"When my father died I was four and a half years old. I have a few charming recollections of him hidden away in the storehouse of my memory. In that private cinema of the past he appears as a tall large man, extremely handsome with a short, greyish beard and blue-grey eyes, which had a peculiarly enchanting expression, radiating kindness and good temper, and a loud by melodious voice. He was called, I have been told, Big Ben on account of it."
ottoline's father was gone, it was 1877, he would never be the Duke of Portland, rather his eldest, Ottoline's half brother- William would be.
"Two years later when the old Duke died, we all went to London to Claridge's Hotel. Grapes and peaches came from Welbeck, Charlie and I were taken to Cremer's toyshop in Regent Street, our comparative poverty this seemed like Fairyland, and I chose a doll dressed in spangled blue satin fixed on a handle that played music as you whirled it around. But none of these luxuries gave us much pleasure. They were all overcast by a sense of dullness and depression, which must have come, I suppose, from my mother's sadness at the absence of my father."
ottoline's father was gone, it was 1877, he would never be the Duke of Portland, rather his eldest, Ottoline's half brother- William would be.
"Two years later when the old Duke died, we all went to London to Claridge's Hotel. Grapes and peaches came from Welbeck, Charlie and I were taken to Cremer's toyshop in Regent Street, our comparative poverty this seemed like Fairyland, and I chose a doll dressed in spangled blue satin fixed on a handle that played music as you whirled it around. But none of these luxuries gave us much pleasure. They were all overcast by a sense of dullness and depression, which must have come, I suppose, from my mother's sadness at the absence of my father."
Very touching story!
ReplyDeleteWill need more time to go through your blog, love it!
karin