Reminds me of scenes from two great books. Satis House, the home of Miss Havisham, the bitter old jilted bride in Dickens' Great Expectations, and of The Aspern Papers, a short novel by Henry James centered on love letters written by Lord Byron to young Miss Aspern, who kept them with her throughout her long life.
We are left to guess at why Mme. Florian never returned to Paris, despite never having left France.
Does anyone know who paid the rent all those years?
FT, The linked article states that the lady herself continued to pay the rent for the rest of her life -- although she never returned to the apartment.
What a bittersweet story. One can imagine a young woman in possession of some amount of wealth moving on to a new life after the war. She had heirs of some sort (children?). Did she meet someone in the south (probably)?
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A wonderful story.
ReplyDeleteHappy Valentines Day to all you young lovers out there!
ReplyDelete(and we're all young lovers today)
how lovely AOW! Happy Valentines Day sweet friend! xoxoxo :)
ReplyDeleteReminds me of scenes from two great books. Satis House, the home of Miss Havisham, the bitter old jilted bride in Dickens' Great Expectations, and of The Aspern Papers, a short novel by Henry James centered on love letters written by Lord Byron to young Miss Aspern, who kept them with her throughout her long life.
ReplyDeleteWe are left to guess at why Mme. Florian never returned to Paris, despite never having left France.
Does anyone know who paid the rent all those years?
FT,
DeleteI like that you made those two literary connections!
I don't know who paid the rent. Another mystery intertwined with this story!
FT,
DeleteThe linked article states that the lady herself continued to pay the rent for the rest of her life -- although she never returned to the apartment.
What a bittersweet story. One can imagine a young woman in possession of some amount of wealth moving on to a new life after the war. She had heirs of some sort (children?). Did she meet someone in the south (probably)?
ReplyDeleteBaysider,
DeleteWe can hope that she was happy with the new life that she made.
Perhaps sad memories kept her away.
ReplyDeleteEd,
DeleteCould be. Maybe she settled for someone else because she couldn't marry the artist, her true love.
Erratum!
ReplyDeleteThe woman having the affair with the artist's was the grandmother of the woman who rented the apartment on which the rent was paid for those 70 years.
Spectacular story AOW. And yes, very valid questions.
ReplyDelete