Countess and Pianist.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIV, Issue 5, 2 February 1910, Page 62

Countess and Pianist.

ATTEMPT TO (ARBY OFF YOUNG NEW ZEALANDER. AMAZING LOX E ROMANCE. FOLLOWED ACROSS EUROPE BY INFATUATED WOMAN. “PINNED AGAINST WALL.” (From <>ur Special ('or respond ent.) LONDON, December 17. “Will anyone who saw a clean-shaven Dian pinned against the wall outside Frascati's Restaurant by a handsome and weU-drossed lady on Tuesday, November 30, about midnight, communicate with Mr. Biden Steele, solicitor, 11, fiSt. Martin's Court, Westminster.” Behind this cryptic advertisement, which appeared in a London paper this week, lies an astonishing romance—the story of a Russian Countess’s infatuation for a handsome young New Zealand pianist, and of her attempt to “kidnap’’ him. Air. Magnus de la Laing, the pianist, is the son of Mrs. G. Laing-Aleason, formerly a well-known resident of Wellington, and now living in this country with her son. Magnus, who adopted the Dame de la Laing for concert purposes, is just 21 years o»f age —a slim, goodlooking youth with pale features, lustrous eyes and a wealth of waving red lia.ir. He first appeared in London two and a-half years ago, giving a recital at Bechstein Hall. Since then he hius played in Italy, in Denmark, and in Austria, as well as in many parts of the English provinces. He was in the middle of an English tour at the end of November when the strange event referred to in the advertisement above occurred. As a result of what happened, hii< engagements for the next fortnight have been can celled. PIANIST’S OWN STORY. The story of the Countess and her infatuation lor the pianist is best told in Air. de la Laing’s own words: — “I was a student,” he told me, “studying under Leischetzky in Vienna when I linst met the Countess. She was very kind to me then. 1 wish she had remained as she was when 1 first know her. It was not until I started to play that she became infatuated. “When 1 first went to Italy she follow'd me. She used to nit in the front row of stalls at my concerts and stare at me. It made me horribly nervous. “Afterwards, I studied in Berlin under Busoni and visited England. During this period she did not bother me, but no sooner did I id art my concerts aga in, this time in Copenhagen, than there she was. She seemed always to know where I was to perform. “I got away from her, and seven months ago 1 came to London. It was not, however, till my concert at the St. James’s Hall that I saw her again. I never thought oho could behave as she •did that night, after the concert outside the Frascati Restaurant. “Ever since that incident, and another night When she drove me round and round in her motor car, imploring me to go away with her. 1 have felt as though I wore shadowed, and that I must make my escape from her. “IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE* “One thing 1 must say. She was so kind to me at one time that I do not 'like to nay anything about her now. When >he implored me to go away with her she mentioned Vienna, Paris, all the capitals of Europe, and offered to give any mother anv reward if she would lot mi 1 go. But I told her it was impossible. I said, *1 simply will not do it!’” This amazing woman, the Countess, i« • bout 35 years old, with dark hair and beautiful features. It is said that she •belongs to a noble family with large estates in Russian Poland. She hemelf lives in a charming villa in Vienna, and is noted there for hei lavish hospitality, it was in Vienna that the Countess fell xiulently in love with Magnus of the liistrom eyes an 1 waging auburn locks. She seems to have rcsolveil to follow the mail she loved all over Europe, and to spare neither time, money nor effort to bring him to her side. But it was in J/ondvn. just a week or two ago, that matters reached a climax. FOLLOWED TO LONDON. Magnus de la Laing had arranged to <ivc a recital in the West En<l of London <>n November 30. but an injury to bia arm him from carrying

