Lucy went to see him as often as she could after she returned from Paris and cheered him with fabrications about Hal's continued success, and how he was going to return. We both felt safe in telling him this because we knew the end would be at any time.
One day in October, when he was alone with Denis, he suddenly sat up in bed, tears streaming down his cheeks, and, pointing his finger at something, said "I really cannot permit it!" and died. There was an enormous funeral at St. Patrick's, though toward the end he talked about Grace Church where he had received his First Communion. His mother who couldn't abide his father had brought him from Italy for it.
I always thought I disliked him, or perhaps I should say disapproved of him, and did the many chores he demanded only out of gratitude for the library work and apartment. But at the service I was grief-stricken when I realized I never would see him again. To this day, I cannot believe he is not holding court in his house.
His will was calculated to astonish everyone. Hal was not mentioned. Denis received an income for life, the old Rolls Royce, and the ermine cover of Figente's bed. Lucy received a valuable early copy of Brantôme's Femmes Galantes with a gold filigreed and jeweled cover. The jewels turned out to be rubies, diamonds and pearls. Vermillion was bequeathed three of his best French impressionist paintings, and five drawings—a Watteau sanguine, a Constantin Guys, two Degas, and a Gericault.
I received a third of his library, the Venetian mirrors from the Fragonard Room which once belonged to Madame Pompadour, the apartment furniture, and $5,000.
Everything else went to his sister, Mrs. Perry.
I thought my inheritance must be a mistake or a grisly joke, but his sister, and the executors, assured me that that was what he wanted. He had made a special point of discussing it with her, Mrs. Peny said.
When word got round about my inheritance I was deluged with requests, mailed and telephoned, from people I scarcely knew—and salesmen. My father's cousin wrote that the cost of living was high and that even though I sent them money for
