LADIES COLUMN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5733, 28 November 1896, Page 3

LADIES COLUMN.

c miss colonia in loNpow. CONFIDENCES TO HER COUSINS ACROSS THE SEAS. [From Oub Correspondent.! LONDON, Sept. 25. Dear Cousin,— Tlio fino weather has returned simultaneously with the end of the holidays, and we are now enjoying a perfect Indian sunnnei*. Tho Czar and Czarina are in England this week visiting tho Queen at Balmoral, but the entire district is honeycombed with detectives, and very few outside the Eoyal and official circles have even caught a glimpse of their Imperial Majesties. Mrs X's cousin, whom I have before told you is one of the Queen's maid 3of honour, writes that it is painful to -witness the unfortunate young autocrats scared and fearful manner directly he has to face tho public. His eyes are always on the watch, and the least unforeseen incident causes him to start uncontrollably. For example, whilst driving over with the Queen and Empress to Abergeldie on Thursday, tho royal carriage, which bowls swiftly along, had to pull up short and sharp to avoid running over a cyclist who had managed to dodge both the out-riders and tho cordon of detectives. He was an absolutely harmless individual, and the police ridinpf behind whisked him away in a moment, but both the Czar and Czarina turned pale as ghosts, oui 1 gracious Queen, on the other hand, becoming scarlet with anger. There were "wigs on the. green" at Balmoral over thafc contretemps from all accounts. ARMENIAN REFUGEES. Though it is not in me to gush over many of the philanthropies of Lady Henry Somerset and Miss Willard, I have nothing but admiration for the practical manner in which they went to the rescue of tho Armenian refugees at Marseilles. The two were just starting on a muchneeded holiday, when they heard of the homeless misery and desperate condition of these unhappy folk. "Lady Henry," writes Miss Willard, " was very weary, and I am unwell, but directly we reacl the accounts of the scenes here our hearts were deeply stirred. I wish I could put before you tho sight of what we saw last night — a great, gre}-, barn-like room in a workhouse, light so dim that nobody's face"" could be seen save in outline, in the corner a group of thirty Armenians of all grades, from a bank clerk with his gold-corded cap to a wharf porter with heavy shoulders. All these men were huddled together on the bare benches, penniless and forlorn with bread and water only for food and a board to sleep on in this deadly poisonous iii*. Why were they here ? Because their devoted nation has cherished the name of Christ and held to purity of the home through all the centuries since, the Gospel came to man. We could not speak a word to them, but we smiled, and waved our hands, whereat tho good men rose, smiled, bowed, gave us a military salute with so much dignity, and the whole scene was one of such unspeakable pathos that we saw almost too dimly to make our way back to the streets. This morning we "have bestirred ourselves. Lady Henry has gone ant with the correspondent of the London Daily News whose letters brought us here. I'hey are to rent a warehouse, fit it up with sailors' beds, conveniences for wasliing, and to have supper ready to-night for Hie poor men. There are hundreds at Marseilles, and more constantly coming. lam going now to the Armenian consul to see if special arrangements cannot bo made to send many to America. Their cry is, *Oh send .me to America.' For forty years th ey have learned to love oiu* land through the missionaries who taught them, lifted them up with so much of knowledge and refinement that they are hated for then* acquire- < ments by the Turk, who is determined on J their extermination, and I believe that we, as Americans, have no right to hold ourselves aloof from helping England to protect them, since the horrors we have witnessed are largely the result of the work wrought in Armenian character and aspiration by some of our own best people." A LUCKY POLICEMAN. An idyl lof an original character has just ran its course at Eichmond. Tho heroine is an Irish lady of largo -possessions and long descent, and the hero a suburban constable. Mis 3 O'Neill, as the former is called, lives in a fine house at Chiswick, and has passed the first meridian of youth. According to her own account she was one day airing her romantic disposition and. vacant heart on Eichmond Hill when the latter (I refer to the lady's heart) was filled by 6ft 2in of policeman. It appears Constable_.ThoD-.as James Macfarlane had just stopped a runaway horse, and the ease and grace with which he performed the operation completely conquered susceptible Miss O'Neill. She dropped into casual conversation with the stalwart fellow, and the more she saw of him the more she liked him. The acquaintance ripened into friendship, and most afternoons or evenings Miss O'Neill drove in a hansom to Macfarlane's beat loaded with succulent, pies, strong waters and Hanava cigars.! Needless to say Macfarlane was not long in discovering tho direction in which these agreeable advances tended. He responded ardently, and in due course the hapj>y pair became engaged. Strange to say, Miss O'Neill's nephews were not at all pleased at their aunt's somewhat belated love, affair. They