THE BAIT OF TITLE.

Free Lance, Volume XIV, Issue 720, 18 April 1914, Page 4

THE BAIT OF TITLE.

How a Bogus Count Plays Havoc Among the Heiresses. EVEN in Italy, where counts are plentiful as flies, if not as plentiful as fleas, a title still attracts foolish women. A counterfeit Count I/e----panno Battista Decavicchy knew this weakness of the fair, and flew boldly at high game. He received hundreds of love-letters from; society girls, including one princess. He became engaged to an heiress in Milan, and might have married her had he been by instinct anything but a common thief. He persuaded the girl to join in the pretence of a burglary in the paternal palace, to .hand oyer her mother's jewels and to sign titles of exchange. It cost the family a trifle over £4000 to avoid scandal; but the "Count" has been arrested, so that other silly heiresses are for the moment safe. In New Zealand, where titles are few, we don't bother much about them. We accept as mere commonplace the fact that the Governor should be an earl. If a bogus count got hold of a New Zealand girl and tried to persuade her to hand over the sugar tongs and the cruet, she'd call in the police.