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Her parents encouraged her to try art school, but Margaux was too energized to buckle down and took off after a year for Europe. Her adventures were just as lively, if less genteel, than Lorelei Lee's. In Morocco, she was "sorta kidnaped" by a smuggling gang who made her into an unwitting hash courier. Fortunately, a friendly mechanic ("He was just snappin' ") sniffed out the fact that her car was mined with hash. Recalls Margaux: "It was really veggy" (translation: Margaux could not move or think).
"Margaux is neither domestic nor domesticated. She's a free spirit," says her father, now 51. Still, there was a stir last Christmas when, for the first time, Margaux brought a man home. He was Errol Wetson, 34, a second-generation entrepreneur, whose father ran a variety of concessions in the East. Errol's career has been bold but erratic. Since age 18, when he and his brother started Wetson's hamburger chain, he has bought and sold antique cars, run a trendy Manhattan restaurant called Le Drugstore, imported soft denim, and backed the TV show Kung Fu. One day last spring, he was sitting in his favorite place, the Plaza hotel's Palm Court, when he saw Margaux, who was in town for a skiing promotion gig. Their eyes locked. They have been in love ever since, and when Margaux arrived in New York last fall, they pooled their resources, rented a grungy Upper East Side pad and settled down to construct the Big Deal. Frequent reassuring trips to the Palm Court were necessary. "If things began to cave in or if we were confused, we would rush over there, sit at a table, and suddenly things became clearer," says Errol. Margaux says, "Errol has horns but he's an angel."
The Hemingways were at first cautious about Errol. But since that Christmas visit, Errol has been in close touch with Jack. Together with Margaux's agent Peggy Nestor, they set up the Fabergé deal, which runs until 1980 and may yield Margaux more than a million if she promotes other products for Fabergé as well.
She is hurt by the recurrent criticism that Errol has exploited her. "The other day," she says, "he came to me and gave me his share of the deal." When she got film offers, it was Errol who cautioned her to wait until she was ready. She plans to take acting lessons in preparation for a movie career, but first she and Errol are honeymooning in Europe and South America. Marriage may come later—or next week. Her younger sister Mariel is not so sure: "I don't know—Margaux is kinda crazy."