The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-04-01

anu HII ner 10 the very lofueSt pinnacleS
of European society
Every thing American was excluded
from the scope of this campaign The
aim was to make Elsie French a Paris
ienne. All the factors were in favor of
this plan. Edward Tuck no longer con-
siders himself an American. His house is
a meeting place for Europeans. He es-
chews the American colony. His coun-
| trymen are not favored with invitations
| to his house. Few Of them know of the
| splendor in which he lives.
His is one of the most magnificent Of
| the few great private hotels in Paris. Its
| decorations and furniture are like those
of royal palace. Any museum in the
world would give a place of honor to the
pictures and other art subjects with
which it is graced. It's owners equipages
are among the finest seen in the Bots,
and his livery is worn by scores Of SER
wants.
Besides his Paris mansion Mr.. Tuck
| owns Malmaison, the famous home to
which Josephine would fee with Napo-
| leon when the cares of state and court
bore too heavily. It was here the Empress
| lived after her divorce, and it was the
| home Napoleon loved best of all his pal
aces.
Mr. Tuck purchased the place about six
years ago, and has had it restored and
beautified to such an extent that no chat
eau in France rivtls it, The rare trees
| and shrubs which Napoleon brought from
| other lands are still there. So are the
| statues he brought from Rome Malmai-
sons new owner has spent fortune in
| converting it into an enchanted ia ace
The grounds have been fitted with an ell
ectric system which enables him with the
touch of button to transform the whole
place into fairyland Of light and 5ea lty.
1t is Mr.. Tuck's custom to give large
dinner parties out of doors in these gard
ems during the summer, SURF rounded by i
party of mobiles They will make ficquen:
visits to the Exposition-for Mall s'eon
is only an hours ride from Paris Such
are the influences that love lorn Alfred
Gwynne Vanderbilt must fight against.
Sympathetic Americans confess that the
outlook is blue for him. Against the daz-
zling splendor, the distinction, the Old
World chivalry with which his sweet
heart is encomDassed he has but one
weapon to wield-millions, more Millions
still more millions.
What are millions to Elsie French?
She has been taught to look upon them
with the contempt that familiarity
breeds. She knows the things they can
not buy far better than common folk of
small means
And her uncle has fostered this spirit
in her, and even encouraged her to be-
hat MILL hay leray in
cumberance, beneficial only when the en-
able an American gentleman to live like
a prince in Paris, or an American girl to
choose Datrician for husband
For the Vanderbilts. as a family Mr..
Tuck has very small regard. He is old
fashioned in his views of New York So
ciety. His lines of caste belong to the
period of fifteen or twenty years ago,
when the VanderlJlts were not acknow-
lodged by the aristocracy of New York.
OF the commanding social position they
have won since he is ignorant, and pre-
fers to remain so. He is as Indifferent to
their present eminence in the 400 as he is
to their millions.
His sister, Mrs. Francis Ormond French
holds other views. She knows the society
of New York and Newport. 1t is her ele-
ment. She has remained in it all her life
She knows how powerful the Vanderbits
are and how exalted must be the lot of
the reigning queen of the illustrious tribe.
But her arguments are of no avail
against her brothers disdainful convic-
tions, and the indications are that she is
swimming with the tide, no longer potent
as an ally for Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt.
said that Alfred Vanderbilt's millions are
his only weapon. Has he not an ally in
the heart of his girlhood sweetheart?
Heighol IT'S a mad world messieure-
a mad tickle, woodland Elsie French
would be a heroine indeen if she were
proof to the intoMcation of Paris. Her
friends say that she os heart-free, and al
ways has been. They deny that she ever
entertained more than girlish fancy for
the admirer who is now the richest and
youngest man in New York society, and
one of the greatest matrimonial prizes in
the worlds lottery.
They do not deny that this same girl
ish fancy would have led Elsie French
to the altar if the fateful visit to Paris
had not interviewed. Indeen, they admit
young people had been warm and sincere
from shildhood, and might well have laid
the foundation for an exceptionally hap
Ply marriage.
But that has all passed now, they say.
Elsie Frenchs views of the world, for
veal or woe, have been broadened, and
such a flood of new interests has swept
into her life that Alfred Vanderbilt's i'm
age has been wiped out. Besides. they
whisper that she is somewhat of a CO.
quette by temperament.
1t is sad to record the jilting Of an ire
proachable young man worth hundred
millions 1t would be almost inconceiv-
able if the jllt were any other than Elsie
French, to whom millions are a bore and
the homage of mobiles a delight.
She is encouraged in her revolt against
the old attachment by her sister. the Hon.
Mrs. Herbert Eaton, one of the most
beautiful and successful of American wo-
men in England the wife of Col the Hon.
Herbert Francis Eaton. OF the Grenadier
Guards. brother to Lord Cheyelsmore.
Mrs. Eaton is an ornament of the smart
society of London and a favored guest
at MARLBOROUGH House. The brilliancy OF
her position has helped greatly to turn
the mind Of her younger sister in the d.
rection Of a foreign alliance. Elsie French
has in past seasons been Mrs. Eaton's
guest in London. and a couple of years
ago was presented by her to the Queen.
r.