Just beyond the trafic streams of Brompton Road, in the heart of fashionable Knightsbridge, London. a rich man lives a strange, almost monastic life. Dark, fervent Simon Nissim, nephew of the late Sir Jacob Sassoon, _multi-millionaire, dwells alone in his six-storey mansion Beaufort-gardens—dotes over treasures that have come from the world's four corners, and are part of history.
By profession he is a barrister, But for years he has lived in his thirty-two-room home, cooking his own simple meals, doing nearly all the cleaning. He does not answer the door, unless a message telling of a visit reaches him first on one of his two telephones, He spends little money on clothes, less on food. For to him these things ere unimportant, What to. him is important—the inspiration of his life—is the priceless collection of beautiful antique furniture, lovely. ornate clocks, Chinese paintings, and gold and silverware with which every room in the house is crammed. On these he has spent almost all the fortune left to him by Sir Jacob Sassoon, Ori the furniture alone, brought from the sale-rooms of the leading West End art auctioneers, Simon Nissim places a nominal value of £50,000, Mr, Nissim is a bachelor, in his forties. Except on his excursions into the outside world of art he now sees few people,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.