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!