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192
The House in Good Taste
·
Elsie De Wolfe
171
I
remember
vividly
the
three
of
us,
Miss
Marbury,
Sardou,
and
I,
standing
in
the
garden
on
a
very
rainy
day.
Sardou
was
bounding
up
and
down,
saying:
"Buy
it,
buy
it!
If
you
don't
buy
it
before
twelve
o'clock
to-morrow
I
will
buy
it
myself!"
We
were
standing
there
soaking
wet,
perfectly
oblivious
to
the
downpour,
wondering
if
we
dared
do
such
an
audacious
thing
as
to
purchase
property
so
far
from
our
American
anchorage.
Well,
we
bought
it,
and
at
our
own
price,
practically,
and
for
eight
years
we
have
been
restoring
the
house
and
gardens
to
their
Seventeenth
Century
beauty.
Sardou
was
our
neighbor,
and
his
wonderful
château
at
Marly,
overlooking
the
valley
and
terraces
of
St.
Germain,
was
a
never-failing
surprise
to
us,
so
full
was
it
of
beauty
and
charm,
so
flavored
with
the
personality
of
its
owner.
Sardou
was
of
great
help
to
us
when
we
finally
purchased
our
house.
His
fund
of
information
never
failed
us,
there
seemed
to
be
no
question
he
could
not
answer.
He
was
quite
the
most
erudite
man
I
have
ever
known.
He
had
as
much
to
say
about
the
restoration
of
our
house
as
we.
He
introduced
us
to
Monsieur
de
Nolhac,
the
conservator
of
the
Château
de
Versailles,
who
gave
us
the
details
of
our
villa
as
it
had
been
a
century
and
a
half
ago,
and
helped
us
remake
the
garden
on
the
lines
of
the
original
one.
He
loaned
us
pictures
and
documents,
and
we
felt
we
were
living
in
a
modern
version
of
the
Sleeping
Beauty,
with
the
sleeping
villa
for
heroine.
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