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Finally, at the risk of annoying his American friends, and probably losing some entree in Paris, I simply told him as tactfully possible that the decisions on the French collection would be mine alone. As matters turned out, this was a blessing in disguise. Had we seen eye-to-eye, I might not have met a truly remarkable woman, Madame Marie Cuttoli. I was outlining my mission to some knowledgeable people one day and one of them said, "But you must meet Marie Cuttoli. You know what she has been doing?"

I knew her name and I connected it in a vague way with modern French tapestry. I did not realize, however, the extent to which she had been the moving spirit in their revival. She had observed that the great fabriques of France, Aubusson, Beauvais and Gobelin, were dying on the vine, stifled by bureaucracy and their own brilliant past. It was said of the Bourbons, "They