THE DUCHESS WASN'T PRETTY.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2785, 20 September 1910, Page 6

THE DUCHESS WASN'T PRETTY.

Th-i Duke aid Duchess of Connaught hive frequently visited almost eery part of our Empire, and been enter'ained with great ceremony. On one such occasion a State ball was given in their honour in Calcutta, and durinj the evening a young subalt rn who happened to be present Baw a young lady drop her fan, and harried it to her. This led to a conand presently the young otfeer lemarked: "I wish I knew whi.h was her Royal Highness, for I hv e heard such a lot about her." M What did you hear?" asked tL« lady. "Well, various thinga," he replied. "It seems that she is rather n'ci-loo'ing, though not exactly ire ty." A.ter a pause, ue added : "But may I have a dance''' The lad/ agreed, but asked him foi his card to write her name herself upon it. He handed her the card, and when he received it back he saw, with some surprise, that 1 pon it were written, "R.N.L.T.N.E.P." Towards the end of the evening he dis-co-ered, quite by accident, that the lady with whom he had been dancing and whom he had thought so charming, was the Duchess herself, in those honour the ball had been given ! And it was not till he reached home, and had puzzled for some time over the curious name she had given upon the card, that he discovered that the letters formed the initials of the sentence in which he had described her to herself: "Rather nice-looking, though not exactly pretty !"