THE EX-EMPRESS EUGENIE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2528, 27 August 1902, Page 66

THE EX-EMPRESS EUGENIE.

As the world knows, ihe father of the once beautiful and , brilliant Empress of the French was a Spanish nobleman, Don Cipriano Palafox, Conde de Teba, Marquis de Montijo, of the bluest blood of Andalusia. He was past his youth, was blind of one eye, and grievously crippled by ithe bursting of a. gun;, but he was consfdered a most desirable husband for Maria Kirkpatrick. the daughter of a Scotch wine merchant who had settled in Malaga. Maria Kirkpatrick was as ambitious as she was lovely ; and when her husband) took her to Court she created an immense sensation. She became first Lady-in-Wait-mg to the girl-Queen Isabella. When her widowhood made it needful for her to retiro into private life, she a&ked for a Court appointment for her elder daughter, afterward the Duchess of Alba ; while she took the younger girl, Eugenic, with her on a lainble through Europe. Ambitious aa she was, she could scarcely have pictured ti herself even in the wildest dream, the height to which Eugenic was to be raised — unless, indeed, she believed in a prophecy^ uttered when the girl was about 16. It was soon after the marriage of the Quchesse__d'Alba, and the Marchioness de Montijo and her younger daughter were re-j-idiug in. Malaga. Eugenic had gone ; one. day to the convent of the Annunziatato seer a relative of hers, Dona Viracca d'Azeonda, take the veil. Her aunt, Eminanuela de Teba, and one or two other ladies accompanied her. After the service, her feelings wroight up to a pitch of xeligious fervour, Eugenic wandered alone into the scented shadow of the magnolia trees bordering the old garden. The nightingales^ were singing amid the roEes : Granada is one of the loveliest places on earth, and that dim garden is the loveliest spot in Granada. The Aye Maria bell broke in upon the' stillness, and for the moment the. nightingales ceased their song. Eugenic flung herself upon her knees. She alsowould be a nun ! What could the world hold half so precious as seemed just then that convent peace? The Due d'Ossuna, one of the richest grandees in Spain, had asked her hand, pnd she had half consented to marry him. As she knelt under the magnolia boughs sh= thought of her suitor, of all he could effer her, of the splendid future which might be hers for the taking. "No," shs sobbed, " I will resign all this, which is of the earth earthy; I will be the bri-rc of Heaven." Just then a hand was laid on her shoulder, and a very aged nun spoke in her ear. 'My child," she said, "the calm, of the convent is not for thee. Thy destiny is a great one : p.*eat in power, great also in suffering. A Crown will be set upon thy brow, and yonder lies the land of which thou shalt be Queen !"

She pointed to the snows of the Sierra, ' dazzling against the blue of the sky. Eugenic looked silently at the aged face, and ai the trembling hand pointing northward. "Thou art thinking me mad; }-et I speak but the truth. Neither the wife of the Due d'Ossuna nor a nun shalt thou be, but a Queen ! And may God help thee to bear the weight of thy Crown .'" Weeping hysterically, Eugenic repeated those words to he» mother. Madame de Montijo tried to treat the matter lightly. The nun was crazy, doubtless, and Eugenia over-excited and nervous. But the proposals of the Due d'Ossuna were declined, to his immense a nazement. For what was the child waiting? he wondered. Was ifc likely the granddaughter of William Kirkpatrick would ever have another such offer?

Ten years later the Emperor of the French presented his bride to the people. They were standing. Emperor and Empress, on the balcony of the Tuileries where Louis and Marie Antoinette had stood, and the Crown jewels of France glittered on the bright hair of the Spanish "adventuress."