This excerpt from Uncensored Recollections by Julian Osgood Field paints a disturbing picture of Albert Thorn’s marriage to Clotilde Barili, is unflattering about Jane Thorn de Pierres, and sarcastic about the Colonel. His anecdotes are hearsay from stories his father used to tell, and though perhaps exaggerated, still give valuable information.
Osgood Field was a writer of horror fiction and a socialite with a dubious history of forgery. His father was a lawyer, diplomat, judge and writer, who graduated from Yale.
If what Osgood Field says about Barili is true, what a sad existence for Alfred and how upsetting for his parents. The Comte de Varennes mentioned is Camille de Varaigne (caricature above). It appears that Mary Jane de Varaigne gave Osgood Field a shetland pony. No wonder he remembered her fondly!
[…] and Barili. There is an account of Clotilde abusing and degrading Alfred in front of visitors. It is very anecdotal and uncorroborated, but it made me wonder if the animosity on the Colonel’s part was founded […]
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[…] and history does not look favourably on their match. Anecdotes from the time suggest she was cruel to him. He certainly was passionate about her and her reputation as is apparent in the Lima […]
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