The large den was awash in chintz, brocade, houndstooth and tartan. Monsieur Deauville suggested toile curtains and a chinoiserie screen positioned, slightly askew, in front of the return air vent, which was placed, “unfortunately,” above the “appropriately generous” cove and roman ogee base trim.  However, Monsieur Deauville did think the addition of the dentil molding at the floor was a bit “gauche.”

Mssr. Deauville spoke with a very strong East Texas accent.  However, his assistant, “Mon trésor Clotilde” spoke broken English with “a charming rustic Brittany” lilt.  Clotilde carried all of Mssr. Deauville’s fabric swatches, paint color fan decks, gold paper bound cigarettes, upholstery trim samples, cocaine and telephone. Clotilde was not a big woman but she was strong.

Clotilde Guichard was a graduate student at The University of Houston.  She was in her final semester as a Master’s degree candidate in the Department of Psychology.  She met Mssr. Deauville late one evening when she was talked into going to a trendy night club by a classmate.  Her classmate eventually became intimately entangled with Mssr. Deauville and Clotilde got a job.

Mssr. Deauville was introduced to her as “Ronnie.”  Ronnie was impressed with her French and her knowledge of French furniture and decorations.  Her father was a procurer and expediter of everything “French” to the interior design trade in Dallas and Atlanta.  Ronnie asked her that first evening what “Parisian” surname would fit him.  She immediately replied, “’Bien sûr que Deauville!”  So, Deauville it was.

Clotilde noticed her first day on the job that Ronnie only smoked his gold Dunhill cigarettes when in the presence of a client.  He would stop the conversation and ceremoniously light up – ignoring any protestations of the client, letting the ashes fall where they would.  Ronnie was a soft-spoken fellow outside of work, but once on the job he became loud and demonstrative.  Clotilde realized that there was an opportunity to also do a character study observing Ronnie as she went about her numerous small tasks.  She started making notes of her observations of his unique way of being.  She would do this indiscriminately all throughout the day.  In the beginning he asked her what she was writing about.  She replied that she was taking notes of the job progress.  He was impressed.  He couldn’t read French.  Each day Clotilde would start her observations on a fresh page of a spiral bound notebook under the heading, “Interior…”  From “The Interiors of Monsieur Deauville” By Franklin Cincinnatus

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