THE TRAGIC CINDERELLA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 39, 15 February 1930, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE TRAGIC CINDERELLA.

LOVE ROMANCE OF VIENNESE MANNEQUIN.

The tragic story of R6sa Wittner, Vienna's prettiest mannequin, just failed ,to.be one of those modern fairy tales in which Prince Charming meets a very poor but very beautiful girl, falls in love with her at first sight and. takes her home to his grand castle as his wedded wife. It certainly started in the right way, with all the elements of a sunny, glittering romance moving quietly toward a happj - end. The heroine of the story was poor and pretty; her Prince Charming, Baron Richard von Geymuller, was handsome and wealthy, and his ancestral castle in Kamenitz/ Czechoslovakia, was a fitting scene to receive its new mistress in stately splendour. Yet Rosa Wittner entered: the medieval castle of Baron Geymuller. with a revolver in her hand—and quitted' it, after a fierce gun battle with tie gendarmes, on a stretcher, bleeding from' fatal wounds. A strange twist of fate turned her beautiful romance into a grim tragedy., • ./ • Until she met Baron Geymuller, young Rosa Wittner had lived a drab, uneventful life, working nine hours a day in one of Vienna's fashionable shops for a weekly salary of less than £2. She was the star mannequin of the establishment, a beautiful blonde with large blue eyes and a perfect figure. Of course, she could have, enjoyed the same little pleasures that made the. lives, of the other mannequins less monotonous and more worth living. Sunday excursions to the suburban restaurants in, Hietzing, theatre parties with boy friends, or cosy little suppers in the company of well-to-do gentlemen, who were only too glad to extend invitations. But Rosa Wittner wasn't the sort of girl to make friends too easily or to accept invitations from gentlemen who would never think of marrying a poor mannequin. Rosa seemed, in fact, to take life a bit too seriously. She was an orphan, who had lost her parents in childhood, and was accustomed to eke out a living by hard work and without help. She had no family, no intimate friends, and the feeling of loneliness made her somewhat bitter about life and her own lot. Of course she, too, dreamed of a Prince Charming . who would some day appear in her life and take her away to live in never ending happiness, but when she had 'to get up early in the morning and hurry to the shop she laughed at her foolish dreams. No, she thought, romantic wonders don't happen in the twentieth century, certainly not in Vienna, where everybody is so poor after the war. The Baron Introduces Himself. One day a tall, handsome, elegantly dressed young man came to the store wherja Rosa worked. He wanted to buy a fur coat as a surprise gift for his sister. Rosa showed him some of those J expensive things which, she could never wear outside of the store, and the young man 'seemed interested not only in the coats, but more in the pretty mannequin on whose shapely figure those costly garments appeared even more attractive. He complimented Rosa, and she blushed. He tarried two hours in the store, and finally asked Rosa if she ■would, like to go to the opera? Rosa looked at him and answered somewhat brusquely: < ' "Yes, I would like to: 'But I am not accustomed' to accept invitations from strangers." The young man apologised. Of course he was a stranger to her. But. he would be glad to introduce' himself—Baron Richard von Geymuller, alone in Vienna, owning an estate in Czecho-Slovakia and a house in Kamenitz, and spending only a few months every year in Vienna. jWould Rosa accept his card I And whenever she might care to spend an evening in his company she had only to give shim a ring. Rosa took the card, expressed polite appreciation and the Baron, departed. That evening Rosa thought about the young Baron and about the opera; where 6he had never been. But she decided that, however much she would like to hear an opera, she would never call up Baron Geymuller. . As for the Baron, he probably-did pot forget the little mannequin, either. sln fact, two days later, he returned to the store on the pretext of wanting to buy something, else for his sister. Again he proposed a theatre party, and again Rosa declined his invitation.

The next day Baron Geymuller came once again, saying lie wished, to exchange the fur coat he had bought the day before. He renewed his talk with Rosa, was more polite and reserved than ever, and said he was about to • leave Vienna, being very lonesome in the city. Did Rosa ever experience that frightful loneliness? Yes? . . . How unfortunate that these two lonely souls couldn't be friends.

That night Rosa left the store 1 at 7 o'clock. Before she went home she called up Baron Geymuller. She felt so lonely, she told him, that if the Baron would Jike io spend the evening with her . . .

Half an lour later Baron Geymuller's motor car appeared before the house where Rosa lived and took her off for a happy evening. When she returned she had changed her mind about the drabness of life.

A Surprise Visit. Baron Geymujler did not leave Vienna for several weeks. Every evening he waited for Eosa in the street and urged her to leave her position as mannequin. She could trust" him for her welfare, he assured her. Eosa refused. She didn't wish to be financially indebted to him. Thus far they had not. discussed the future, nor. ev;er mentioned the' word marriage, though undoubtedly- both of them had it in mind.