did everything they ' could to break off the match, and even invoked the help of the Chief Commissioner of Police. But it was no good. Macfarlane simply left the force, and devoted liis time entirely to lovemaking. In this pursuit he proved so successful that his adoring fiancee settled upon him the bulk of her Irish estates. The relatives gasped, but could do nothing. "What," said one of them, "is the sense of quarrelling with a man with a fist like a leg of mutton?" So Miss O'Neill became last week Mrs Macfarlane, and/bride and bridegroom are now honeymooning on the ex-constable's recently-acquired property a countess's jewels. On Saturday last the long and sensational trial of the brothers Luigi and Tito Malpieri for the robbery of the Countess Cellere's jewels in April last year, was concluded at Eome after lasting six days. The trial had created intense sensation all over Italy, chiefly on account of the discreditable connection with the affair of Luigi Crispi, son of tho famous Italian exPremier. The Countess is a lady wellknown in the Roman world of fashion. The proceedings opened with the usual interrogatory of the accused, who naturally enough denied all knowledge of both Countess and jewels.' Then the Court adjourned to the house of the prosecutrix, she being too ill to make an appearance at Court. The sick lady was subjected to a rigorous examination, and her story can be boiled down thus .- — She had a number of jewels which she wished to sell, and amongst those to whom she spoke about them was Luigi Crispi, who one fine day told her of a possible purchaser in ono Eevelli, who desired io buy a wedding present for* tho Duchess d'Aosta. The Countess obtained tho jewels from her bankers for Eevelli's inspection but \the price asked by the fair Cellere was too big, and no deal resulted. Her ladyship did not unfortunately return the gewgaws to the. safe custody "of .Frontinis, but kept them in her own care. Luigi Crispi who was a constant and < apparently very much favoured visitor to' the Countess's establishment, seems to have hinted that the jewels were a source of danger and once warned her thafc they might lead to her assassination. She, however, mocked at his fears. One day, however, the Countess discovered her drawing-room door open, and Crispi declared it had been forced. This tlie Countess did not believe, but to make sure • she examined her jewels in Crispi's presence. They were intact. Next day at Crispi's suggestion my lady accompanied him to Frascati, and in the evening, when they returned to Eome, a Signor Murulo dined with tho Countess. Luigi' Crispi visited hor after Murulo had made his adicux, and remained with the lady till midnight. Before he left he insisted on-

were any burglars about. He didn't find any, but when he had been gone but a few minutes the Countess heard a noise. Thinkiug that her maid was responsible, she called out, but receiving no answer sallied forth from her bedroom revolver in hand to ascertain tho cause of tho sounds. As she camo out upon the landing tho Countess heard the bathroom door closed, and rushing into that chamber saw a hand pull down the window from the outside. On the instant sho rushed down and roused the concierge, who brought the police to tho spot,, too ', lato, however, to capture the marauder redhanded. Deputy Barrilas, counsel for the prisoners, elicited in cross-examination of tlie Countess that Luigi Crispi had accused hor of arranging a bogus robbery in order to obtain money from his father, the Premier. ThoCountesssaidshocouldnotunderstand how ho could have dared to make such an infamous insinuation. The Countess also denied with scorn that she wanted to be mado a groat lady of the Court as a price of her silence. It was true that siie tried to sell to the Government somo antique mosaics and pottery, and wrote to the Prime Minister on the subject, but it was at Luigi Crispi's suggestion, and he actually dictated the terms of the letter to his father. Further pressed, the Countess said : — " Luigi Crispi was very agitated when I told him of tho robbery and of my suspicions. He said I was compromising him by my chatter, and that no one dare accuse the son of a Prime Minister of Italy of robbery. Another thing I must tell you and that is that, some days after the robbery, the Deputy Caetani di Laurenzana camo to me and proposed to pay me the full value of the jewels, but I refused." The deputy referred to is one of the most intimate of the ex-Premier's friends, and the statement as to his mission naturally caused a sensation. There was a good deal of hard swearing in the course of the trial, but, ultimately, Luigi Malpiori was found guilty and sentenced to fourteen months' imprisonment. Next week the Conrt will proceed to try Signor Luigi Crispi in, contumaciam. jilted princesses. ' Maidens of low degreo are by no means the only ones to suffer the indignity of being jilted. Not infrequently their sisters of royal blood are thrown over in the coolest possiblo fashion, and as their position renders it impossible for them to "take it out of" their fickle lovers pecuniarily, and the insult '■ is rendered doubly painful on account of the publicity given, the maidens of high degree are really rcore to be pitied when jilted than their humbler