COUNTESS TARNOWSKI.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 305, 21 December 1912, Page 17

COUNTESS TARNOWSKI.

LIFE TRAGEDY IN GAOL. THOSE WHO LOVED ME FOOTD DEATH." jLSX-E TO TfRN MEN'S HEADS. «ITje patfc of try life is strewn with the of those that loved mc most. r-eryone of tSerc died a violent death." go writes Conutess Maria Tarnowski. ne story " c P* o * '* of a frankness so jstDcndiEg that it amounts to a confession almost religiously. Tie Countess Is at present serving a term c j imprisonment for complicity in the Efflder of Count Kame<!otr?ki by her adthe Kusslau student Manmow. in Venice in l^o6. jjils amasinc autobiography is the history of a ouce noble soul lost in the absinths ot passion- Against ber father* commands, she married Count Vassill Carnoirsid *'hen she was only seventeen rears old. jje prowd tj be a debauchee, and - oW jy sn* cunningly led his young aud ' BlJe aIoD S , easT P atn °f a pU and sii-'nl life, infinitely repulsive to at first. She writes: — "It was at that time that a woman jjesd whispered in my ears a word that a deep impression on mc. and whirh I jnrre «t forgotten. "My dear.' she said, *ron are young, beautiful and charming. "TThen yon nnd yourself in one of these atieri ll ? s ' keep a stea<i - v smi le on your jjce. never show your inner sufferings, and jjrcvs strive to make yonrself acceptable to both men and women ' And an old Bjssian Prince als-r> told mc: "My dear jadanie, you are beautiful, and seem to be jade to tnrn men's heads and to make so jajiy slaves o* n≤. Bat smile, smile ilesrs-'" Pct£T Tsrcowski. her husband's brother, fdl in lo v e with her, and. realising the fcopelessness of his passion, hanged bimHe was one of four who killed themjjjres or wee tilled for love of her. One (£ the most tragic chapters in the book describes her affair with Lieutenant Bcrsewski. "He fell in love as soon as he was lntro-Jac-ad to mc. When I understood what yas happening I ran away from him, but fcjs courtship a-ssnmed the form of a veritable persecution. On one occasion he requested oar friends, the M.'s, to invite E c to their country place, but when I learned that he was I refused to go. and the M 's came over to visit us, bringhi ? BarKewski as their guest. I must insert bere that my husband was a fine shot, and he often made mc a kind of targetbolder by pfacing something over my head, trhicn he would shoot away. "Thai day my hasband was suddenly . called away to Kief on urgent affairs. iitpr dinner we went to oar shooting gallery to amuse ourselves with the rifle. Wafle los&ag my gnn Borgewski told mc aany times that he loved mc, and that he wonld lore mc to his death. " 'I «i»»n prove it to yon," he cried, putfin; his right hand over the muzzle of my rifle, which be had reloaded while my attention was engaged on something else. As I pulled the trigger a bullet pierced his land- Borgewski raved all night, and I never left his bedside. A few days later, wben he was on the way to recovery, I ordered Mm to leave the honse, which he did." A few daye later Borgewski sent for the Countess" Jnraband. "He went" writes the Countess, "and la tie presence of several witnesses Bor;r*Hl told him that he was madly in love irifl mc, and demanded that my husband craree mc and fight a duel with him. "Sy husband asked for two days' time is consider, at the end of which time he told Borgewski that he had begun an iciion for divorce. On this Borgewski ified us to a supper of celebration. "Tie supper over, we got ready to leaveIt ias one o'clock in the morning. BorfSTTsld kissed my hand, and embraced my fasoand. But while he was helping mc Into the sleigh a bullet whistled past my ted, piercing a large feather in my bonnet. snd Borgewski fell at my feet with a jfcutiy wound in the neck. As I bent over tie prostrate man I heard my husband say: Tfcls is better. - "Borgewsti was taken up to Ms room, ted there died. As I have said, my husband was a good shot."'