THE STORY OF AN ENTOMOLOGIST 



ten o'clock. Marchal asked him to get word to Sir Basil that he 

 would like to bring me with him. When I asked who this 

 individual with the Russian name and the English title might 

 be, they told me that he was a man who had suddenly come 

 into the public eye through services to the Allied governments. 

 During the war he had made large gifts to France and England. 

 The arrangement was made, and Paul and I called at the 

 palace in the Avenue Hoche, and were conducted through 

 tapestry-hung halls and chambers into a waiting-room, where 

 we were interviewed by a French secretary. Presently Sir Basil 

 appeared. He was tall and straight and gray-haired, with a 

 gray mustache and goatee, kindly blue eyes and a charming man- 

 ner. He spoke English with an Oxford accent. He was very 

 responsive and rather deferential to Marchal's high standing as 

 a scientific man. He was proposing to give the French govern- 

 ment money to assist Marchal's branch of the service. He was 

 especially interested in flies and wanted the government to in- 

 vestigate all kinds of them. Marchal told him that I had written 

 a book on the subject, and showed him his own personal copy. 

 Sir Basil expressed the greatest interest and asked if he might 

 have the book. I told him that I would send him one from 

 London later in the summer. That was all there was to the inter- 

 view except that I left with the feeling that he was deeply inter- 

 ested in me and would do anything for me. That was his 

 manner. It was nothing but manner. 



In August, in London, I called at Mr. John Murray's to buy 

 a copy of the English edition of the housefly book, but found 

 it was out of print. I wrote a letter to Sir Basil and told him I 

 would send him a copy of the American edition when I returned 

 to the States. I received no reply. A few weeks later in Wash- 

 ington, I wrote to New York and instructed my publishers to 

 send him the book and at the same time wrote him a letter o£ 



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