BRIDAL ROBES AS HER SHROUD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 23 May 1936, Page 5

BRIDAL ROBES AS HER SHROUD

WOMAN WHO REVIVED WEDDING THAT NEVER CAME FADED LOVE LETTERS (By Air Mail—From a Special Correspondent) LONDON, 2nd May. On tlie 50th anniversary of the day on which she should have been married, a wealthy Englishwoman was found drad in :i villa near Barbizon, outside Paris. She wore bridal dross and was seated at a table laid for a wedding feast. The woman, Miss Nancy Wharton, had for some years lived the life of a recluse. She was found dead by the cookeharwonnui, who went to clear away according to her usual practice after her mistress had been left two hours at the dinner table.

On a chair at the opposite end of the table was a large oil painting of the young mail to whom Miss Wharton was* to have been married 50 years ago, and on a side table were a number of wedding presents. On the morning fixed for her wedding in a fashionable London church, Miss Wharton received a short note telling her that her intended husband had changed his mind and that instead of meeting her at the altar he would be on his way to the United States.

To help her to forget 31iss Wharton plunged into a life of gaiety hist afterwards took up politics. Shortly after the war she settled in France.

Meu were forbidden to enter her villa under any pretext, orders only being placed with local tradespeople on the understanding that delivery would be made by women or girls only. Each year on the anniversary of her wedding day it was her custom to have a meal served on the lines of tlral ordered for her wedding, covers were laid for the same number of guests, and the strict rule was that the cook should serve all the dishes and then retire before the entry of her mistress, who would take her place at the table wearing her bridal gown. Before retiring for the night it was her custom, oil those anniversaries, to read over the faded love letters she always kept with her, tied with silk ribbon.

She was seated at the table with a half-empty liquor glass and a haltsmoked cigarette beside her when death came.