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Elisina Tyler to Mildred Barnes Bliss, June 18, 1913

Paris.

June 18th 1913.Wednesday.

Dearest Mildred

I must thank you for the lovely flowers. They fill the room with scent, and my eyes with delight.

Perhaps you will be able to peep in to-morrow at tea-time—or rather Friday! I thought to-day was Thursday, and if I said Mrs. Wharton was coming to-morrow to tea, in my earlier note, I made a mistake. She is coming Friday.

By the way, if in the course of official receptions you come across Count Luigi Aldrovandi,Luigi Aldrovandi Marescotti, Count of Viano (1876–1945), an Italian diplomat. See also letter of August 14, 1913. who is here on the business of the Financial Commission, do be nice to him, and tell him you and I know one another! He is a friend of my childhood, and it is his sister’s photograph that is always on my desk. He is very clever and very nice.

Give our united love to Robert, and please accept my thanks and my devoted love.

Yours always,

Elisina.

We shall be here to-morrow at tea-time, entertaining Don Pablo Bosch,Pablo Bosch y Barrau (1862–1915), a collector. His collection was bequeathed to the Museo del Prado, Madrid, in 1915. See Catálogo provisional de las obras de arte legadas al Museo del Prado por D. Pablo Bosch (Madrid, 1916). the possessor of the best private collection in Madrid, of the thinnest neck and the most punctilious gallantry; endowed also with a desire to please, and with a faulty memory. The dealers say he is a hard nut to crack when he decides to part with one of his pictures, and the man who immortalized him among the côterie that collects every Sunday in De Ooma’s house in Madrid guessed his age at 90.He was, in fact, fifty-one in 1913. When Royall tries to stick up for him, he says “he’s only 90, and not 103.” When I try to stick up for him I say that in his case experience outweighs perspicacity.

Let me hasten to add that we love him and that we fed him last Sunday on salmon, pilaff [sic] de volaille,“Chicken pilaf.” and fruits rafraîchis.“Fruit plate.” He does it to us, and we do it to him; there’s the essence of modern hospitality, or I am mistaken.

William is in great form, and I have checked JulieJulie Mendiboure, William Royall Tyler's nanny. back to Biarritz. Don’t say I am not docile.

 
Associated People: Edith Wharton
Associated Places: Paris (France)