Two weeks earlier Vichy had been jarred by another kind of sensation. It was provided by one Count Foucou de Gines. Europe's decaying aristocracy has produced some exotic late blooms, and in its gaudiest days Vichy has seen the most flamboyant of them. But Count Foucou was something special. He arrived in his bright new British Aston-Martin sports car with a squeal of tires and a flourish of gravel, flanked by a pretty blonde wife and a secretary. He wanted to buy a chateau, he said, and the dazzled real-estate agent showed him the historic Chateau de Theillat. The count took...
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