Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-01-26
vanity

tiIdl IL WAS udHSSIOQS W WOuilQ u NILS
vanity.
Trouble Began to Brew.
Moving to the outer circles Of the court
there was young man Of the petite no.
blesse, or landed gentry, who had known
her from child. In the country his pater-
nal holding adjoined the farm on which she
spent her girlish summers; so that the two
young people had enjoyed that kind Of fur
tive friendship for few years that might
be winked at by the ambitious parents of
poor girl in the case Of q promising partt
When they found themselves together
again at court the old friendship was READY
to ripen Into sentimental attachment. II
therefore happened that the lady was able
to support the royal deSertion with GER
tain tranquility. Little by little the gossips
who had been chuckling over the fall OF the
favorite began to whisper that the favorlte
was consoling herself.
Here was an opportunity for Charles Fer
dinand the First to show himself king
Kings have a correct way of acting, even In
their least honorable doings. When IA
vorite Is to be cast off. the doctrine OF
noblesSe oblige preScribeS that she should
be provided shelter. For unmarried girls
complaisant husbands are obtained. In the
case of a wife, to the existing husband is
granted honors and good place. while the
third party who consoles is favored as one
helping the king out of difficulty.
Although a king, Charles Ferdinand prov
ed himself a canaille, for instead of con-
graduating himself on the new turn of
events, he allowed a miserable jealousy to
lead him on to an abominable act. 1t is
true that he had abandoned the lady; he
had left her to combat with her own made
quate resources, the reproaches of her hus-
band and the witticisms of the court; and
he had every means of assuring himself
that she entered into this new friendship
kind of refuge from his own neglect
The wretched personal vanity of equity
king, weighing 200 pounds and measuring
as much around the waist as around the
hips and as much around the hips as
around the inflated chest, is something
which must be counted with in Lisbon, how
ever. The King of Portugal meditated re-
venge.
kingIy Revenge.
Not since Shakespeare's Iago Is there to
be found a record of revenge to compare
with this one for Infamous cynicism. Send
ing secretly for thde physician, now no
toriously unbalanced by long brooding over
his wrongs, the jealous king deliberately
unfolded to him the story of his new mis-
fortune. No divorce detective could have
made more circumstantial report to his
employer. He gave the distracted husband
dates, addresses and, they say, even photo
graphs of intercepted letters. Then. after
a signifca ant discourse his wounded
honor and the only means of clearing 1t,
he dismissed the man. ripe for assassina-
ton and sure of immunity.
They say that the distracted husband
went directly from the palace to the shop
Of dealer in firearms He purchased
heavy caliber five-shot revolver loaded 1t.
and made for the spot indicated as the rem
devious. There. on a quiet side street.
near church and in sight Of the hospita!
in which he had for years devoted himself
to the relief Of suffering. he shot down like
a dog the young man just as he was In the
act Of helping the lady into carriage
Three shots took effect, and the victim feil
stone dead. The assassin spared his wife
and calmly walked home, unmolested, with
the revolver in his hand.
Within an hour the assassin was put
under arrest, and by a special order OF the
public prosecutor-as If the thing had been
foreseen-he was conducted to the little
used prison of the Fort do San Juliano for
safe keeping. 1t Is to this precautlon that
he probably owes his life today Tor the
mob that gathered after the funerai OF the
victim allowed itself to be discouraged only
by the obvious impossibility OF penetrating
such fortress, and 1T was at this funerai
that the spontaneous Indignation OF all
Lisbon that has disturbed even this cyni-
cal king first manifested itself.
The Lisbon papers have not dared to do
more than record the bare facts OF the kill
ing and the arrest, with an account OF the
interment and a eulogy OF the deceased.
But the other papers Of Europe have not
felt called on to observe the same ret1cence-
From st. Petersburg to Madrid. and from
Constantinople to Paris, one great cry or
Indignation has gone up from t1e pupiic
press, and lie ro-bravo has earned a title
that will stick to him for life.
Defiance Of the King.
The demented physician had not been in
the prison Of the Fort San Juliao single
day before he received the visit Of an off,
Ger attached to the kings person. The
visit was made in the kings name. on the
kings behalf. And 1t is here that the
cynicism Of the royal bravo shows itself
most obstrusively, because the visit was
made without any attempt at secrecy. In
stead, the news Of 1t flew over the capital
as ii deliberately published with purpose.
Tbs defiance Of Charles Ferdinand to his
people Is. therefore. put clearly and unmis-
takably. His instrument of revenge, the
unbalanced physician. Is not to be acquitted
on the ground of insanity. He is to be ac-
quilted without any kind Of STAIN as If he
had accomplished a painful but honorable
task. 1t is notice to all the world that, in
his love affairs. there is one king still left
who brooks no shadow Of rivalry, whose
vanity is SO fierce that 1t cannot bear the
thought Of a successor. 1t is notice to the
fair ones of Lisbon that hereafter when
they have yielded to the inevitable, they
must be prepared to live on the remem-
brance Of It afterward.