Editing Natalie Clifford Barney (section)

===Élisabeth de Gramont===
[[File:Elisabeth de Gramont - Nadar - 1889.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Élisabeth de Gramont in 1889]]

Élisabeth de Gramont, the [[Duchess]] of Clermont-Tonnerre, was a writer best known for her popular memoirs. A descendant of [[Henry IV of France]], she had grown up among the aristocracy; when she was a child, according to Janet Flanner, "peasants on her farm&nbsp;... begged her not to clean her shoes before entering their houses".{{sfn|Flanner|1979|p=43}} Her father's ancestors had squandered their fortune and he married into the [[Rothschild family]] after her birth; she did not have any access to her step-mother's wealth.{{sfn|Rapazzini|2005|pp=7–8}} She looked back on this lost world of wealth and privilege with little regret, and became known as the "red duchess" for her support of socialism. Encouraged by her father to wed into security, she married Philibert de Clermont-Tonnere and had two daughters. He was violent and tyrannical.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2002|pp=196–199}}{{sfn|Rapazzini|2005|pp=8–10}} 

The poet [[Lucie Delarue-Mardrus]] introduced Barney and de Gramont in 1909 or 1910.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2002|pp=197–199}}{{sfn|Rapazzini|2005|pp=8–10}}<ref>Sources differ on the year of their meeting. Jay, Rodriguez, and Souhami place the meeting in 1910 (Rodriguez says "probably"). Rapazzini says 1909, producing a letter from the [[Bibliothèque littéraire Jacques-Doucet]]'s collection of Barney material.</ref> The couple shared academic interests and attended Remy de Gourmont's salon together.{{sfn|Rapazzini|2005|p=11}}
Barney wrote an unpublished novel inspired by their early relationship, ''L’Adultère ingénue'' (''The Adulterous [[Ingénue]]'').{{sfn|Rapazzini|2005|p=12}} 

De Gramont accepted Barney's nonmonogamy—perhaps reluctantly at first—and went out of her way to be gracious to her other lovers,{{sfn|Rodriguez|2002|pp=227–228}} always including Brooks when she invited Barney to vacation in the country.{{sfn|Secrest|1974|p=138}}

Though the two conducted their affair clandestinely, de Gramont's husband found them out and attempted to stop them from seeing each other.{{sfn|Rapazzini|2005|p=11}}  He was unsuccessful, and he divorced de Gramont in 1920 after a period of separation.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2002|pp=198–199}} In 1918 she and Barney wrote up a marriage contract stating: "No one union shall be so strong as this union, nor another joining so tender—nor relationship so lasting".{{sfn|Rapazzini|2005|pp=6–7}} The relationship continued until de Gramont's death in 1954.{{sfn|Rapazzini|2005|pp=7, 24}}