President Hollande peered at his inquisitor with an air of faint contempt, as if he couldn’t quite believe that so trifling a subject had been broached. “I’m sure you’ll understand my answer,” he said patiently. “Every one of us can go through difficult periods in our personal life and that is our case. They are painful moments, but I have one principle, which is that private matters are dealt with privately, within a respectful intimacy. Therefore it is neither the time nor the place to do so.”