The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-25 00:00:00

A ROMANCE OF REAL LIFE.

The Roman correspondent of the Morning Post,
under date Dec. 12, tells the following strange
story :—On Nov. 10, 1860, there arrived at the
Hotel de l'Europe, in this city, a gentleman and
lady coming from Naples, who engaged apartments,

and gm-0 their names as Mr. Kenriek and Miss

Gray, his stepdaughter. The gentleman was a

hale, elderly man, and the young lady handsome

and of a fine figure. He was 62 years of age and
she 28. Shortly after their arrival an English officer
from Naples, who had just left Garibaldi's British
Brigade there, joined them at the Hotel de l'Europe,
and after spending a fortnight in Rome with them,
left for Florence. After this officer's departure Mr.
Kenrick and Miss Gray lived a very retired life in
the Hotel, where they were as economical as the style
of the establishment allowed ; but after three months
residence in it without their ever asking for a bill,
the English proprietress of the hotel, Mrs. Melga,
gave instructions to her secretary to send them in
their account. Mr. Kenrick repaired to the secre-
tary's office on the following day with the money
required, but he stated that, as the last remittance
he had received from England was not of the amount
he had expected, he should be glad to defer the pay-
ment of his bill a little longer, if not inconvenient.
The secretary made no difficulty, and the credit was
_ _

renewed for some time longer, Mr. Kenrick con-
tinually saying that he was expecting remittances
from England, and that he was surprised and indig-
nant at the remissness of his relations. After

several months had elapsed, Mrs. Melga was advised
to apply through a solicitor in London to Mr. Ken-

rick's family, or to their legal adviser, and through
the communications which ensued sbe became ac-

quainted with the following history of her guests.
Mr. Kenrick belonged to a most respectable Welsh
family, but he had £0 little talent for the adminis-

tration of his own property that he had squandered
nearly £lOO,OOO, leaving his wife dependent upon
the will of her father, a very rich man, who, how-
ever, on his death, left her only £5,000 instead of the
bulk of his property, as had been expected. Mr. Ken.
rick, becoming bankrupt, left England and went to
Lyons, where he speculated in silk, and became
partner in a manufactoty, but with no success, as
after six years' residence in that city the firm was
declared insolvent, and he, disgusted apparently
with commercial undertakings, left France to join
Garibaldi's legion, which was then besieging
Capua. It appears that Mr. Kenrick on this occa-
sion again
,fell in with Miss Gray, a misguided
young lady, although belonging to a respectable
family, with whom he had previously been inti-

mate in Eng'and. How or why she was atNaples

is not clearly ~pecified, but sbe immediately joined
Mr. Kenrick there, and came on with him to Rome,

as already stated, but on account of this liaison, Mr.
Kenrick's usual remittances from his wife's rela-
tions were suspended, and Mrs. Melga was in-
formed that no money would be furnished to
him until he should return to England and
alone. Mrs. Melga offered to supply him with the
sum necessary to reach England, and to send a
person to see him safely there, provided his rels-
tians would guarantee the payment of his liabilities
to her ; but they declined this proposition, and a
subsequent appeal made by Mrs. Melga to Mr.
Kenrick's daughter, Mrs. Robert Roy, the wife of
a wealthy clergyman, living near Boston,in Lincoln-
shire, in behalf of her father, remain unanswered.
In this way matters went on until the month of
August in the present year, and Mr. Kenrick and
Miss Gray felt that, with no prospect of being able
to pay their bill, their stay at the hotel must bo
brought to a close. .An arrangement was made by
which their trunks and passport were left in Mrs.
Melga's possession, whilst they went to take a tem-
porary lodging in a little country osteria or tavern,
about two miles from Rome, on the Monte Mario
road, opposite the church of St. Onafrio, where
they lived in the most economical manner. Mrs.
Melga drove out to see this unfortunate couple seve-
ral times, continuing to supply them with money as
their slender supply became exhausted, but without
receiving any letters or prospect of succour from
England. Mr. Kenrick was very much dejected at
his position, but Miss Gray affected to be indifferent
about it, saying, as she looked down from the lofty
eminence they had selected for their place of refuge
upon the Tiber windit, g below, " When we cannot
get on any longer, we shall tie ourselves together,
and plunge into that river." Mr. Kenriek said if he
could get to Naples he wt's certain of obtaining as-
sistance or employment amongst his friends and
acquaintances there, mentioning at the same time
some of the principal English residents, with whom
ha said he was intimate. Mrs. Melga, on due reflec-
tion, determined to aid Mr. Kenrick in effecting
this change of scene. Mr. Kenrick, however, had.
much exaggerated the availability of his connections
in Naples, so that he and Miss Gray would have
been in abject beggary had not Mrs. Melga once
more come to their aid by sending them a letter
of recommendation to a rich merchant of Naples
(Mr. Pitken), who supplied them with money,
and became answerable for their board and
lodging at Mrs. Corby's English boarding-
house on the Riviera di Chiaja, whilst he set on foot
a subscription among his own friends to form a fund.
with which to enable Mr. Kenrick and Miss Gray
to return to England, such being the course recom-
mended to them by everyone. It was in this state
that Mrs. Melga found matters when she went to
Naples to visit her married daughter there, about
the 20th of November last. Complaints were made
to her, on the one hand, of the obstinacy of her
proteges in refusing to go to England, whilst they,
on the other hand, complained of the cruelty of
sending them back like paupers against their ex-
press wish. On the evening of the 25th of Novem-
ber Mr. Kenriek and Miss Gray called on Mrs.
Melga, the son-in-law of the latter and a Neapolitan
gentleman being present at the interview, which
lasted from eight to ten. Mrs. Melga, urged Mr.
Kenrick to adopt the plan suggested to him, as
from his age and his ignorance of the Italian lan-
guage it would be impossible for him to find em-
ployment in Naples. Mr. Kenrick appeared at last
to acquiesce, but Miss Gray strenuously opposed
from beginning to end the return to England. This
'infortunate couple then left Mrs. Melga—Mr. Ken-
rick thanking her warmly for all she had done.
From what subsequently transpired they must have
gone directly to the public gardens of the Villa
Reale, on the sea-shore, where, the cafe being still
open, they took a glass of rum or rosolio. They
then climbed over the low wall of the villa, where
a semi-circular space overlooking the sea is furnished
with stone seats, and descended on the beach, where
round,and her, Mr.
Kenriek
ankles, and
filled Miss Grayit
irettine
with ,
with sand
is shirt, his waistcoat, and
ahnd stones, Miss Gray supplying the necessary
tied
the rw
dressaist
effecting the same purpose beyoafit.lsliintegvetlsiewbsom of
i
ve . s together round the waist with their
strings and tapes from her own dress. They then
tied themselves
pocket handkerchiefs, and deliberately lay down to
die in the sea, which at that point is not more than
two or three feet deep. They had tie resolution to
endure suffocation, and their corpses were seen in
the transparent water next morning at daybreak
by a fisherman, who, having apprised the authori-
ties, measures were taken to establish their identity,
and after a post-mortem examination, to show
whether they had taken poison also or not, they
were interred in the English burying ground, Mrs.
Melga's son-in-law taking upon himself the last
offices of charity towards the unfortunate deceased.