That daughter there of Spain, the Lady Blanch, / Is near to England: look upon the years / Of Lewis the Dauphin and the lovely maid. / If lusty love should go in quest of beauty, / Where should he find it fairer than in Blanch?.
Indeed, I later learned that when they had bought the place, in 1930, they had given my father's older sister Lina their checkbook, carte blanche, saying, Do what you want, get what you want.