1:13:04
The name of the throne doesn't matter.
1:13:06
But, in the world of pretence,
a pretender is the best thing you can be.
1:13:11
So, to the international set, he was a king.
1:13:15
His wife was English.
She was a commoner.
1:13:17
And they don't come any commoner.
1:13:19
But together they ruled the Riviera,
1:13:21
by permission of the
copyright holder, Lulu McGee.
1:13:25
Lulu McGee runs the international set.
1:13:28
She never asks for money but, somehow,
1:13:31
she always happens to
help grateful rich people.
1:13:34
Hector Eubanks was
the fireball of our little cocoon.
1:13:37
Oil hit Hector one fine day, and
he just never came out from under it.
1:13:42
There was also Mrs Hector Eubanks.
1:13:45
She was a joint income-tax return.
1:13:49
And in the middle of all this
fantastic unreality was Maria -
1:13:55
more unreal, in a way, than any of it.
1:13:57
She moved among all these crazy people,
1:14:00
through the casinos and beaches
and brawls, from Marseille to Monaco,
1:14:04
as if she were loaded with Novocaine.
1:14:06
She showed no pain, no pleasure,
no interest, no nothing.
1:14:12
You figure it. I can't.
1:14:38
Any more than I could on that night
I saw Maria for the last time.
1:14:43
It was at one of the casinos, kind of late.
1:14:46
We'd finished dinner hours ago.
1:14:49
Bravano and Hector Eubanks
were inside, gambling.
1:14:53
I assumed Maria was with Bravano.
1:14:55
The rest of us had
run out of conversation.