THE GRAND DUKE'S DIAMOND GIRL. .

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1929, 12 October 1874, Page 2

THE GRAND DUKE'S DIAMOND GIRL. .

[FROM THE NEW YORK HERALD.] ! Paris, July 6, 1874. I One night in the winter of 1871 there was a masked ball at the Opera House of St. Petersburg, and seldom before even in the brilliant capital of the Northern Caesars, had festival lights shone over so much beauty and renown. It was carnival time, when pleasure is half-privileged to take wider license than usual, in order to prepare for the terrible rigora of the orthodox Russian Lent, during which folks must dine and sup upon lentils and salted cucumber. All the golden youth of Russia was there, and all those elder men who can wear their years without becoming morose and and crabbed. Under the pretty dominoes and graceful masks which were fluttering about like the fire- ' flies of a Southern summer night we're many of the great Court ladies, with, perhaps, here and there a princess of the Imperial House of Romanoffj for, between the present state of manners and society'in Russia and that which existed in England during the reign of Charles 11., there are several points of resemblance. The conversation of the rich and high born* is astonishingly free. ' _ AN AMERICAN WID9W — YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL. ; Among the company present on this occasion was an American girl of .extraordinary beauty. She had not acquired so much experience in matrimony; or chosen such a variety of partners in life as numberless respectable people of ; St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Odessa; but, although she was scarcely out of her teens, she was a widow. She looked as fresh as a new-blown flower, and was full to overflowing of youth and high spirits. So exquisitely perfect a, piece of womanhood is seldom seen. She had dark hair in great profusion, and an imperial sort of forehead, broad, open and white as ivory. Her dark eyes flashed under her long lashes like black diamonds, and were all aglow with wit and kindliness. The nose was of that firm yet delicate acquline which denotes courage and resolution; the mouth was wondrously full and soft ; the upper lip small and formed like a bow ; her teeth were as living pearls, and \ her complexion dazzlingly fair. Little feet, small hands, and taper fingers j a figure which a fairy might envy. Sprightly words and laughter, which fell on the ear like music, complete an honest description of this American beauty on the night she went to the masked ball at St. Petersburg. FEMALE PRIVILEGES "WHEN UNDER A MASK. Now the great fun of these assemblies is that ladies' are allowed by custom to make all sorts of advances to gentlemen, for they are masked and concealed by their dominoes, while men go in simple evening dress. The orthodox thing for a lady to do, therefore, is to fix upon sotrife gentleman whom she wishes to tease or to mystify and to tell him some incident of his life which he fancies a profound secret j then to leave him puzzled and bewildered. ' The American widow was looking oat for somebody whom she knew, in order to torment him in this way, when 1 she saw a group of her friends talking ■ with a stranger, and, _ after listening to some fragments of their conversation, as women will, she suddenly pouaced upon the stranger and led him away. What she said to him is only known to themselves, but when he quitted her that night he was spell-bound and fascinated. :.....:.•;:■ •■■■.■ .. ■- ROMANTIC ACQUAINTANCE WITH A PRINCE. Well he might be. There is no wit in this lower world equal to American wit} no humor bo raoy and. original.

