ABSTRACT
Ellen Terry was over 50 when the golden partnership split up, and when Henry left her for Eliza Aria perhaps her sunny charm had finally cloyed. When his financial crash came, David Aria's idea was, according to his wife, 'that we should sell the house and its contents, and live in apartments while he looked for another opening for his talents. The photograph of Mrs Aria shows a plump lady upholstered in nineteenth-century dress, holding the long necklace of the period and gazing sentimentally at the picture of her sister, Julia Frankau, the novelist writing under the pen-name of 'Frank Danby'. The picture which Eliza Aria paints of Irving is a man of monosyllabic conversation, occasional caustic wit, and a fascination with the subject of murder. There are only two brief references to Ellen Terry in Eliza's book; and in Ellen's Story of My Life none at all to Eliza Aria.
