The Cecil Whig., 1885-05-30
EUGENIE'S RIVAL.

Some of the Inside History of the Married
Life of the Last Napoleon.
The Countess de Castiglione, one of
those ladies who played sensational
part during the Second Empire, has writ
zen and is going to print her memoirs.
They will be rich and racy, for the Count
ess knows deal of court life at the Tuil-
cries and Compiegne and of the goings
on of her own fast set. When she came
to Paris the Countess was in her Goth
year. That was i'll 1875, aud Infortu-
nately, as she has always declared, she
came too late, for, had she done SO a few
years earlier, perhaps she-and not Ell
genie de Month have been selec.
ed by Napoleon III to share his newly e.
tablished throne. Not being able to be-
come the mistress of the Tuileries, she
contented herself with becoming that of
it's MASTER whom she fairly brought to
her feet at fancy ball given at the pal
ace.
The imperial laison soon became known
to everybody in Paris except the Empress.
Napoleon used to arrive in a plain coupe,
which would drive up in front of the Of
flee of John Arthur, an English house
agent, and on stepping from his carriage
would pass through this office and out by
eating with the vestibule OF the house in
which the Countess lived. One day M.
Pietri, chief OF police, discovered that
some Italian conspirators had arranged
to lie in wait for him in this alley and
went and tod the Empress all about his
discovery. Eugene sent for Napoleon
accused him of liaison with the Count
ess, and he stopped going to the Rue
CastigIione; only, however, to ride out
to the Rue de l., Pompe, where Il pretty
little house had been lifted up for his
Jien uimee. This street is almost at the
very edge of the Bois de Boulogne. The
Countess did not quit her residence in
the Rue Castig clone for this little box ut
Passy, ard it was only used as place of
rendezvous by the two lovers whom Ell
genie hid tried in vain To sep. .ratc.
The Empress was becoming more and
more jealous Of the Countess, and finally
at St. Cloud, where certain sovcreigns
had gone to pay u visit of courtesy, the
feeling of bite, nes, culrr mated in Il
grand scandal. When The soverei gus en-
tered tie room all Of .hc ladies present
arose from til eir seats. with the single
exception OF Nine. dc Cast'glione; there
upon Eugenin Went 20 the Empcr or
and declared that she could bear it no
longer, and " ould leave at once fer ScoG-
land. The next day, while holding II
council, Napoleon received a message
from his wife to the eject that she intend
ed to come in aud explain i'll person to
the ministers the reasons which prompt
ed her abrupt dep arturo.
The Emperor sent one OF his chambar
lains to stop her, and he authorized that
official to resort to any means that might
ie necessary i'll order 20 prevent her full
filling her threat. The chamberlain, find
ing eloquence of no avail, quietly left
the room and turned the key in the lock.
| Eugessie, noticing that her bell remained
unanswered, set the window curtains on
fire. In the meantime the Emperor had
dismissed the minst arS, and he now came
in persun TO yeiievc his wife and thank
the chamberlain, which he did most
| warmly, for having so literally carried
| out his ORDERS AS the Empress refused
4 to be pacifed, he consented to her pay
/ irg a visit to her cousin, the Duchess OF
! Hamilton, in Scotland, and 1t was not
1 until he had formally promised to get rid
/ of the Countess de Castglione that she
1 consented to return to Paris. The prom
Use was kept, and for awhile the Countess
! absented herself from the capital. On
1 her return she initiated another loya
\ mistress, Nine. de Ia Valliere, and enter.
! ed a convent; but as, unlike Louis XIV,
| Napoleon III did not go after her, she
was soon tired of playing the Purital
| and returned to the world aTain.
No one knows precisely when her me
rnoirs will appear-perhaps not during
her lifetime, as they are Gel tain to con
tain many pointed illusions to Mathild'
and Jerome Bonaparte and to other liv
! ing persons.
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