Chapter 2 chapter 2

"Hello, little William," the Duchess held out her right hand to William Odward, who was beside Jenny, "how is your mother?" That was another Mrs. Odward, Elsie Odward. William kissed the Duchess lightly on the back of her hand: "She is fine, madam, thank you for thinking about her." "It's a pity, ma'am, you missed the Belmont match. It was really a rare and extremely exciting match." Yanni stretched her hand into William's arms, her expression filled with pride as a wife.At the Belmont Autumn Jockey Meeting two weeks ago, Odwa's famous horse "Nahiva" won the championship again.

The Duchess of Windsor is also a "horse fan": "We read all about 'Nahiva' in Paris. Congratulations, little William." Jenny Woodward led the conversation calmly, in a relaxed, pleasant, natural and harmonious way, and from time to time the talkers let out bursts of laughter that made other guests envious.Jenny knew in her heart that of all the "Ladies of Long Island" at the dinner party tonight, including the hostess, Mrs. Martis Baker, the Duchess had a soft spot for her because they had similar backgrounds and similar marriages. , and even a similar temperament.

In addition to horse racing, another topic of Jenny Woodward's dinner table that day was about "thieves". She took the trouble to tell her listeners: "Last night, a homeless man sneaked into our garage The door of the Starbeck car—not the Starbeck we drove today, but the Starbeck that drove back to Long Island from Manhattan last night." Seeing that the other party was a little confused, Jenny inserted an explanation, saying that her husband liked Starbeck. Dabeck's engine and Cadillac's body lines are also admired, so they combined the two into one, and specially asked the manufacturer to create this "Star Lake".

Jenny Woodward continued: "The thief pried the toolbox in the car, and then rushed to the small bar by the swimming pool, and ate up all the food in the refrigerator, leaving only a bottle of grape juice. moved in a chaise longue and made himself a bed in the minibar... our driver Lee Principe got up early this morning and went to the garage to find it...the police searched inside and out and found Even they were startled. Guess what? The thief stole the gun and the bullets too! The gun case was lying there empty, and he must have touched the bullet box in the garage, and the bullets fell all over the place. Well...William and I went to the small bar to see, you know, the swimming pool is surrounded by dense trees, we can only talk in French there, and dare not speak English, for fear of being overheard by the bum...I No matter how I thought about it, I panicked. I always felt that the man was hiding in a certain wood. He could see us and hear us, but we couldn't see him... I asked William, can the police be guarded 24 hours a day? Why don't you just hire a few more bodyguards. The garden is too big and there are too many entrances. If you don't have enough security, where will he sneak in again... William said, after tonight's banquet, we will go back to the house on East 73rd Avenue in Manhattan... ... When we came, we told the servants to close the doors and windows, and let all the lights in the building and courtyard be turned on. The white light was about to catch up with the Catholic Church...William also brought his revolver... "

It took more than two hours to eat a dinner: starter, soup, seafood, staple food, dessert, fruit... Mrs. Frost, who was sitting diagonally opposite Jenny Woodward, noticed that Jenny drank almost all White wine for the shrimp dish, red wine for the steak, and champagne later.In the past, Yanni only drank a small cup from beginning to end. Several young gentlemen couldn't hold back long ago, and as soon as the music started, they urged William Odward to ask the Duchess of Windsor to dance the first piece.Then there's the game these dandies play well at any party: see who can get every lady on the dance floor.

At the eighth, maybe the tenth dance, Saini Mutan passed through the writhing men and women, walked straight to William Woodward, and whispered into his ear that there was a phone call for him.