I still have in my memory, almost agonizing impressions of a serious illness which I had when I was about eight years old. Those about me called it scarlet fever, and its very name seemed to have a diabolical quality.

My Brother Yves)
Les Trois Dames de la Kasbah (1884) which first appeared as part of Fleurs d'Ennui. Loti was an inveterate collector and his marriage into wealth helped him support this habit. Another room evokes a medieval banqueting hall.