But when at last' the Baron had to leave Vienna, he asked Rosa what she thought of marrying him, Eosa answered only by smiling .happily. At parting, they agreed that immediately after Baron Geymullex's return ■ to Vienna they would talk over details. In the meantime the Baron was to prepare his family for the event. . When Baron Geymuller returned to Vienna a month later he seemed to be worried. He confessed that his family had been shocked at the idea of Baron Richard marrying a mannequin.; ■ Of course, Baron Richard" would pay no attention' to their protests. 'After all, he was independent and rich enough to marry the girl'he loved.' Still, he would prefer to remain on friendly terms with the family. 'He- proposed that Eosa should give up' her- position anyway, to take a course of education, and wait a ew months. Rosa declared she would «ccep nothing from him as long as she £ S S Wife > but would "wait for • 'aj was enough.

Pour weeks later the. Baron went to Czeeho-Slovakia to spend a few weeks on the estate of his brother. He felt sure he could induce his brother and sister to change their ininds about his marriage plans.

Only a few days had passed after Baron Geymuller's departure when the store where Rosa worked- went into bankruptcy, and it proved impossible for her to obtain another job. She had no mbney, no position, and her fiance was absent. In desperate circumstances she decided to go to him.

When Rosa arrived at the Geymuller estate a festive company of young people were spending the week-end there. Baroix Richard was surprised and embarrassed but said he was glad to see his sweetheart. She was duly 51 introduced to the young barons and countesses who were eager to see the girl Baron Richard intended to marry. Wretched and Desperate. They were all very civil to Rosa, but somehow she felt out of place among these people, who,belonged to a different world to her own. She could not even join in their conversation —they talked about things unfamiliar to her, and she was afraid to say anything lest she should display her lack •of education. [11 short, she hardly dared to move, and she felt crushed and utterly miserable. She decided to return at once to Vienna, and sobbingly confided to her fiance how unhappy she was.

Baron Richard comforted her with the assurance that they would be married very soon. In two weeks he could be home at Kamenitz Castle, and there the wedding would take place. He gave her money to buy everything needful, and tixed the day when he would expect her at Kamenitz.

Exactly two weeks later Rosa Wittner arrived hi Kamenitz, a village near Prague. She was somewhat surprised that Baron Richard did not meet her at the station. She hired a carriage and drov& to the castle. The servants told her that Baron Richard was out but that he had ieft a letter for her.

Rosa opened the letter with trembling hands, and almost fainted when she £ead its contents. Her fiance wrote that he could not marry her. He had found it would be impossible to introduce her in the society he frequented and he did not have the courage to enter upon a long battle with his family and friends. All this he did not dare to tell Rosa face to face, .'but he hoped she. would understand. TJiere was a good-sized cheque enclosed within the letter.

Rosa Wittner staggered to the carriage that was to take her back to Prague. She could not even think, stupefied as she was with the hlow. What could she do now? There seemed to be but one way out for her; death. In Prague she bought a revolver to kill herself. She did not close an eye during the night. Yes, she reflected, death was the "only refuge to her. Yet she would like to see Baron Richard once more—just to say good-bye. She loved him too dearly to die without even a word. A Terrific Barrage. Next morning she hired a car and drove again to Kamenitz" Castle for. a last farewell. The servant told, her the ■baron vras not at home. Then, Rosa replied, she would wait until he returned. They refused her entrance. "So, the baron is at home?" cried Rosa, and she tried to push past the lackeys-. One of them laid violejit hands on her, but she drew her revolver and forced, her way into the castle. Three men servants ran after her, but before they could overtake her she entered a room on the ground floor and closed the door. They threatened to 'break in and eject her. "And I will shoot anyone who enters, was her defiance. The servants held ft council of war and telephoned for a gendarme. He came and found Rosa Wittner barricaded in her room. All expostulations were futile. - The gendarme telephoned for reinforcements and three more officers came. They started to break down the door, but Rosa sent a shot through the wooden panel, wounding one of the gendarmes.. They returned the fire and for five minutes the horrified servants heard a terrific barrage. At last the door yielded, and the gendarmes '-entered to find Rosa Wittner lying des/perately wounded on the floor. They carried her on a stretcher to a motor car and rushed her to a hospital. On the way she smiled and talked de-. liriously about love and poor girls and Baron Richard finding her dead. An hour 'later she died. ,• 1 The funeral was held at the expense of the Geymuller family. The unhappy mannequin, lonely to the last, was carried to the grave without a single (mourner, Baron Richard having departed two days previously to France.