscript sometimes took on the appearance of a contentious departmental file. It was in this form that Teixeira called it a palimpsest.

On 22. 6. 20 he writes:

''Thanks for your letter and the palimpsest I've studied it amid distressing circumstances, in''