Empty Mansions

news: “It would be useless to give this great sorrow.”
    Etienne comforted Huguette, making plans to visit her in New York. He wrote to her on October 14, 1963:
    My dear friend Huguette: Your news of your mother passing filled me with sadness, but she left us only temporarily, and she is in a better place now with the angels, Andrée, her parents and God. She is probably happier since her last years were difficult. She will be with you forever, though there is emptiness for you now. Wish I could be with you and I want to come back as soon as possible. Her memory will always live among us, with her great kindness and courage. She will be a star in our lives. Heaven will have one more great soul, which will shine forever to bring light and guidance to your life. And on earth you will always have the ones who love you. I am so anxious to see you again, dear, dear Huguette. I am not forgetting your dear mother in my prayers, and also you, dear Huguette. I kiss you with all my heart, with much love. Your devoted, Etienne
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    Huguette replied to this letter with a short telegram on October 30:
    Thank you for your letter, dear Etienne, and for your words of sympathy which touched me very much. I am fine.… I wish Elisabeth a prompt recovery. Affectionate kisses. Huguette
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    Her words seem more formal than his, less intimate. This may always have been the case, yet it’s worth noting that we have copies of only Huguette’s papers, not Etienne’s. We see only the confirmation copies of her telegrams, and do not have her letters. Of course, he also was married.
    In a letter dated November 2, 1963, Etienne tells Huguette of his plan to have his wife, Elisabeth, and daughter, Marie-Christine, come to New York in the spring:
    Thinking of you and your mother, I have a cold again, Elisabeth is staying here for the treatments which seem to help. She is helped by a nice country woman, so I will be able to leave in peace, and the cute little orphan we were entrusted with will keep her company. Once hertreatments are finished and she is completely recovered, she and the little Marie-Christine will join me in New York. In the meantime I am going alone again and I can’t wait to be in New York. You know how I am split emotionally and how hard it is for me to be away so long, so I will come as soon as possible.… Here is a photo of Marie-Christine and my vegetable garden. Alas, my hair is so gray! Thinking of you and your dear mother who left such emptiness! See you soon …
    He signed the letter, in English, “With much love always. Etienne.”
    • • •
    Huguette had projects to throw her grief into. First, she arranged to move into her mother’s apartment, spending much of the next year redecorating and updating Apartment 8W, while holding on to 12W. A.d before Etienne’s next visit she went on a clothes shopping binge. She was looking furiously for the right style, not by visiting one of the boutiques on Madison Avenue, one block from her home, but by sending telegrams to Paris. She contacted La Maison Jean Patou, the fashion designer, in an effort to find two-piece silk dresses, for summer and winter. She was especially eager, at age fifty-seven, to find styles that would be slimming. The house of Jean Patou was about to get a dose of the Huguette Clark experience.
    Cable of March 19, 1965, to Mme. Peggy, Jean Patou, Paris:
    The two-piece pleated silk dress is less slimming than the shantung dresses, which are perfect measurement-wise. Please make the black pleated silk dress that I ordered with 3 inches extra above and below the chest, and the belt looser. The skirt is fine. Try to make this dress in a style that would be as slimming as possible. With all my thanks
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    • • •
    Etienne did visit several times after Anna’s death, including at least one visit with his wife and daughter. On his way home from one of his trips, as he crossed the Atlantic, he described how difficult the parting was. On May 29, 1966, he wrote:
    Very dear Huguette: It was wonderful to see you, even though it was too short.… It was hard to leave you. You are always in my thoughts and heart. Kisses …
[In English]
With much love, always, Etienne
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    Marie-Christine, now in her fifties, saidshe remembers visiting Huguette at 907 Fifth Avenue when she was a child, with her father and mother. She said she can bring up only three details.
    Tante Huguette was germophobic, afraid of catching an illness.
    The long gallery in her apartment