E X T E N S I O N THE LAMB MASTER HOUSE I ve always been interested in people but I ve never liked them What type of person was Henry James? Most people saw him as a kind, gentle man, with a very individual way of thinking and living. He had many acquaintances, but few close friends, and always remained reserved and refined. In 1907, he employed a young woman to be his secretary, Miss Bosanquet, whom he interviewed in London. She had been educated at Cheltenham Ladies College and had a university degree. This is how she described him in her diary. He wore green trousers and a blue waistcoat1 with a yellow sort of check2 on it and a black coat that was rather a shock. He is bald except for tufts3 of not very grey hair at the sides. His eyes, grey I think, are exactly what I should expect but the rest of his face is too fat. He talks slowly but continuously I found it hard to get in any words of my own. It was her first meeting with him, but she noticed immediately his characteristics: a rather unusual style of dressing, large piercing4 grey eyes, a tendency to be overweight, and the habit of talking all the time. She was right, because he loved eating and talking! Perhaps his rather solitary childhood made it difficult for him to make close friends, but he had a reputation for being a socialite5, and never missed a lunch or dinner invitation at a literary salon. The list of his famous acquaintances is never-ending, but the names which stand out are those such as Ivan S. Turgenev (novelist), Emile Zola (novelist), Guy de Maupassant (novelist), Alfred Tennyson (poet), Robert Browning growing together at the base. 4. piercing: penetrating. 5. socialite: a person who goes to a lot of fashionable parties and is talked about in the newspapers. 1. waistcoat: a piece of clothing with no sleeves worn over a shirt. 2. check: a pattern of squares, usually with two colours. 3. tufts: a number of pieces of hair 34