They talked near him; his wife explained that she had not done anything to this study, which, in fact, retained its faded old red paper, its heavy mahogany furniture, its cardboard files, scratched by use.
On causait pres de lui, sa femme expliquait qu'elle ne s'était pas occupée de ce cabinet de travail, qui avait en effet gardé son ancien papier rouge déteint, ses lourds meubles d'acajou, ses cartonniers éraflés par l'usage.