It began with a straw hat, presented to Emily by her friend and employer, Mable Arkwright, milliner and modiste, who eventually left her the business Exhausted by the extra work and exasperated by her late employer's young doctor she took herself off in 1880 to stay at an hotel in the south of France Here she was paid court to by Paul Anderson Steerman who ultimately brought her tragedy and disgrace, for the months following her return to England were a prelude to a series of events which would influence the destiny of her children and grandchildren and she lived through the first world war