"Whenever Degas came upon some more or less early work of his own, he always wanted to get it back on the easel and rework it. Thus, after seeing again and again at our house [of the art-buyer w:Henri Rouart ] a delightful pastel my father had bought and was very fond of, Degas.. ..would not let the matter alone, and in the end my father, from sheer weariness, let him take it away. It was never seen again.. ..in the end he had to confess his crime: the work entrusted to him for a few retouches had been completely destroyed.. ..It was then that Degas, to make it up to him for his loss, sent him one day the famous 'Danseuses a la barre'.."