Well, I want to be alone.

Where have you been?

I suppose I can cancel the Anna contract.

I just want to be alone.

You're going to be very much alone, my dear madam.

This is the end.

For five days in November in the year 1990, thousands of people streamed into Southerby's

auction house on York Street and 72nd Street to view the possessions of a mysterious

lady who had lived just one mile south of here next to the residential

enclave Beakman Place. The objects on display ranged from important paintings by

great impressionist masters to old wooden furniture and a

strange array of porcelains including a perfume bottle in the shape of a wizard.

This was no ordinary estate sale, for the deceased owner of these

objects was no ordinary woman. They had belonged to Hollywood royalty, the goddess

of the silver screen, Greta Garbo, who had an apartment in New York

for almost four decades. Hundreds of fans streamed in to marvel at the movie stars unique possessions.

Many had no living memory of seeing a Garbo premiere.

For her last film had flickered onto screens back in 1941. They only knew her from seeing glimpses upon the streets

of New York. A common fixture of Manhattan's East Side, so famous for being recognized that she became

the ultimate New York celebrity sighting.

Devotees swapped stories of Garbo sightings.

Two sisters regaled listeners with stories of 40 different sightings,

...