Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Georgina Weldon’s Archive and her Biographers
- Prologue
- 1 Georgina
- 2 Mayfield
- 3 Harry
- 4 Beaumaris
- 5 Friends and Relations
- 6 Discontent
- 7 Gwen
- 8 Gounod
- 9 Tavistock House
- 10 Maestro or Marionette
- 11 Loss
- 12 Separation
- 13 Orphans
- 14 Argueil
- 15 Mad-Doctors
- 16 Home Again
- 17 Rivière
- 18 Covent Garden
- 19 Disaster
- 20 Conjugal Rights
- 21 Revenge
- 22 The New Portia
- 23 Swings and Roundabouts
- 24 Holloway
- 25 Gower Street
- 26 Gisors
- 27 The Trehernes
- 28 A New Century
- 29 Sillwood House
- 30 Angel or Devil?
- Bibliography
- Index
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Georgina Weldon’s Archive and her Biographers
- Prologue
- 1 Georgina
- 2 Mayfield
- 3 Harry
- 4 Beaumaris
- 5 Friends and Relations
- 6 Discontent
- 7 Gwen
- 8 Gounod
- 9 Tavistock House
- 10 Maestro or Marionette
- 11 Loss
- 12 Separation
- 13 Orphans
- 14 Argueil
- 15 Mad-Doctors
- 16 Home Again
- 17 Rivière
- 18 Covent Garden
- 19 Disaster
- 20 Conjugal Rights
- 21 Revenge
- 22 The New Portia
- 23 Swings and Roundabouts
- 24 Holloway
- 25 Gower Street
- 26 Gisors
- 27 The Trehernes
- 28 A New Century
- 29 Sillwood House
- 30 Angel or Devil?
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
After resting for a day, Georgina returned to Tavistock House on the afternoon of 4 April, accompanied by Villiers and a friend, ‘dear old’ Professor Lloyd Birkbeck. The door was opened by James Bell, the broker's man and caretaker put into the house on Harry's behalf, and they pushed their way in. All around them were boxes full of Georgina's belongings which Ménier was about to carry off with the help of André Sauvadet, who was waiting outside in a hansom cab. Suddenly, Ménier himself emerged from the basement, where he and his Hungarian ‘secretary’ Alexander de Barathy were busy packing up more of Georgina's possessions. On seeing Georgina, Ménier ‘turned as pale as a ghost’ and rushed out of the house without a word, leaving his mistress, Olive Nicholls, behind. ‘Cheer up Madam’, Bell told Georgina, ‘I never saw a party run away from his debtor before.’ Georgina felt some sympathy for the girl, ‘the erring and deluded victim of this old scamp, this old and dirty Don Juan’, but she ordered her to leave the house. The girl went, threatening ‘You will not be here long’. But Bell (‘a pleasant old man’) was prepared to let Georgina stay and she remained in Tavistock House, receiving visits from Harry's London lawyer, James Neal, ‘a fool’, and the broker, Washington Hirschfield, ‘a fanfaron [braggart]’, both of whom were anxious to find out what was going on.
That evening Georgina wrote to Angèle to tell her what had happened:
I have thrown Ménier out. I stopped everything. They were carrying everything away – bed linen, beds, coverlets, your velvet dress! Don't worry. I will have my revenge. I will avenge you! The house is full of putains [whores]. I am exhausted – dead – but too happy to have saved something. Everything is ruined: the magnificent ceiling in the music room has a hole big enough for three men to get through. It's dreadful. They have stolen everything. God knows how much has gone. The gas has been cut off. I’ll have to pay 300 francs [£12]. They wanted to take my piano to pay the taxes.
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- Georgina WeldonThe Fearless Life of a Victorian Celebrity, pp. 196 - 212Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2021