New Orleans -- New York -- Brooklyn -- Hollywood -- Haiti -- To Europe -- Ischia -- Tangier -- A ride through Spain -- Fontana Vecchia -- Style: and the Japanese -- The muses are heard -- The Duke in his domain -- From Observations: Richard Avedon, John Huston, Charlie Chaplin, A gathering of swans, Pablo Picasso, Coco Chanel, Marcel Duchamp, Jean Cocteau and André Gide, Mae West, Louis Armstrong, Humphrey Bogart, Ezra Pound, Somerset Maugham, Isak Dineson -- A house on the heights -- Lola -- Jane Bowles -- Extreme magic -- Ghosts in sunlight: The filming of In cold blood -- Greek paragraphs -- A voice from a cloud -- Cecil Beaton -- The white rose -- Self-portrait -- Preface to The dogs bark -- Elizabeth Taylor -- Music for chameleons -- Then it all came down -- Handcarved coffins -- A day's work -- Dazzle -- Hidden gardens -- Hello, stranger -- Derring-do -- Nocturnal turnings -- A beautiful child -- Mr. Jones -- A lamp in the window -- Hospitality -- Preface to Music for chameleons -- Remembering Tennessee -- Remembering Willa Cather.