ONE OF GURDJIEFF'S oldest and most devoted students, Mme Ouspensky had a deep understanding of Gurdjieff's teaching and his message. When her husband broke with Gurdjieff in Constantinople in 1921, and then again in 1924, she chose to stay with Gurdjieff. "I do not pretend to understand George Ivanovitch," she said. "For me he is X. All that I know is that he is my teacher and it is not right for me to judge him, nor is it necessary for me to understand him. No one knows who is the real George Ivanovitch, for he hides himself from all of us. It is useless for us to try to know him, and I refuse to enter into any discussions about him."
         In the years following, Gurdjieff sent her to London a number of times to see her husband. Finally, in 1931 she stayed for good, taking over the practical work of her husband's groups. In January 1941, with the Germans occupying France and London coming under a blitz, she and husband left for America. Franklin Farms, a large estate in Mendham, New Jersey, was purchased and work began there. In January 1947 her husband, ill for many years, left for England. He died there the following October. In the spring of 1948, hearing that Gurdjieff had survived the war, Mme Ouspensky reestablished contact. When Gurdjieff came to New York that December he visited her at Mendham. She presented him with chapters of the book that her husband had worked on since Constantinople. It was titled Fragments of a Forgotten Teaching and later retitled In Search of the Miraculous. Though suffering from Parkinson's disease, she led the work at Mendham until her death in 1963. Among her closest students was Lord John Pentland.