Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1875-02-19

ooCdiuC du ootdUllSuctt ldCt tudt Jig lcaI
Twas Russian Princess. ams
r. After a few days of seclusion, she voucl
tsafed to make her appearance at the tabl
d'hote, and retired with the rest Of the |;
: dies to the Sale DIES Danes afterward
Then it was that the baron exhibited h
\ Unborn as well as his inherited nobility
he attended to her little wants, placed he
an armchair by the fragrant wood fire
. and, on receiving her thanks. in his mothe
tongue-his parents pride had no doub
prevented him from learning any other
he entered into a respectful and COURT
conversation with her. There were plent
of other men in the room VINO could hav
done it; but the baron was naturally tn
ittest person to begin, and will give hin
lcredit for boundless self possession t.
call it impudence
The acquaintance thus begun grew will
Ia tropical rapidity. The cold northern
temperature softly but quickly thawed be
meath the warm rays of Italian sweetness
and light. Fragments of their talk occa
sionally reached the ears of my wife ant
others who could understand them, from
which it appeared that their main topic
was the opera. s
'sAh, madame, ''1he was interpreted tt
me as saying eff could but be honore6
with your presence in my box at Florence
| The music would be angelic Them
''The signor does me great favor in ex
pressing the wish.''
Yes; it was clear that he was hard hit
and that she knew it, and had no desire tc
dismiss him. And yet she was in no point
guilty Of indiscretion, forwardness, OF co.
quetry. in my opinion.
"That woman" said my wife, sis abo-
minable! Look how she hunts that poor
man down. suppose she fancies Sicily a
nicer country than Siberia, OF wherever it
is she comes FROM"
"Well, my DEAR" replied, ''it seems to
me that the hunting is mutual. Really, l
don't see why he shouldn't marry her, if
they both like it,
''She may be mere tuft-hunting adven-
turess, for all we know, y said she. 81 don It
believe in herr
'Well, but perhaps he knows more than
we do.'
81 don't believe in her bit. She's
hunting him down for his wealth and title,
and is as much princess as I AMP
The season was now at it's height, and
every room was occupied, the very last
attic in the Hotel du Bon Vivant being
secured by German count, the Count
Sigismund Won Borokopek. He put down
his name in the visitors book like a man,
and his whole demeanor was frank, open,
and robust. He was extraordinarily fluent
in English, as well as in French and Ital-
ian; German, of course, was his mother;
tongue, a few dialectical peculiarities no.
ticeable in his pronunciation arising, he
explained, from the circumstance of his
being panRy of Austrian, partly Of Hun-
garia1f origin, the Borokopek estates be-
ing in the vicinity of Tokay.
We now numbered about eighty guests,
and began to know one another pretty
well; but somehow the count knew us all
better than we knew one another, before
he had been week among us. He was a
big, burly, fair man, go thoroughly British
in appearance and in his general charac-
teristics as to render it difficult, but for
his proficiency in other languages, to be-
ieve that he was not a Briton born. He
had knocked about the world good deal,
he said. OF the forty years he lad passed
in it, twenty had been spent in travelling.
half of which time, he had passed in Eng
land, and good deal of the rest in Anne
RIGA. Russia, too, he was acquainted with;
aud on the strengtho of that he introduced
himself to the princess, and was evidently
as much disposed to admire her as the
baron himself. sa p fs
Indeed, before very long, the attentions
paid by Count Sigismund Won Borokopek
to that lady began seriously to disturb the
serenity Of the Baron Monteggiana-1 aver
nellie; and in proportion as their rivalry
progressed, so did the interest and amuse-
ment of the company progress with it.
"My dear Charles said my wife, ''isn't
she abominable now? She's a regular fiirt;
and at her age. too!-forty, if she's day.
And after entangling the baron, to go and
egg on the count, and all in public. too!
It's bad enough to make love in public at
all, but to do it to two men, one after the
other-I say she's simply abominable!''
"Well, but, my dear,'' I expostulated,
''they are both making love to her at the
same time. You see, the counts castles
are much nearer to Russia than Sicily is,
SO, perhaps, she prefers to become Mrs.
Count, &C., to the other thing"
Those of us who were not in love with
the princess began to wish the absurd
affair at an end. The lady was most uns
fairly fair to each; for she gave each of
them enough encouragement to make them
savagely' jealous of one another, without
going far enough with either to give the
other any grounds of complaint. But for
her beautiful eyes, would compare her to
a tableou Uiud,,t Of Justice holding the
scales, 1 can, however, safely liken her to
Helen; for she was setting by the ears not
only the two most interested individuals,
but also the whole world about her; and it
wanted but a spark to commence a confla-
grafton, certainly an explosion, between
those two.
We had an American at the Hotel du
Bon Vivant, a quiet, thoughtful man, too
much Of an invalid to talk mnch, and very
reserved in his manners. We little thought
that the dreaded spark would be dropped
by him; but SO it was.
The Baron was describing to knot of
us, including the count, as we were loung-
ing in the entrance-hall after luncheon, his
Syracusan villa, with it's exquisite gardens.
The American was listening with his usual
air Of abstraction, and quietly interposed a
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