To my great surprise I was congratulated on having done
very well.
"You made a great hit," said one, "with your account of Shaw's play."
"I nearly burst out laughing," said another, "when you gave your views
about memory. I think you're dead right about it; but J. P.--Mr.
Pulitzer was always referred to as J. P.--is crazy about people having
good memories, so if you've really got a good memory you'd better let
him find it out."
I was told that, so far as we were concerned, the day's work, or at
least that portion of it which involved being with J. P., was to be
considered over as soon as he retired to the library after dinner. His
object then was to be left alone with one secretary, who read to him
until about ten o'clock, when the major-domo came and took him to his
rooms for the night. As a rule, J. P. made no further demand on the
bodily presence of his secretaries after he had gone to bed, but
occasionally, when he could not sleep, one of them would be called,
perhaps at three in the morning, to read to him.
This meant in practice that, when we were ashore, one, or more usually
two of us, would remain in the house in case of emergency. This did not
by any means imply that we were always free from work after ten o'clock
at night, in fact the very opposite was true, for it was J.
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