The Parisian artistic and literary society, at that time, was so constituted that to know a few men of mark was to know them all, and certainly more by luck than by any merit, I soon found myself at home in circles of which I had read and dreamed, but which I had not hoped to enter. Gradually I had then to throw off my reserve and to play when I was asked, confining myself to excerpts from Beethoven and a few other composers. I met with success and encouragement, but for three years I resisted all attempts to make me appear in public, for which I did not feel myself ripe.