"Famous publisher Henri Flammarion, who later became a very close friend of mine, contacted me and asked me if I could stand in for a temperamental etcher at a moment's notice and illustrate "Break of day" by Colette. The etcher had quit. I left to Saint-Tropez, discovered the gorgeous Villa Rose and came back to Paris with many detailed preparatory drawings. When I met Colette, she was sick and in bed in her apartment in Paris near Palais Royal. It was moving and unforgettable..."