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Correspondence from Leah Hirsig to Norman Mudd
[EXTRACT]
[12 August 1923]
I forgot to mention in mine of yesterday the subject of Aimée Gouraud.
Aimée thinks, or at least allows one to think, that she thinks the Beast is rich. He has proposed marriage to her nearly every time he has seen or written her for the last ten years.
She adores him; she realizes that he is far beyond any of her Russian counts and other suckers that fill her drawing-room; but she fears him. Some fortune teller told her that her fifth marriage—if she contracted a fifth—would be the death of her, and she's scared.
When Beast was determined to get her, she almost yielded. I suggested that he change his tactics, that he tell her he has lost his all. But he said never—she's too tight with her money.
She is a perfect dear, but will never fall—she will have to be pushed.
You write to her, tell her that the Beast has lost his all, if not forever, at least for a long time to come; that his works should be published by his friends as ordinary publishers are frightened of him at present; that it will be a fine investment etc. You know how to do it. I'm sure that the only way that wily old girl will come across is by something sensational. Anyway, the only men she has ever married or lived with were men who hadn't a penny. Remember, she always connects Beast with plenty of cash—knowledge to the contrary might give her that push.
P.S. Aimée is nearer 70 than 60. She is interested in prize fights, tea at Jack's, reducing her weight. She is supposed to be a millionairess (American dollars).
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