Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-09-22
IN LOVE WITH VICTORIA.

Chicago Record: A curious love tale,
in which the only principal was a British
! commoner named Hunnings, the object OF
his affections being no less a parsonage
than his future queen, has come to light.
1t was a year or two before Queen Vic
"toria's coronation. Hunnings was about
25 years old, and lived with his father, a
wealthy landowner, in a beautiful house
overlooking kensington Gardens. where
every morning, as regularly as the clock
struck g., he could see the fair Victoria
strolling down the walks. He soon fell
desperately in love with this charming
wearer Of muslins and blue ribbons. h
policeman, somewhat alarmed at his as
siduity. looked into the matter, but it did
not take long to discover the true state
of things, and, convinced he had no muir
| derous intentions, they decided to say
nothing but INIT themselves to keeping a
close eye on the aspiring youth.
Hunnings, at first content with regard
ing her royal highness from his window,
began shortly to follow her in the park
! alleys, contriving on scores of occasions
to address to her the most profound rev.
erences, so that ultimately the princess
attention being attracted to the young
fellow, she took him for a beggar. A
month or so afterWard, however, she dis
covered her mistake on seeing this lden-
teal youth no longer satisfied with fol-
IL" ILl6 llCI Ii l1Cl "Lincy 1A6 oAo"AS
behind her each time she. went out, and
in a carriage exactly like her own, except
for the coat of arms. Seriously offended,
she demanded to be delivered from the
| young mans i~mpertinence. Hunning now
realized that the critical m had ar
rived and heroically determined to de-
clare his passion. Accordingly he set
himself to write a most incandescent
| epistle, skiing the hand of this royal
hpiroSC This letter after having been
copied and recopied, was finally dis
! patched to the palace, Of course, only to
be Intercepted.
But Hunnings needed more than that
to dampen his ardOr, so, after waiting a
| suitable length of time for an nswer, he
dispatched another still more eloquent
| and again another. What was his as
tonishment and DELIGHT two days after the
third had been sent to receive a letter
| signed in a round, girlish hand, "Victo-
| ria" The letter was short but most sat
isfactory, informing him that his affec-
tons We're reciprocated, but that the
Duchess Of Kent bitterly opposed the
marriage; inploring him to wait patient
ly and vowing the writer would never be-
come the wife of another. In the mean
! time would he place his letters In a cer-
| tain corner of the park, where she would
go herself to get them?
Hunning, so carried away was he with
this good Jews. never dreamed for a mo-
| ment that 1t was only the work of a cruel
Jester; and for months this c~orrespon-
| dence continued, the letters becoming
more and more ardent. until the day of
| Victoria's coronation, when he wrote a
sublime missive making a sacrifice of his
love on the altar of his country. From
| this day his condition vas incurable. One
| day at a charity. bazaar, finding that a GER
ltain piece of fancy work made by queens
own hand had been sold before his ar
rival he fell into such a rage that by
ISLANDERS suggested putting him in a
straightforward. and not long afterward
he fell desperately i'll. He died in 1899,
before he had time to know Victoria's en-
gagement to Albert OF Saxe-Coburg, and
up to the last he believed himself loved.