and representing an enviable life, or rather two lives—
Grange's and Colette's—both blessed by that greatest
wealth of all, a sovereign talent.
Grange seems always to be conscious of his apartment's
patron saint. In the foyer is a bust of Colette by the
Catalan sculptor Fenosa, and a photograph of the
writer's salon as it was—empty—when Grange moved
in. He is heir apparent to a lineage which has nothing to
do with blood, only with genius. De Nicolay, too, ever
the historian, is aware of Colette's beneficent ghost,
embedding anecdotes of her ensconcement, and that of
her neighbor, yet another creative genius, Jean Cocteau,
in Grange's narrative. De Nicolay describes Grange's
HYLAND
