Laughing Torso

LAUGHING TORSO

appeared to see how we were getting on. She advised
me to try a certain brand of margarine which cost
ninepence. I said I only paid fivepence-halfpenny.
She did not however leave the extra threepence-
halfpenny behind. Soon after this my uncle, her
husband, paid our rent, so that was a help. I am
afraid that sometimes when we were very poor I
spent the money on food and got into debt with the
landlord. They were working-class people and,
unlike many that I know, perfect beasts. We were
naturally regarded with the greatest suspicion,
having a German name*
I urged Edgar to go to the police and register
himself. Everything was so unsettled that I think
they had forgotten about him for the time being.
One day a District Visitor appeared and asked
him what religion he belonged to. He said that he
was a " Hedonist/' so she went away. We met the
painter, Foujita, one of Les Japonais in Paris; he
was delighted to see us as he was just as poor as we
were. He only became famous in Paris after the
War. He still made his own clothes and wore his
hair the same way, but without the Greek band.
He wore strangely shaped baggy trousers and a black
velvet jumper, which hung outside, and a leather
belt; People called him the " Eskimo/5 He
lived with some friends in Chelsea and did charm-
ing frescoes in their kitchen of antelopes and
flowers. Someone afterwards took the house and
said that they did not care for other people's
decorations, and had them whitewashed. I think
they are^now sorry.