Famed for her parties was the late Mrs. Alexander Hamilton Rice. Until she dropped dead two years ago while shopping in Paris, her tennis-week ball was the No. 1 social event of the Newport season. Lavish was the word for her entertainments at her other mansions in Palm Beach, Paris, Manhattan. But in one of her Manhattan drawing rooms Mrs. Rice never dared to give a party. Reason: she feared for its furnishings, all 18th-Century French, valued at about $3,000,000.
Last week there was a party in Mrs. Rice's forbidden room. The room had...
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