OVERLOOK MANOR, SITUATED atop cliffs along Ocean Avenue, was a smaller mansion beautifully restored to suit its new purpose. Overlook had needed extensive refurbishing, and Stephan informed Thomi on the way through Newport, that a friend of the Deverill family, Shepard Ritchie, had purchased it. Together with his wife, Darla, who shared his passion for the era and area, had overseen all the restorations themselves. The results were fabulous.
As they came up the red carpeted marble steps into the Great Hall, where their host awaited them, Thomi tried to take in the splendor all at once—mural painted ceilings, elegant frescoes, damask covered walls, and brocade draperies, together with period furnishings, and carved columns and archways. The white marble floor gleamed under a red, black, an
