"He has shown himself to be someone who is worthy of my gratitude. For you understand, my child"--Colette was again writing to Germaine Patat--"everything I'm not speaking of in this letter.... Distance and reflexion have been working on me, and I am obliged to observe that I've been brought to this place by a well-prepared train of events, which horrifies me. I also know that the house I shall return to will be empty."