When this Russian heard it for the firs* time from lips so sweet, no wonder that he was enchanted. She spoke freely to him and without reserve, thinking that he was merely some young count or petty prince; and as she spoke she seemed drawn towards him by a subtle sympathy in their characters. She was quite abashed when she found out that she had been gossiping unceremoniously with the Grand Duke Nicholas Cpnstantinowich, nephew of the Emperor of all the Russias. They never parted afterwards for two years and a half. ; I THE CZAR'S NEPHEW IN TRAINING. The young Grand Duke had good abilities and good nature, but his education has been wofully neglected. The, American woman taught him, formed him ?. into a gentleman, and raised him up to. her own intellectual standard, which was high. v She was the daughter of Dr Ely, a Protestant clergyman of Con- f necticut, a man of some distinction in science and letters. He was, unfortu-: nately for his belongings, also a great traveller ; and if she, who was now the companion of a Russian Grand Duke, had gone wrong in early,life,it was because she had been left too much to a! hbt^ tempered, bigoted, and narrow-minded mother, who had taught the doctrines of passive obedience with a thick stick. Her daughter, however, had been well , schooled, and had learned Latin, French, and music, so that she was an excellent instructress to a young man who knew nothing. LOVE AND A LOVE CONTRACT. / r ; '"• The Grand Duke loved her so intensely . that he made her sign a formal contract in which she bound herself by a solemn oath never to leave him or to speak one word, save in friendship, to any other mortal man. When he went AWAY TO THE KHIVAN WAR : the road behind him was strewn with Cossack spearsmen, bearing in hote haste his messages to his beloved, and the' telegraph wires between them were never still. He was a brave soldier, and he told hex^ % how he had fought and conquered ; howT\ he had ridden through wild and morass, over moor and mountain ; how his sword had gleamed in many a dangerous fight, till the clash of his victorious' cymbals had been heard in the very fastnesses of the Khivan robbers ; and then, with the first glad shout of triumph in his ears, he had taken off his harness and was hastening back to her. • ' - WOMAN WORSHIP. . Upon her part, her vanity had first been flattered ; her woman's heart had been wou by a handsome young man of congenial tastes and temper, but gradually he had taken possession of her whole soul. The love which'she bore him, kindled by his knightly deeds in distant lands, his valor, his danger, and his fame had passed into iworship and become idolatry. He had been first her lover, then her hero, then her god. She watched over his honor as only devoted women can do, and she kept his new glories bright. MISFORTUNE, SORROW, AND ARREST. He was the only, one of the Russian princes who never seemed to get into scrapes or to incur unpopularity. But it may have been that he received some ugly blow in that Khivan expedition, or that he contracted some illness ; for when he came to her house, which he called his "home," she now and then observed that he was under the influence of uncon--1 trollable excitement. At eleven o'clock } one night he was arrested on herdoor- | step, and she has never seen him. since. L . THE CHARGE. I The ostensible , charge against him was l alleged to be that he had stolen the jewels : of a star belonging ta an image of the • Virgin Mary, which was in his mother's ■ bedroom, and which had been . given i to her by his father, in accordance: with ■ a Russian custom, on the day he i was baptised. • The truth appears, however, to be that these jewels were taken > by his aide-de-camp, and that he gene- . rously bore the blame to save that young . officer from disgrace. It was not likely that the Grand Duke would have com- : mitted the robbery himself; for he ha& • no heed to do so. He has alarge>fori tune, and, as the eldest son and heir to his father, will be some day entitled to a property of such immense value . that: any usurer in the world would have, taken his bond for whatever sum he might have required. Moreover, the Grand Duke is not a spendthrift •;, he -lived very moderately and allowed only 800dol a month for his domestic expenses. Besides, he had received L50,000d0l from his bankers on the same day that the robbery was said to have been committed, and the stolen jewels were valued at about 1200dol. The Grand Duke, nevertheless, took the robbery on himself, and, after having been kept some time under arrest, he has been banished to the Caucasus. " THE AMERICAN BEAUTY SENT AWAY. Meantime the American lady's house was searched, and when nothing was found which could in any way connect her with the theft, she was sent out of the country, accompanied by two goodnatured policemen, who seemed to be somewhat ashamed of the dirty work they were doing. -None of her property was taken from her or injured. Her expulsion from Russia, however, is an exercise of arbitrary power which makes one glad enough that it does nob flourish everywhere. ■ ; REASONS WHY. The probable reason why the Grand Duke Nicholas has been banished to the Caucasus, and why the American lady has been expelled from Russia, is that there was good ground for believing they were about to be. married. What then ? Rank and wealth can win no fairer prige than beauty. She was very charming, and had a good deal of that downright American common sense which a Russian Prince, in sight of possible revolutions, might have found of considerable value. It is that harmless sort of smartness which consists of saying nothings pleasantly. She would have made him one of the popular princes ' in Europe had he married her, and hashed up a few bygones, as such things are easily hushed up in despotic countries. She was a conciliatory, agreeable woman, who would have guided him to high destinies, and herself have been capable of any sacrifices ; she would have done wonders of heroism in time of public trouble. ; THE MORAL. It is not a just sentence to pronounce that a young woman's antecedents shall < stand for ever in her way. PRINCES MUST BE GENTLEMEN. A Grand Duke must not play false

with a woman because she is a doubtful character any more than he might cheat a blackleg. He may refuse to have anything to do with such persons-; but if he chooses to hold intercourse with them Ms dealings should be conducted on the same principles which regulate the conduct of a high-minded gentleman in all the relations of life, and he must treat them in the same upright manner in which he behaves to other people. It is an amazing argument in the mouth of a prince and a aoldier to say that he keeps worthless company in order to behave without integrity towards his companions ; and if he wishes to act honorably — as, no doubt, the Grand Duke Nicholas did- it is a disgrace to a great nation that he should have been prevented from doing so. THE DUKE OP CAMBRIDGE. in England, has done so under precisely similar circumstances, and so did the Archduke John of Austria. It did not deprive them of their place in the esteem of their fellow-countrymen, but rather raised them to greater heights. The Duke of Cambridge is Commander-in-Ohief of the British army ; and when all the House of Hapsburg-Lorraine were hurled down from power/ the Archduke John was elected by universal suffrage as Administrator of the Austrian Empire, not because he was an Imperial Prince, but because he had married an innkeeper's daughter, and dealt honorably with her. AMERICAN CHIVALRY. It is said that some Americans are mixed up with this Russian story ; if so, we need not blush for them. It is no shame to admire a beautiful woman in distress, and to show something of chivalry — something of goodness in her defence. I should not be so proud as I am of my connection with the Americans . if I saw them all turn their backs on a lady because a political policeman had been instructed to tease her. All is well that ends well, and let no one be surprised if the future Grand Duchess Nicholas of Russia hails from Connecticut.