We followed him and managed to escape, though there was still a tremendous crowd to break through in the street. Outside I meet Cami, who congratulates me, and together we go to the Hotel Crillon to see Doug and Mary.
Mary and Doug are very kind in congratulating me, and I tell them of my terrible conduct during the presentation of the decoration. I knew that I was wholly inadequate for the occasion. I keep mumbling of my faux pas and they try to make me forget my misery by telling me that General Pershing is in the next room.
I'll bet the general never went through a battle like the one I passed through that night.
Then they wanted to see the decoration, which reminded me that I had not yet looked at it myself. So I unrolled the parchment and Doug read aloud the magic words from the Minister of Instruction of the Public and Beaux Arts which made Charles Chaplin, dramatist, artist, an Officier de L'instruction Publique.
We sit there until three in the morning, discussing it, and then I go back to my hotel tired but rather happy. That night was worth all the trip to Europe.
At the hotel there was a note from Skaya. She had been to the theatre to see the picture. She sat in the gallery and saw "The Kid," taking time off from her work.
Her note:
"I saw picture. You are a grand man. My heart is joy. You must be happy. I laugh—I cry.
"Skaya."
This little message was not the least of my pleasures that night.