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192
The House in Good Taste
·
Elsie De Wolfe
170
We
first
went
to
Versailles
as
casual
summer
visitors
and
our
stay
was
brief.
We
loved
it
so
much
that
the
next
summer
we
went
again,
this
time
for
the
season,
and
found
ourselves
members
of
a
happy
pension
family.
Then
we
decided
to
rent
an
apartment
of
our
own,
for
the
next
year,
and
soon
we
were
considering
the
leases
of
houses,
and
finally
we
arrived
at
the
supreme
audacity
of
negotiating
for
the
purchase
of
one.
We
had
a
great
friend
in
Versailles,
Victorien
Sardou,
the
novelist
and
playwright
so
honored
by
the
people
of
France.
His
wonderful
house
at
Marly
le
Roi
was
a
constant
joy
to
us,
and
made
us
always
more
eager
for
a
permanent
home
of
our
own
in
the
neighborhood.
Sardou
was
as
eager
for
the
finding
of
our
house
as
we
were,
and
it
was
he
who
finally
made
it
possible
for
us
to
buy
our
historic
villa.
He
did
everything
for
us,
introduced
us
to
his
friends,
wonderful
and
brilliant
people,
gave
us
liberally
of
his
charm
and
knowledge,
and
finally
gave
us
the
chance
to
buy
this
old
house
and
its
two
acres
of
gardens.
The
negotiations
for
the
house
were
long
and
tedious.
Our
offer
was
an
insult,
a
joke,
a
ridiculous
affair
to
the
man
who
had
the
selling
of
it!
He
laughed
at
us,
and
demanded
twice
the
amount
of
our
offer.
We
were
firm,
outwardly,
and
refused
to
meet
him
halfway,
but
secretly
we
spent
hours
and
hours
in
the
old
house,
sitting
patiently
on
folding
camp-stools,
and
planning
the
remaking
of
the
house
as
happily
as
children
playing
make-believe.
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