CHAPTER 20

I was almost asleep when they knocked. Harry was in good spirits. He looked at the work I was doing and selected the apples I did when I was trying to capture Cezanne's tender colors. I don't think I succeeded, but Harry wanted a painting and he was not to be denied.

He was carrying a wine bottle and two empty glasses. He gave me a roll of bills which I accepted without counting.

"Here's to your success," he toasted.

The wine was excellent. I drank the contents of the glass in one swallow.

"I doubt if it's worth that much but it might be one day and I want to pay you in what will be the 1940 rate."

Harry Was More Than Generous

I later found out that Harry was more than generous. But, as it turned out, that was a fortuitous night for him and he could afford to be magnanimous. They stayed only long enough to have a few drinks. By the time Harry's chauffeur, Goops, said the car was ready. Caresse was asleep on the back seat, covered with a gold blanket. I was dozing off…suddenly I was very tired. I had no idea that I would never see Harry again.

A week later he did sail for America. The overdue meeting with his uncle would never take place. Harry had been spending too freely. He had also been having a secret affair with Josephine, his 'Fire Princess'. Caresse knew about it but she was by that time involved with an acquaintance of Harry's, a pilot she described as having,' a keen eye and a handsome, foxy profile.'

Meeting the Sun-Death Together

Then they were in New York together. A few days after they arrived, they were in a hotel suite on the twenty-seventh floor. Harry took Caresse's hand.

"Our window is open wide," he said, softly. "Let's meet the sun-death together."

"But why?" she asked. "Why, when we have so much to live for?'
"One is not in love unless one desires to die with one's beloved."
"I love you too, Harry. But I won't die with you."

That night, Harry's mother arrived at the Savoy to wait with Caresse for Harry to return. Their meeting with Harry's uncle was in an hour. It was not like Harry to be late when it came to his famous uncle. Caresse suggested he was probably trying to put off the prospects of a lecture on spending.

By six, they called a friend of Harry's.

"I'll try to locate him. I'll have him call you."

Still, they waited. At 7:30 they met Hart Crane at the Lyceum Theater.
Crane left word at the box office that they were waiting for an urgent call.
The curtain went up on Berkeley Square precisely at eight. Some time during the first act, Crane got a call. It was his tortured obligation to tell Caresse and her mother-in-law that Harry was found dead.

A Bizarre and Gruesome Story

The story is rather bizarre and gruesome. Every time I read of the death of this mysterious man, the story changes. I believe Caresse's version when she later told me that Harry had borrowed a studio hotel room from a friend.

He had gone there with the 'Fire Princess'. When the hotel manager broke down the bolted door with an axe, they found two bodies lying barefoot on the bed. A Belgian pistol dangled from Harry's lifeless hand. One bullet had passed through Josephine's head. An identical bullet left a gaping hole in Harry's right temple.

Shoes and socks were neatly arranged beside the bed. She wore a corsage of white orchids. Harry held a whiskey flask. There was no note. The police estimated that The Fire Princess had died two hours before Harry.

"Do you think he lost his nerve?" I later asked Caresse.
"Harry would never lose his nerve," she said, almost defiantly.
"I'm certain he did it with deliberate calm. He was probably pondering life's eternal mysteries and savoring the ultimate thrill."

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