Sartre and Merleau-Ponty

De Beauvoir: You were very standoffish with people you didn't like. Merleau-Ponty, for example. You were on very bad terms with him, weren't you?
Sartre: Yes, but even so I once protected him from some men who wanted to beat him up.
De Beauvoir: You were singing obscene songs, and being pious he tried to stop you?
Sartre: He went out. Some fellows ran after him - there were two of them - and they were going to beat him up because they were furious. So I went out too. I had a sort of liking for Merleau-Ponty. There was someone else with me. We overtook them and said, 'Come on. Don't beat him up. Leave him alone and let him go.' So they didn't do anything; they went off.
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbSimone De Beauvoir, Adieu: A Farewell to Sartre p256