The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-10-28
A spUSKY pRINA DONNA.
A Love Romance and an UnkinG
Father.

! Father.
In April, 1860, while the young and love-
" daughter ofthe Earl of D--was enjoy
| Ing her usual afternoon airing along the
Gladys Mile" her fan dropped from her
hand over the side ofthe carriage, and she
ordered her coachman to stop and recover
as quickly rs posSible.; but before he could
descend from his perch a gentleman of re-
Splendcnt black whiskers and immaculate
costume appeared at the side Of the vehicle,
and with courtly bow presented the fan.
| A blushed "thank you, SIR rewarded the
act, and the coachman was directed to head
his horses for Belgrave Square; but the
Earl's daughter carried home in her bosom
vivid mental photograph OF the knight OF
the fan, and could not help fancying that
something in the expression ofthe fine black
uuaintuncc. 10 employ the term best I'M
| derstood by her sex, she was, in fact,
" struck" with his distinguished appear
ance, and couldn't get him out OF her head.
! 1t was one of those cases of instantaneous
| infatuation which are quite as common with
the gcntler as with the Sterner sex. The
young lady drove in the park at the same
hour on every succeeding afternoon OF the
week for the particular purpose OF catch
| All her efforts to that end, however. proved
vain until one evening. 1T the Royal italian
| Opera, where she accidentally dropped her
lorSnette from her box. Upon that excl
ting occasion several whtc-cravated GEN
tlemcn sprang to pick up the pcarl-and-gold
biiou but there was quicker before them
all, and the lorgnettc was presented by the
whiskered unknown of Hyde Park. Our
susceptible heroine bluShed celestial rosy
red as she received it, and the dark-eyed
cavaliers gave her such look Of homage III
the act that her own eyes dropped prcttily
under the ardent glance. Bowling grace
fully, the unknown retired to 4 station at
the back Of the box, and there worshipped
with his look until the performance was
over. For month after this, several
Silent interviews of the kind took place. I'M
til ut length the peers daughter felt her
right hand Slightly clasped one evening AZ
she was stepping into carriage from the
! opera-house, and on recovering from her
alarm found a sealed note in the hand thus
abased. In Il moment she had guessed who
the writer was, and had scarcely patience
to gain the privacy of her own room before
ascertaining its contents. The miSsive was
written in a fine Italian hand, and the wri-
ter avowed his honorable passion in the eX-
aggerated style natural to fellow-country-
man Of the Cencis. He called her his idol,
the light of his soul, the star to be worship
| ped from atar by the idolatrous wretch who
dared not to draw near. The English of the
| wording was justly eXecrably bad enough to
heightcn the romance and suggest angeli-
| ciZed marble villas beside the murmuring
Pc. He should "kill HIMSELF" said the
knight, if mladi did not conceal a I" lectle
nota !" for him in the folds of her fan, OH a
certain night, and manage to drop it torh him
as she entered her boX ut the opera. She
| did so and thus began a secret correspond
ence which ended in her promise to eope
with the man. She had repeatedly cndea-
vored to gain some information respecting
his rank, though not until it was too late to
save herself; and when he assured her that
peculiar but not (lishonorable circumstances
| rendered can open courtShip impossible .
she could only give him his own way. An
| other month passed on, and upon certain
afternoon the young lady's carriage return
ed to Belgrayia without her. For better,
for worse, she had joined her adorer at Il
railway station, and gone with him to the
nearest Gretna Green. They knew each
other very intimately in sentiment, but now
the fond foreigner had such hard facts TO
disclose as came near throwing his lovely
captive into q sWoon. Sinking upon his
| knees in the inn Off the village to which they
had come, he confessed that he was hrer
out of hand-organs to the more needy OF his
countrymen about London In horrible
English he abused himself unstintedly for
daring to pretend to SO fair and noble a hand,
and offered to escort his victim back to Lon
don, if she desired, and then cast himself
headlong from the top of the monument in
shocked, but had gone too far to recant so
she gave him absolution from his sins against
her, and went with him to a clergyman.
Next day there was q sensation in fashiona-
| bic circles because the Earl Of DIS
daughter chad run off with an Italian
Count whose membership in the Roman
Catholic church had made him distastetulto
| her noble parents" Such was the Court
Journals neat way ofputting the case. AZ
ter writing a friendly account Of her meSal-
lance to her family the young wife made
hasty sail with her dotine husband to Italy.
She found that her new relatives there We're
not all patricians, by any means but they
| received her with great respect; and rs
the eN-organiZer was the tenderest of lic9e
| lords she managed 20 pass joyous honey
| moon. Before 90 settling down for good"
| however, she wrote another letter to her
father for forgiveness, and thereby threw
that noble lord into fresh paroXysms of
wrath. lie sent j crushing answer, refu-
sing to longer recognize her as child of his,
and heaping curses upon her and her Italian.
Like sensible English girl, our heroine
took this all very philosophically, and sang
merrily ira, Ia, II, to the music ola guitar
until the peculiar purity and freshness of
her voice attracted the critical attention OF
her husband. He called in a celebrated
maestro to hear her sing, and was rejoiced
to learn chat his wife had voice worth a
fortune to her. A good master was ut once
secured for the lively lady; she studied the
Italian language and artistic method with
avidity, and, ut the request Of her lord, con-
sented to sing in public. AS 4 result, the
whole city went wild with enthusiasm over
new dtua, and she received an invitation
to become second chant euse at La Scala. Ac-
cepting, she gained such series oftriumph,
that her husband was frantic with mingled
pride and JOY. On the occasion of her ben
eft he eyinced this spirit by giving grand
supper to the d,lettaati Of Milan, retired to
his bed in an exalted state of intoxication,
and died Of apoplexy before morning. His
lady buried him with sincere sorrow, and
was hardly conscious Of what would be her
next step when she received an offer of an
II