This article is about her involvement with a
sponging expatriate Russian count; it involves a familiar personality type and
associated scripted scenario.
Stella Benson generously helped this poor old
man and made great efforts on his behalf, only to be met with insults, lies,
delusions and ingratitude followed by yet more demands and hard-luck stories.
Stella Benson meets Count Nicolas
Stella Benson first met the frail, pathetic, penniless
old man who called himself Count Nicolas de Toulouse Lautrec De Savine in April
1931. He was in a free bed in a charity hospital in Hong Kong at the time.
She felt very sorry for him even though he
immediately started lying to her. He may have been confused and delusional
rather that deliberately deceitful though. He told her that he had no money at
all, then some fell out of his pocket. He showed her a picture of someone he
said was a princess who had been crazy about him - it was an advertisement!
Stella Benson helps Count Nicolas
Count Nicolas was a mess of a person. Stella
saw him as a free spirit broken by adversity. She decided to transcribe some of
his ‘memoirs’ in the hope of selling them and getting some money for him.
She started to produce a book that consisted
of both his reminiscences - or fantasies - and her commentaries on them. It was
later published as Pull Devil, Pull Baker (1933). She gave him a very generous
advance payment, but after Count Nicolas moved on he started sending her very
frequent begging letters.
Then he appeared on her doorstep, ill and destitute.
She gave the ‘silly old cadger’ some more money.