kindred. A princess who was jilted in a peculiarly brutal fashion by the present Emperor of Russia is Princess Helene, of Montenegro. She was educated from childhood at St Petersburg under the supervision of the now widowed Czarina,who also bore the expense of her education with the avowed object of fitting her for the position of Consort to the the future Czar. As soon as ehe was old enough Princess Helene was' affianced to the Czarewiteh, but though she was " divinely tall " and statuesquoly beautiful, Nicholas at the last moment refused point blank to mate with her. Accordingly Helene had to return to her father's court at Cettinge, and her false fiance shortly afterwards led to the altar Princess Alix, of Hesse. The jilted maiden was recently betrothed to the only son and heir of King Humbert, of Italy, Prince Emanuel Victor, who enjoys the not particularly enviable distinction of being the shortest scion of royalty in all Europe, his stature being inferior even to that of the dwarf husband of Queen Isabella, of Spain. He is, however, much more intellectual than the Princess's former fiance, and Helene may console herself with the knowledge that as wife bf the King of Italy she will, at all events, be free from the terrible fears wbich make the life of the Czar and. Czarina a misery. The Princess, however, is not the only lady of high degree who, being disappointed, in her expectations, in one quarter, found consolation in another. The Empress Eugenic, before becoming Empress of France, was jilted in turn bythe Duko of Sesto and by Prince Napoleon. The latter was officially affianced to her, but broke off the engagement in deference to the protest of his father, the ex-King of Westphalia, who, in a letter since made puhlic, told his son that Eugenic of Montijo, was neither as regarded birth nor antecedents a fit mate for the son of a King. Empress Elizabeth of Austria owes her position on the dual throne of AustriaHungary to the fact that Francis Joseph jilted her elder sister Helene for her sake. Princess Helene of Bavaria was betrothed almost in her childhood to the present Eraper of Austria, and was carefully educated With a view to fitting her for the proper discharge of her eventual duties as Empress. When, however, the time for tho marriage drew near, Francis Joseph fell violently in love with her younger sister, and insisted on renouncing his betrothal to Helene in order to marry the schoolgirl, scarce sixteen years old. It must have been a terrible blow to proud and ambitious Helene to see the Cinderella of the family carry off the man she loved, and-the crown she was to have-worn. However, she acted to perfection the part of a devoted and sympathetic sister, and appeared to rejoice at her sister's good fortune. The Duchess of Teck (luckily, as time proved) was forsaken by the late Prince of Orange, who used to be known in Paris by the nick-namo of "Citron." The official engagement had been announced, all the arrangements made for the wedding and the Prince had left The Hague for London, where ho was to remain until after the marriage had taken place. He travelled via Paris, and as Napoleon 111. was averse to the match, believing that an alliance of this kind would be detrimental to the interests of France, he caused the Prince to be environed by such a network of temptations that he could not tear himself away from the capital of France. Meanwhile, his English bride, the British Court and tho British people were waiting for him with an indignation which increased with every day's delay in his arrival, and when at length news reached London of a scandal in which he had become involved, the nature of which was purposely intensified by the French authorities and Press, her Majesty, insisted on vm explanation. To this the Prince replied tliat he no longer cared to wed Princess Mary, and in Paris he remained until the end of his days, his death being hastened by dissipation. The jilting of Princess Marguerite of Chartres by the Duke of Orleans was another bad case. Tended with the most loving solicitude by his fair fiancee during his incarceration at Clairvaux, he threw himself into such a vortex of dissipation on his release that his prospective father-in-law was compelled to remonstrate with him. The dnke took this amiss, declared that he had no intention of modifying his mode of existence, and wound up by announcing that he would, under no circumstances, marry Princess Marguerite. She has since become . the wife of the Duke of Magenta. Princess Sophia of Bavaria was deserted by the late King of Bavaria on tho very eve of the day appointed for the wedding, for reasons that have always been shrouded in mystery, the princess subsequently marrying the Due d'Alengon. Princess Victoria of Prussia, sister of Emperor William, was jilted by the late Prince Alexander of Battenberg a few days previous to the date fixed°for the marriage, the first intimation that the princess received of the slight inflicted upon her being the information that the prince had married someone else. Princess Elsa of Wurtemberg, a beautiful lyoung lady possessed of a vast fortune, was not long ago jilted by Prince Alfred of Saxe Coburg. JACKETS AND MANTLES. The popular "circular" cape has such merits that,.if it is destined to die, it will, asthe saying goes, " die hard." For some years it has held undoubted sway, but this season it is seriously challenged by the fitting capo ; tliat is to say, the back fits into tho waist, a contrast as often as not being afforded by extra fulness in the material at the. sides. . Any forecast as to

