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XIX
VILLA TRIANON
T       HE story of the Villa Trianon is a fairy-tale
come true. It came true because we be-
lieved in it-many fairy stories are ready
and waiting to come true if only people will believe
in them long enough.
For many years Elizabeth Marbury and I had spent
our summers in that charming French town, Ver-
sailles, before we had any hope of realizing a home
of our own there. We loved the place, with its
glamour of romance and history, and we prowled
around the old gardens and explored the old houses,
and dreamed dreams and saw visions.
One old house that particularly interested us was the
villa that had once been the home of the Duc de
Nemours, son of Louis Philippe. It was situated di-
rectly on the famous Park of Versailles which is, as
everyone knows, one of the most beautiful parks in
all the world. The villa had not been lived in since
the occupancy of de Nemours. Before the villa came
to de Nemours it had been a part of the royal prop-
erty that was portioned out to Mesdames de France,
the disagreeable daughters of Louis XV. You will
remember how disagreeable they were to Marie An-
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