MRS. LEE AND MRS. GRAY By Dorothy Love

"There was a time when Arlington was a magical place, enchanted and inviolate, the place where all that was beautiful in my world began." So wrote Mary Custis Lee near the end of her life.

Mary was the great-granddaughter of Martha Washington, the grandchild of Martha's son to her first husband Daniel Parke Custis. Her father, George Washington Parke Custis, built Arlington House as a tribute to George Washington, housing many of Washington's possessions; which he bought at auction, severely depleting his family fortune.

Mary was the only living child of George Custis and his wife, Mary Lee...