November 27 Friday – Livy’s 58th birthday.
Rogers had sent a subscription to the N.Y. Sun for Sam. The first copy arrived this day at the Villa. Sam was down with a case of gout, from which he recovered the next day [Nov. 28 to Rogers].
Hélène Elisabeth Picard wrote to Sam, thanking him for the “very handsome photograph” rec’d some weeks before, a picture which occupied a place of honor in their dining room. She mentioned John T. Lewis in the photograph as not being as dark as some of the peasants there. She wrote of meeting Max O’Rell and not knowing who he was, being introduced as Mr. and Mrs. Blouet. “I was told he had been married already, but was divorced and married a second time. It is only after his death that my American friends in Paris heard the truth, and they were very sorry to have invited them and been at their house themselves” [MTP]. Note: evidently Max was living in sin with a woman and presenting her as the Mrs. Florence attorney Paola de Plaisant replied to Sam’s inquiries of Nov. 26 (not extant) to clarify details and issues of the lease on the Villa Quarto; de Plaisant related difficulties with the Countess when he visited the Villa with Smith on Oct. 6, over issues about use of the stables, and her quarters [MTP]. Sam wrote on the evn. “Clearly explains the lease” See Hill p. 72.