Miscellaneous.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 10645, 26 June 1897, Page 6

Miscellaneous.

ROMANCE AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE.

IOW A STALL OIEL HARMED A PBBSIAN PIUNCE. Mrs Kaßr-iSultan, who used to be Hiss Prances Blaclsman in j?en ton's .vory woi-ka at the tlrystal Palace, has now left Persia after a vory romantio existence for the past few years, and is 3ti her way to London and her English relativea, Her atory has been alluded to in the English papers before, very briefly. It is well worth amplification, and we givo tho following facts From The Young Woman- When the late Shah, Nast-l-diu, visited England, hn was accompanied by a wealthy and noble relative, Nasr-i-Bultanj and this gentleman, during his rainbllngs about tioudon found himself in the neighbourhood of Sydenham, enamoured by the oharma of one of the Palace stall-girls. That was Frances Blaekman, He bought more trinkets from her than an afternoon visitor does usually j he oamo the nest day and bought more; the same thing happened the third day, and Mißs Blaokman soon learned it was herself and not her wares that attracted. The gentleman was a i*rindo with untold wealth ; he lived In a beautiful Eastern land, he was her devoted, constant, slave ; she had but to will and he would do ; and so on ad infinititm, the admiration always punctuated with costly giftsi The upshot was that asr-i-Sliltan proposed rudrriagDj Be was accepted, end then— he feproseiiciii^ himself at the ceremony as a Frenchman tkey woddtd by the Raman Oatholic Church to tiio tfegioninfl; of 1890. Nasr.i-Saltsn did not return with his Sovereign to Persia. He stayed in England with his young wife, of ivhotu lio waa extremely. fond. They had a flat at Hyde Tori! Mansions, visited much, atayed long at Torquay* and altogether life to the bride was a happy, delloious dream. But in 1882 there came a Royal command that the Persian must return to Persia. NasriSultan — let it be said in extenuation — had evidently never intended going back to his native land ; ho was n man of cultivation, and of European inclinations, and preferred Torquay to Teheran, TTnder pain of forfeiting his property, however, he was obliged to obey the Shah's orders, and, of course, his English wife soon discovered that Hasr-i-yuitsn had three other wives, and she was the fourru. Them wo/c scenes, protestations, Rnd explanations', upon which it is not necessary to dwell. When ifc \yas known among the Britishom oi; Tflhersn thai one of their oountrywomon was in a harem, there was considerable excitement. E'og'.ish ladies visited her, and after a time Nasr-i-Sultan conceded to European custom, and invited English gentlemen to the house. A fow months ago N»Br-i-Sultan died rather suddenly, much to th(! Rrlei of hia young wife. . On reaching her house at Da )lur, she found that her husband's eldest son, Abkl-;» Sultan, who W»a jealona at hia father having settled so' much money on his little boy by an English mother, had seized everything, and sealed all the doors. Bubi Khouan broke the Beals. Sho was, however, mado a prisoner, nnd twice there were attempts to poison hei 1 and tho child; their, lives being saved by Dr Scully, an English doctor having been called in by some of tho faithful servants of the nnfortunate ! woman, It waa seen by the British j Legation that certain much Interested relatives would bo benefited if tho two were pnt out of the way, and so Sir Mortimer Durand sent the Legation golams to Da ltuss, They foroed an entrance, and brought the young woman and the little boy to the Legation, where Lidy Durand extended a much-appreciated hospitality till matters quieted down a little. She is now coming to London with her son, but he will have to return to Persia when he reaches the age of twenty-one' if he wishes to inherit the immenas fortune left to him.