The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1881-04-20

- 49, A~~~N@ A~A@~A
name was Shepperd. She is a relation of the
Shepherds of ~shepperd and Dennis, of Belle
Savage Yard. Her father supplied Gore
House with the beverages consumed at the
table Of Orsay and Lady ~Blessington, was an
easy creditor, and, to oblige that noble pair,
lent money to Prince Louis Napoleon.
The Gore House set, if a little hy-bloWn,
was brilliant and intellectual. Mr.. Shepperd
had a French wife, and q very pretty and
very lively daughter, who was quite a child
when Compile d'Orsay On Sunday used to
parade his fine person il Hyde Park. The
baptismal name Of the youthful Miss Shep-
perd was Nina. Her parents came with her
to live altogether in Paris when Louis Napo-
leon rose to be prince president Of the French
republic. Nina was at this time we'll on in
her teens, q wonderful linguist, dancer, gym
mast, and a clever sprite in conversation. She
was very small, and although now a blonde
with a luxuriant head Of pale-golden hair,
had then a profusion Of nut-broWn tresses
which harmonized with dark eyes. AS Mr..
| Shepperd was the best customer of the wine
| dealing firm with which he was connected,
the surroundings Of the young lady were not
always worthy of her beauty and accom-
plishments. She was left a good deal to her
self and to q certain Mime. Cabarras, an init
mate friend of Emile de Giradin in his first
wife's time, and she profted by her liberty
to make a serious conquest of Louis Napol-
con, who, in various ways, showed bis graft
tude to Mr.. Shepperd. France has a narrow
~escape-if escape it can be ~called-of seeing
the young Nina raised to the imperial purple.
AS Miss Shepperd was a girl Of clear and dis
corning intellect, and endowed with the gift
Of rapidly assimilating the ideas which cir
culated around her, it perhaps is to be regret
ted that she was not destined to ornament the
imperial throne. The emperor, after PREFER
ing Mile. de Montijo to the half English girl,
who, on her mother $ side, belonged to mold
Auvergnat family, helped on a match be-
tween her and Vicomte Edgar de BrimOnt.
This sprig OF Fcanch nobility was in the
champagne business, which took him to Ep-
ernay and Chalons. AS these towns were
dull, and the camp not far off, Vicomte Ed
gar went with his charming young wife a
good deal there. It was to be expected that
the amiable and grateful emperor should
notice them. They had many cousins on both
sides IN the army, occupying high positions.
Colonel the Prince de Bauffremont was a rel
alive of the Vicomte, and General de Montau-
ban Of the vicomtesse, who became thorough
ly at home in the camp, and the channel
through which patronage flowed. NJ. Girar-
din declared himself %courtier of the pretty
little ~vicomptesse and has remained faithful
to her ever since. Her success gave rise to
burning jealousy at the Tuileries, and to mis-
conception and injustice on the vicompte's
part. He suddenly quarreled with her and
left her never to return. The emperor tried
to shield her, and when she was at Chalons,
away from the feminine Camerilla Of the
Tuileries, was glad to see her and her rela-
tives, and to hear from her lips clever con-
versations on political men and situations.
She recommended his majesty, in an ably
written letter, which was found in his desk
previous to Sept. 4, not to attempt to gain
men who had won fame in the Orleans camp
but to look out for undiscovered talents, and
she was good enough to furnish him list of
young Journalists in which she thought he
would find the stuff for deputies and minis
tiers. They were, Of course, a little wild and
hot in their opposition to Cesarism but she
reasoned that when they were brought into
close quarters with the governmental ma
Chine, they would be sure to modify their
ideas, and to become more practicable. Nj.
Clement Duyernois was pointed out by the vi
comptesse as q mallable and very clever Jour
nalist. She also took the just measure of M.
Clement Laurier, who was the pivotal mem
Der of a democratic group, including Roche
fort, Gambetta, Floquet (Who IN marrying
got out of the lady's reach), Louis NOR and
Edouard Portals. Nine. Brimont was on as
good terms with Prince Napoleon as with his
cousin, and is still one Of his political advis-
ers. She has been during the last fifteen
years a great deal in the society Of Turkish
pashas, in compliment to whom she furnish
ed her apartment in the Turkish style. There
is not a chair or sofa in her ~draWing-rOom.
All the seats are made Of cushions piled up-
on each other, some Of which are as large as |
mattresses. Last winter she gave a Turkish
ball at which the numerous male celebrities
and the ladies whom she invited came in orr
entail dress. Nine. de Brimont, like her
friend, II. Portals, adopts the republican
cockade, but her republicanism is elastic, |