The Brothel Mistress

The real proprietor of the Chabanais was Madame Kelly, who was Irish born. Even with months of research, I've never discovered her first name. It's probably buried in some French article on the Internet, and I'm hoping one day to find it. Though there are pictures of the interior of the brothel, there are no pictures of her that I can find. Nothing is written about her background or family before her infamous stint as the Madame. I changed her name in the story to Bridgette Laurent, making her a French woman. 

Apparently, she was quite the business lady in her day. She loved horses, and she did become a member of the Jockey Club in Paris in order to entice male investors. It was here that I wrote she met Robert Holland for lunch at the Grand Cafe to discuss business, which actually was located on the ground floor.

In reality, there were quite a few male investors in her brothel and the sum of 1.7 million francs is correct. Some of her investors took on odd anonymous names to hide their identity, which Madame Kelly recorded in her records. Below is a picture of the actual entrance to the brothel, and one can only imagine why Madame Kelly decided to make it look like a cave!