be rash, but thero seems no doubt that it will be a prominent vogue for the" present autumn. As for the trimming of mantles, it still remains as elaborate as ever. Passe--1 menterie was never introduced more profusely, or in more tasteful designs ; ostrich feather trimming holds its own, especially in the decoration of the collar — when, that is, fur does not take its place — while amore recent introduction are some new designs in silk chenille trimming, which is used more or less freely in both plain and crimped effects. Generally speaking the materials employed are much the same as in previous seasons ; velvet, plush, silk and fancy cloths of various kinds, have each their particular devotees. Matalass. lnaterials, too, aro suro to enjoy renewed popularity since they are produced in a multitude of beautiful effects. There is a distinct revival in the demand for jackets. The jacket last spring occupied the second place in a very marked degree, now it will run the cape very closely. There are several deserving novelties, of course ; butmethinks the plainer tight-fitting styles in fine faced cloths will be in general demand. In tho all-important question of tho sleeve I may point out that in size it has certainly diminished. Several styles have been produced, but the prevailing ene is a sleeve puffed at the shoulder, only the arm being ent more oi* less tight alter the manner-of a man's coat. Though fur as a trimming-for the collar has not been discarded it is introduced less often than hitherto, and where it does^iot appear one finds high collars, some of the very newest being cut in "battlements" and similar ways. j A COMFORTABLE WATERPROOF. j A desideratum, indeed, is a waterproof which neither smells nor renders its wearer uncomfortably hot. 1 have just seen a novel system of ventilating waterproofs adaptable to any make and shapo of " macker." The ventilation is effected by having a flannel lining inserted in the back which extends from the collar to the waist in an elongated shape ; between this and the waterproof exterior there is a cotton strip having a series of cords running down from top to bottom, which allow a free passage of the air to pass through. On the outside of the coat two bands of proofed material of the same cloth as the coat, and similar to the strip on a Norfolk jacket, completely cover the flannels, but are made sufficiently full to keep the orifices at top and bottom open, thus the movement of the wearer allows tho heated air from the body to pass into these channels and escape at the top, while fresh air is admitted at the bottom. There is also provision made for. ventilation in the armpits by the insertion of eyelets, which are protected on the exterior with a flap, which allows free vent to the vitiated and heated atmosphere. This system of ventilation has been practically tested. In one case a wearer who perspired freely walked several miles at a rapid rate, and it was then found that the inside of the coat was perfectly dry, whereas in a non-venti-lated waterproof he always found an accumulation of moisture. UMBRELLAS. The selection of an umbrella is quite an important function in the life of those of us who aspire to be considered well- • toiletted women. It shows just as clearly as the dress itself does the individual taste of the lady who carries it, and as a consequence umbrellas are produced every day with tho daintiest handles imaginable, from a plain stick to a rich and bejewelled handle, of which Dresden china forms a conspicuous part. A neat style amongst the hundreds I inspected at a big city warehouse the other day was a handle of buckhorn, with nose and collar in either gold or silver. Green partridge wood, and green-coloured woods generally, -will • enjoy much popularity this season, myall wood, scented and mounted with a plain ■gold buckle, makes a pretty handle. Mother-of-pearl, which had such a prominent place in days -long gone by, is once more " coming in " in the making of umbrellas, but the fantastic designs into which it is shaped are far ahead of anything that has hitherto been : seen. Another novelty, plain, but | pretty, was a range of stickß in i light polished ash ; when these are | mounted in gold tho result is highly j effective. Novelties in Dresden handles | thero are again, of course, and very beauti- | ful some of them are, and most women will, I think, find these irresistible. Another novelty in handles is to be found in a small gold or silver eagle on partridge cane. Ivory forms the principal part of some handles, and in combination with gold mounts looks exceedingly well. In several instances, of course, plated gold mounting is carried out to an elaborate extent, one stick I saw had a tapering gold handle eight inches long, beautifully chased with a design of fern leaves, while a shield occupied a place in the centre for a name or monogram. A quadruple ivory " pull down " handle graces another stick, and tortoiseshell is frequently used.