When I started writing to you I don’t know what I thought it was for. Maybe what I wanted was for you to know me. I have missed you all this time, of course, but the fact is that I got every moment of you there was. Enough of this now.
It is with love I’ve been writing,
Your mother
Sybil Van Antwerp
17 Farney Rd.
Arnold, MD 21012
USA
August 8, 2019
Dear Syb,
Please thank Theodore for transcribing your letters. I couldn’t bear the thought of an end to our decades of letter writing, though now I admit I do feel a bit of a need to censor myself. He seems very polite. Stewart sends his regards as well.
Nothing much new to report, only had our annual Independence Day party here in France on the fourth, and it was a smash with women in the pool at the end of the night sans bathing costumes. We also got a dog—did I tell you that we were considering it? A little floofy white whatsit called Yvette and I love her. You would love her, too, though I know you don’t care for animals whatsoever.
The big news is that the essay I’d been working on for quite some time on the expat experience we’ve had here has found a home in Vogue. I’m delighted. It is due to be in print come October.
Speaking of October, very much looking forward to your visit. Sybil Stone in France at last, I can die at peace. Have been mulling over the restaurants, etc. Just saw Eva at the party, and she was telling me they had new drapes put in. You won’t believe her apartment, it will feel like yourself and Theodore hath died and opened thine eyes at the pearly gates. If I was visiting Paris, Eva’s apartment is where I would want to stay, though she’s never offered me two weeks there!
All my love, and kisses from the dog,
Felix
p.s. I must know. Do you share a room now, or does he sleep in guest quarters? (It’s absolutely gauche of me to ask…and knowing it’s Mr. Lübeck reading this to you…)
September 19, 2019
Postcard from Paris
Rosalie Van Antwerp
33 Orange Lane
Goshen, CT 06756
USA
Rosalie—Hello from the City of Lights! I know you loved Paris when you were here in the seventies and I can understand why. Theodore and I are having a lovely time. He has visited Paris a number of times in the past and serves as a wonderful touring companion. We are staying in a very well appointed apartment belonging to a friend of Felix’s with windows ten feet tall just near the Tuileries gardens. Sainte-Chapelle was my favorite. I sat in the pews and wept. Everything is resolved with Stewart and Felix for the moment, thanks in part to Felix’s successful essay inVogue. I tried the books on tape, but really cannot focus and detest the headphones and bad narrators, so not reading anything anymore, though sometimes I have Theodore read to me aloud. Miss you, sending love—Sybil
Hi, Rosalie. I’m taking good care of her. The vision problem makes her afraid, which she won’t say. She regrets she can’t see details in the art, but when the Eiffel Tower lights up, she can see that. Regards, T. Lübeck
Sybil Van Antwerp
17 Farney Rd.
Arnold, MD 21012
December 15, 2019
Dear Ms. Van Antwerp,
I am enclosing the first draft of my novel titledDynasty of Sight. (Thanks for helping me with the title.) I probably would not have written a book if I hadn’t lived with you that year. I know you can’t read it, but maybe Theodore can read it to you.
