The Lattimores had had an awful time with Richard Lattimore’s dying just after the Armistice, not in battle, making the timing especially excruciating. Tommy Lattimore took on a different cast with the tragedy in his family. She walked with him one day along the river and Tommy did not once mention his brother, something Lilian quite understood.

She knew that things which once puzzled her could eventually dissolve over time. She used to wonder with some disturbance why the help were the ones who carried the dishes around the table while everyone else sat in their carved chairs. She’d wondered why Hildy’s room was smaller than her own, or why she had never seen Rosie, who’d lived in the house longer than she, once sitting in the living room. Then, after living this way for a number of years and not knowing anything else, Lilian found herself taken aback when she came upon Rosie’s niece out of uniform fixing her hair in the front hall mirror — anyone could have come by! She became annoyed when the gardener decided to trim the wisteria just as she brought guests to sit out back. As the wonder faded, the usual way of things took over. It happened in the same way evening happened, beginning with the balanced hour, half light, half shadow, then suddenly, imperceptibly, the light dims, it has become dulled, and one notices night has taken over.

But Lilian did not feel that time would alter her feelings about Walter Vail. That was quite beyond time.

17 • Aunt Tizzy in New York

17 • Aunt Tizzy in New York

THEY HAD come to New York for the wedding of their cousin Jock Baker to a New York girl, Esther Havemeyer.

The people were different in New York. Their clothes fit better, their faces were more masklike. The women wore roll-collared coats with narrow hips, shoes with higher heels, and cloche hats. The men were different too, but it was harder to say why, they held their chins a little higher so as not to miss anything going by.

It was impossible for Lilian not to think of Walter Vail. She received a vivid shock when she glanced out the window of their cab rattling down Fifth Avenue and saw a green awning jutting out over the sidewalk with 825 on it in white script — the Vails’ address! Afterwards she felt she’d been given a drug and thoughts filled her like padding.

Aunt Tizzy was thrilled to have the Eliots visiting. The panels on her Persian coat flapped purposefully behind her as she led them down polished museum galleries and into red-upholstered restaurants. Mr. Eliot remained behind in the hotel and made appointments to meet with his law school betters. Aunt Tizzy pointed to buildings and listed the inhabitants, spouting names Lilian had vaguely heard of without the least idea of who they were.