The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1875-03-03

1
Early in February the Belgian Am
bassador, M'dle comte de Bcyens, and
Madame Ia comtesse. kindly took
charge of Miss St. Clair to the imperi.
al ball at the TulIerics. She had nev-
er looked more charming than in the
exquisite costume Of pale. rose-colored
tailIe, with floating mist Of white
tulle, caught here and there by rose
buds that might have grown 10 Chrim-
bids garden. The airy figure, so
graceful in every motion, the well.
poised head with it's futter of shining
|,purls, the wonderful dark eyes, the
perfect eyebrows, the delicious little
mouth where iovo.seemed to nestle
when she had vanished "it seemed like
tho ceasing of exquisite music" Mad
ame la comtesse congratulated me on
her appearance, aud aftcrward on her
success. The emperor had distin-
guished her in a very, ,fattering man
ncr, and Eugenie, looking earnestly
at her, saidSto the eomtesse, Nothing
is so beautiful as youth, perhaps be-
ginning to regret her own. No one
had made SO decided a.sensation. )
AtMadame LIE. Forts next. recep-:
ton there was u sudden inanxfo of new
gucsts-a young Belgian baron of old
Historic name, slim and stiff as u po-
ker; q brisk French viscouht, who
told me that he had been connected
with the embassy at Washington, and
had quite fallen in love witllourinsti.
tutions; an Italiar chevalier, o Rus
sian prince. 2. .!afi sci ..4% r't,t ID
" Ugliness has its compcnsu.ion,f 1
thoughtI. Nobody makes such d fuss
over u pretty girl ut home (they are
not SO uncommon), and l will never
bring one to Paris again. Thank
Heaven we are going to Italy soon.
. The piercing Tramontare came
down upon us in the Bay Of Naples
with 80 fierce u blast that We doubted
if we we're not in Iceland, and were
glad to make our escape to Rome,
where wo found an asylum in the Ho-
tel de Mincrvc. not far from the Pan.
thcon. Many of the old palaces and
converts Of Italy have been trans
formed into hotels. This was the an
cieut palace Of tho princes Of Conti
1 was so captivated by the superb d.
uing-room that tho quality Of the din.
ncrs made but q faint impression.
What! cat In the presence Of all these
marble goddesses, looking down upon
US serene and cold, as if from their
thrones on the starry Olympus! Or
if I turned my eyes resolutely away
from Juno, Ceres aud Minerva, they
were snrc to be shared by the dancing
girls of Pompcii stopping out from the
froscocd walls, or inextricably cntan-
gled in the. lovely garlands of fruit
and flowers that wound their mazy
way alongthe borders. Il.
7 One evening while we We're waiting
for oneo Of thVehdless courses of a ia
blsd' hotel, dinner, my wandering eye
w@e caught by tho most perfect bu-
MIR bead I had ever seen. 1t seemed
thakSf the youthful Lord Byron. SO
we'll RHown in busts and cngravings-
|the saf1o small head with high-fore-
head and clustering dark; brown curIs
the perfectly moulded chin, the fnlI
ripe beauty Of the lips. The eyes
were a deep blue. but thought them
black at first, they were SO darkly
shaded BY the thick black lashes. l
am convinced that Byron must have
had just such eyes, for some of his BIZ
ISgraphers describe them as black and
others as blue. When he rose from
the table l saw slight well,knit fig
ure Of exquisite proportions, liko tho.
Geek god of love. fNot Cupid with
bis vulgar arrows, but the true. hcav.
enly Eros. 1 saw him once in the
Museum at Naples, and again at the
Vatican. Is it Love, or Death, or
Immortality? / quoried, and then ]
knew it was tho three in ono.) Isoon
learned that the youth whose ideal
beauty had impressed mo so strongly
was the Count Francisco dc Alvala of
Toledo in Spain. ! fancy, that his
eyes were as easily attraotSdto beau
ty as mine, for the next ds&Re was
my vis-a-vSis at table; not forEthe sake
of looking at me, 1 was we'll aware,
but account Of my beautiful neigh
Dor. However, he sought my ac-
quaintance with the grave courtesy
becoming q grandeo ofSpain, and nat
urally gained that Of Miss St. Clair
also. -..-.,.-. -.----.-----
/ 1t is the most natural thing in the
world to make acquaintance in Rome
People talk together of the things
they have seen or wish 10 see; they
20 to the same places by day, and in
the evening" they meet in the ladies
The Y1hg count never ailcd to
Join A)the evening. HsShad al.
ways 81 ething to show gsS prints of
bis house in Spain, articlsGof virtue
that he had bought, sketches that be
had made, for ho was good amateur
artist