Though pressed by his interviewer, Steward declined to give any further details of the sexual encounter.* But young Steward emerged from the hotel room not only with the autograph, but also with a swatch of Valentino’s pubic hair,* which he subsequently kept in a monstrance at his bedside until the end of his life.* The experience was all the more trenchant for Steward because within a month Valentino suddenly ruptured his appendix and died, aged thirty-one.
