THE GRAND DUKE’S DIAMOND GIRL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4217, 25 September 1874, Page 3

THE GRAND DUKE’S DIAMOND GIRL.

(From the Neiv York Herald.) Paris, July 6, 187-1. 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 Ckosars, bad festival lights shone over so much beauty and renown. It was carnival time, when pleasure is halfprivileged to take wider than usual, in order to prepare for the terrible rigors 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 crabbed. Under the pretty dominoes and graceful masks' which were fluttering about like the fireflies'of a Southern summer night were many of the .great Court ladies, with, perhaps, here and there a princess of the Imperial House of Romanoff, for, betw r een 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 WIDOW—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 at 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 w T as full to overflowing of youth and high spirits. So exquisitely perfect a piece of w-omanhood 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 aquiline -which denotes courage and resolution ; the mouth was wondroualy full and soft ; the upper lip small and formed like a bow ; her teeth were as living pearls, and her complexion dazziingly fair. Little feet, small hands, and taper fingers ; a figure which a fairy might envy. Sprightly words and laughter, which fell on the ear Jfike 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 some gentleman whom she wishes to tease or to mystify and to tell him some incident of his life which he fancies a profound secret, then to leave him puzzled and bewildered. The American widow was looking out for somebody ivhom she knew, in order to torment him in this way, when 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 pounced upon the stranger and led him away. What she said to him is only known to themselves, bnt 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 so racy and original. When this Russian heard it for the first 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 dx-awn 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 Constautinowich, nephew of the Emperor of all the Russias. They never parted afterwards for two years and a half. 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. She was the daughter of Dr, Ely, a Protestant clergyman of Connecticut, a man of some distinction iu science and letters. He was, unfortunately 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 hot-tempered, bigoted, and narrow-minded mother, who had taugnt the doctrines of passive obedience with a thick stick. Her daughter, however, had beeu 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. The Grand Duke loved her so intensely that he made her sign a formal contract iu 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 hot haste his messages to his beloved, and the telegraph wires between them were never still. He was a brave soldier, and he told her how he had fought and conquered ; how he had ridden through wild and morass, over moor and mountain; how his sword had gleamed iu 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 -won by a handsome young man of congenial tastes and temper, but gradually he had taken possession of her whole soul. The love him, kindled by his knightly deeds in distant lauds, his valor, his danger, ami his fame had passed into worship and become idolatry. He had been first her lover, then her hero, then her god. She watched over his honor as mly devoted women can do, and she kept his new glories bright. MISFORTUNE, SORROW, AND AN 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 ho called his “ home,” she now and then observed that he was under the influence of uncontrollable excitement. At eleven o clock one night he was arrested on her doorstep, and she has never seen him since. THE CHARGE. The ostensible charge against him was alleged to be that he had stolen the jewels of a star belonging to an image of the Virgin Mary, which was iu his mother’s bedroom, and which had been given to her by his father, in accordance with a Russian custom, on tho day he was baptised. The truth appears, however, to be that' these jewels were taken by his aide-de-camp, and that he generously bore the blame to save that young officer from disgrace. It was not likely that the Grand Duke would have committed tho robbery himself ; for he had no need to do so. He has a large fortune, and, as tho eldest son and heir to his father, will be some. clay entitled to a property of such immense value that any usurer in the world would have taken Ids bond for whatever sum he might have required. Moreover, the Grand puke is not a xapendthriffc ; he lived very moderately and allowed only §BOO a month for his domestic expenses. Besides, ho had received §50,000 from his bankers on the same day that the robbery was said to have been

committed, and the stolen jewels were valued at about §I2OO. 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 good-natured policemen, who seemed to be somewhat ashamed of the dix-ty 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 not flourish everywhere. REASONS WHY. Tho px-obahle reason why the Grand Duke Nicholas has been banished to the Caucasus, and why the American laxly has been expelled from Russia, is that there was good ground for believing they were aboxxt to be married. What then? Rank and wealth can win no fairer prize than beaxxty. She was very charming, and had a good deal of that dowxxright American common sense which a Russian Pi-ince, ixx sight of possible revolutions, might have found of considerable value. It is that.harmless soxt of smartness which consists of saying nothings pleasantly. She would have made him one of the most popxxlax* princes in Europe had he married hex-, and .hushed up a few bygones, as such things are easily hxxshed xxp in despotic countries. She was a conciliatory, agx-eeable woman, who would have guided him to high destinies, and herself have been capable of any saox-xfices ; she woxxld have done wondei's of heroism in time of public tx-oxxble. THE MORAL. It is not a jxxst sentence to pronounce that a yoxxng woman’s antecedents shall stand forever iu hex- way. PRINCES MUST BE GENTLEMEN. A Grand Duke must not play false with a women because sbe is of doubtful character any more than he might cheat a blackleg. He may refxxse to have anything to with sxxch persons ; but if he chooses to hold intercourse with them his dealings should he 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 iu the mouth of a px-ince and a soldier to say that ho keeps worthless company in order to behave without integrity towords his companions ; and if he wishes to act honox-ably as, no doubt, the Grand Duke Nicholas did it is a disgx-ace to a gx-eat nation that he should have beeu px-evented fx-om doing so. THE DUKE OF 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, bxxt rather raised them to gx-eater heights. The Duke of Cambridge is Commander-in-Chief of tbe 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 be 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 not blush for them. It is no shame to admire a beautiful woman in distress, and to ahoxv something of chivalry—something of goodness in her ‘defence. I shoxdd 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 surpx-ised if the future Gx-and Duchess Nicholas of Rxxssia hails from Connecticut.