out hiu intended programme. Rather than disappoint the audience which had tussembled, however, he appeared and played a number of simple A'rs. As he was phiying Magnus allowed his gaze to wander over the audience, and suddenly to his astonishment and—ehall we say?—dismay, he discovered, sitting in one of the front rows of the stalls, his A ienne.se admirer, the Counters! She had followed him to London, found out where and when he was playing, and thus rediscovered him. Alfter the concert Mr. de la Laing and his mother and two lady friends proceeded to Frascati’s, the well-known rest a urant, for supper. The Countess followed, and took a seat at an adjoining table, and it was when the pianist and his companions came out of the restaurant after supper, that the incident referred to in the advertisement occurred. The Countess followed the party out into the street, and addressing the pianist’s mother, asked that she might be allowed a few minutes conversation with her son. Consent was no sooner given than the infatuated woman seized the young man by the shoulders, pinned him against the wall, passionately declared her great love for him, and Legged him to elope with her. After some struggling he was freed from the lady’s embraces and hustled into a taxi-cab. Jumping info a hansom cab the lady gave (base, but the pianist and his party turned down a side street and so eluded her. It was past midnight when the scene outside Frascati’s occurred, and it was witnessed by a large crowd. PASSIONATE LETTER. After this incident letters pased between the Countess and Mr. de la Laing’s mother. The Countess wrote next day in these passionate terms: — “You prevented me from finishing the conversation with your son yesterday. “Well, the evil be on your shoulders. “It is absolutely useless for you to jealously guard and shadow him. “I love him with a love you cannot fathom, and will die sooner than give him up. “I can give him everything that wealth can procure. “Send him to me, and you shall find a great reward.” All her oilers were, however, refused. But though frustrated the Countess was determined to make another effort. WILD AIIDNTGHT DRIVE. The next evening Mr. de la Laing was to join a party of friends in a box at the Alhambra. As he was waiting outside the Alhambra for his friends, the Countess dashed up in her motor-car, persuaded him to drive with her. and. instead of setting him down at his destination. whirled him round and round London hour after hour, till not only the time of his engagement passed, but till midnight struck and the early hours of the morning came and went. It was mad, wild, passionate drive, the Countess imploring the young pianist to elope with her, the latter resisting all entreaties. “It is no use,” he says, “I cannot love her as she loves me.’’ At last, finding all entreaties useless, the Countess set him down in the Hampstead Road, miles from his home, and drove off. leaving him to walk home. His mother, greatly alarmed by her son’s disappearance for all these hours, decided to place the whole matter in the hands of Mr. Biden Steele, who is now endeavouring to trace the Countess. In consequence of the strain which these sensational events have placed upon the nerves of the sensitive young artist, Mr. de la Laing's engagements for the next fortnight have been cancelled. As soon as possible the pianist will go into the country for a brief rest, and then visit friends on the Riviera. “A DANGEROUS WOMAN* All this may sound very like a chapter from a sensational romance, or the worldly wise may see in it merely the artful hand of a clever and imaginative Press agent; but both the young pianist and his riot Ik r assure me that tire facts are aw I have heard them from their lips, and as I have set them down. 1 had a long conversation with them both this morning. At first I had been in<linod to think that an exaggerated view of the matter had been taken, but 1 quickly discovered that the mother was genuinely distressed about the sensational turn which events had taken. “The story is not exaggerated,” she said to me, “however extraordinary it may

sound. I admit it reads like wild romancing, and indeed if 1 had read such a story about anyone else 1 do not think I should have believed it. We are not used to anything of this sort in New Zealand, are we? But everything happened just as stated. Our friends have been very kind and sympathetic about it, but I am really very worried about what the woman may do next, and my son feels as though he were being shadowed all the time. No wonder it is getting on his nerves.” “Yes, it is horrible,” said Mr. de la Laing. “I feel her eyes fixed on me when I am playing, and whether I play in Italy or Denmark, or in England, there she has been amongst the audience. I never know’ when she is going to appear. If she comes to my next concert 1 am sure 1 shall not be able to play.” “1 feel sure she is a dangerous woman,” said the mother. “If you had seen how she went on that night outside Frascati's you would have thought she had gone mad. She grabbed hold of my son and pinned him to the wall with her hands, and jabbered at him in half a dozen languages, imploring him wildly to go away with her. And then the wild letter she wrote to me! You have seen what she said. Imagine offering a mother a big reward to part with her son!” I sought a description of the Countess. “She is very good-looking,” said the mother. “A well-made, handsome woman, wtih dark hair, straight eyebrows, a Jewish type of nose, delicately shaped, and a square resolute chin a woman of great determination, 1 should say. She was stylishly dressed, all in black, with a sealskin coat, on the night I saw’ her at’Frascati’s. She appeared to have plenty of money.” Air. de la Laing and his mother hope that the fact of the case having been placed in a solicitor’s hands, and advertised in the papers, will deter the Countess from continuing her futile attempts to kidnap the object of her infatuation.