People Like Us by Dominick Dunne Page B

factory in Venice,” said Cora.
    Each time Ruby said the word
drapes
, Cora Mandell repeated the word
curtains
in the following sentence, as a way of letting her know that
drapes
was a word that was simply not used, an offense even to her ear, without actually correcting the newly rich woman who wantedso much for Cora Mandell to decorate her apartment. By the third time, the point had been made, and Ruby Renthal never used the word
drapes
again.
    “The price, of course, is quite different for a window treatment today than it was in nineteen fifty-eight,” said Cora.
    Ruby Renthal seemed indifferent to cost, but Cora Mandell pursued the topic nonetheless, so that there would be no misunderstandings later.
    “You have to figure on not less than seven thousand dollars a window for curtains. That, of course, includes the fringe,” said Cora.
    Ruby did not react adversely.
    “It’s how long it takes, not how much it costs, that I am interested in,” answered Ruby.
    “How many windows are there?”
    “Ninety, perhaps, on the three floors, but I shouldn’t think the curtains in the servants’ rooms need be anything more than something pretty on a rod,” said Ruby.
    “Exactly,” said Cora.
    “We have a new painting, a Monet, with water lilies, and I was thinking that the walls of this room should be the same color pink as the inside of the water lilies in the painting,” said Ruby. “Pink happens to be my favorite color.”
    “Persimmon, I think, would be a prettier color than pink. In lacquer, nineteen or twenty coats of lacquer,” said Cora.
    “Sounds nice,” said Ruby.
    “Is there furniture you would like me to see, Mrs. Renthal?” asked Cora.
    “We have to get everything new,” answered Ruby.
    “For all three floors? My word,” said Cora. “Do you mean there is nothing to re-cover?”
    “We’re starting from scratch,” said Ruby, “but I want everything first rate.”
    “I see. There is an auction coming up in London in a few weeks.”
    “I love auctions,” said Ruby.
    “The Orromeo family has come on hard times and are selling their priceless collection of furniture.”
    “My word,” said Ruby, using the phrase Cora Mandell had just used.
    “There is a pair of eighteenth-century console tables, with inlaid rams’ heads, which are too beautiful for words. They would be marvelous right there, on either side of the fireplace, with the Monet over the fireplace,” said Cora. It wasn’t often, even with the opulence of the decade, and the abundance of the new rich, that she was given carte blanche to start from scratch in an apartment of forty-one rooms. She realized she would have, finally, enough of a nest egg to retire.
    “We can fly over in my husband’s jet,” said Ruby.
    “My word, how grand,” said Cora.
    “We’re going to get along great, Mrs. Mandell,” said Ruby.
    “Yes, Mrs. Renthal,” said Cora.
    Lil Altemus sat in the back of her car next to her daughter and stared out at Central Park, while she organized her plans for the day in her head. “Tap on the glass, will you, Justine, and tell Joe to take me straight down to the Van Degan Building first.”
    “Yes, Mother,” said Justine. She removed her glove and tapped on the glass with her ring. “Joe, Mother wants you to stop first at the Van Degan Building.”
    “Okay, Miss Justine,” said Joe, closing the glass between them again.
    “Is that your engagement ring?” asked Lil.
    “Isn’t it perfect?” Justine replied, defensively.
    “Let me see it,” said Lil.
    Justine held out her hand to her mother.
    Lil picked up Justine’s hand and peered at her daughter’s engagement ring without comment. She opened her bag, took out her reading spectacles, put them on, and picked up Justine’s hand again. “That’s not even a ruby,” said Lil. “I thought you said he wasgoing to give you a ruby. That’s a garnet, for God’s sake. He gave you a garnet with a lot of poky little diamonds around it. Now, don’t