A ROMANCE OF THE SECOND EMPIRE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11403, 21 April 1899, Page 7

A ROMANCE OF THE SECOND EMPIRE.

Tli© ex-Marquise de Paiva to-day, ComItesse .Henckcl do Donnesinarck, has her revenge. It is a costly and not very noble one, but she has succeeded beyond her most exalted hopes, t for a regular, caravan of •"gens da monde" has\jiisfc been organised to go and see the grand work of her vengeance. The Marquise de I'aiva, nee Tlierese Lacbmann, had her days of great splendour under the Second Empire. She had. left Germany, her native country, to escape from her husband, a poor tailor, Hen- Villung, who used to ■beat her regularly every evening as a fair payment for her daily flirts. Her beauty was great, and Paris seemed to her the very frame for it, and ,she arrived there at last, exhausted, ill, and faded, but not discouraged. One evening, owing to want of food, she fainted on a bench iii the Champs Ely-sees, and was picked up by a passer-by, who was no less than M. Hermann, the favourite pianist of Queen. Amclie. Louis Philippe's ■wife. . He took her to his house, fell in love with "her, and married her. all in n week, for Fran Villung had carefully omitted to mention her tailor husband. She insisted on being presented to the Queen by her husbandj who, however, entertained some scruples at the idea of introducing to his patron an unknown beauty whom he had picked up on a garden'seat. He tried his best, though, tat in vain, and I'herese, seeing that ho was not able to help her rip, coolly left him. Almost at the same time the'monarchy of July'fell, and. unit bio to bear this'double shock, Hermann died of sorrow. ■ For a few years no one knows -what became of Hermann's widow, but she re- . appeared on the scene very soon after the Accession of Napoleon ITT. She was then completely free, for her tailor had passed away also, and she found a third fool to marry her, a Portuguese Grandee,' the Mar guis Aranjo de Paiva., who laid at her feet his .large fortune! and, according to her desire! built for her on the Champs Elysee's, just opposite the very bench on which she had fainted, the. magnificent Hotel Paiva, which became one of the curiosities "of Paa'is. ,

Now the time had come when she could at last see the coveted doors of the Tuileries open before her. Eugenic had aione of the narrow prejudices which rendered' Queen Amelie so disagreeable, and she was sure of her triumph. Madame hi Marquise, who was more dazzling than ever, prepared herself with a feverish joy for the gfent event, and she was a sight for the god^ when she1 ascended the grand stair case leading to the Salle dcs Marechaux, followed by murmurs of admiration from the men and jealous glances from the women. ' ' . . : But her success was to go no farther, for at the door an.,usher advanced toward the couple, took the cards from the Marquis's hand, and, turning to . the exultant lady, said, in a not too law tone of voice: "I. am afraid, madame. that you nave made a mistake;" this is'not the right door for you." Paiva blanched to the lips arid dragged away his enraged spouse, who swore that one. day she would enter the Tuileries quand meme. They say that the Empress, who' had met the Marquise once or twice in the Bois, had made up her mint! that such a lovely woman should not come ■to her Court to eclipse her own beauty, and Iliad given orders at the kit moment not to let her in. - . . , , ■ Aranjo de Paiva died, and his widow sold her properties' in Paris, where she felt that her star was on the decline. Most of the proceeds went to her-creditors, "but still she was beautiful, and apparently possessed the mysterious charms of the magicians, for "she. found a. fourth fool to marry her, the Count yon .Donnesinarck, who brought her an immense fortune. •'..-■. \ Now', with- his money, in the middle of a wild Silesian steppe, .Madame la Cointesse has built >a .palace which is an ' exact cony of the Tuileries, outside as well as inside.: Sheihas her Throne Room, and there she receives the tourists who coriie, not only from the neighbourhood, but from all .parts of the country, even from Berlin, to see this, marvel. She accepts their ;homage in the grandest style. Then, after the first compliments, she graciously descends from §er , exalted seat, and say* :'"'Now,. I will show you the r.o.oms of our poor' Empress. X have made them a worthy! •sqnvqiiir "of the dear lady" She leans on her, tall ivory stick, for she is 75 now, and proceeds along, a passsage, at the end of which is a door which is opened by an usher in the dress of the Second Empire. A dr&idful smell at once startles the visitors, and there, m the .apartments exactly copied from those once occupied by the beautiful Empress of the French, they see a herd of pigs of all ages and breeds disporting among the feniture. . Madame de Donnesmarck laughs heartily, no one dares say anything, and she .takes her guests downstairs to a grand lunch, which is prepared'every, day for those who tihoose to come, provided they arrive in good style and. in a carriage and pair. This- is her revenge.