Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-16

1t is a gigantic sum, and Peter Goelet would
probably have taken a ct If he could have
foreseen this day when he was scrumping
and saving at the sign of the Golden Key
in New York, and laying the foundations of
the Goelet fortunes. If all accounts be
true, however, his great-grandchild is not
going to feel this immense outlay to any
extent. 1t is said that since her marriage
she has not spent one-fifth of her income
and that her expenditures this year will be
more than covered by saving on the interest
on her fortune from the time she became a
duchess. So much for the shrewd-and emf
nently Scotch-counses of the duke, now
no longer enforced.
1t would be rather surprising, however il
Roxburghe did not feel good deal of sat
isfaction over the changes that the duchess
already has made and the far greater ones
which she IS planning to make in the an
cient seat of his ancestors, though he would
have none of them at the outset. He con-
sidered that it was not in the fitness of
things that a woman's wealth should re-
deem mans estate, which was another
original point of view in nobleman. Bit
the promised visit from the Prince and
Princess OF Wales furnished the duchess
with an excellent excuse for getting her
way, just as she since has obtained 1t In
the matter of entertaining in town. The
expenditure, she urged, would be regarded
merely as a proof of. commendable loyalty
and devotion to the reigning family-and
so the American money began to fly.
Should the royal visit take place there IS
little doubt that the Laird of Roxburghe
will enjoy showing the Waleses how the
Innes-Kers were in the habit of receiving
rrJe in, ha
his kith and kin We're among the greatest
families In Scotland. And even should the
Prince and Princess of Wales again post
none their visit the refurnishing and re-
furnishing of Floors Castle will not have
been wasted, for the ancestral seat of the
Dukes of Roxburghe has long been in need
Of thorough overhauling.
~
The castle was rebuilt by Vanbrugh In
IT'S. and, though he also designed Blenheim
Palace and Castle Howard, he regarded
Floors as his chief d'oeuvre. This huge
white palace of the Roxburghes stands on
the bend Of the river just above the little
town Of Kelse. The gray ruin of Its abbey,
with the Norman arches and broken but
tressed choir rises in the very center OF
the town close by the bridge that spans the
mingling streams of Tweed and Teviot. II
would be difficult to find in all Britain
faifer desmesne, and 1t is quite understand
able that the American duchess should see
fit to lavish even SO colossal a sum In re-
storing the dominating castle to its ancient
splendor.
A holly bush in the park marks the spot
where King James II was killed in 1850 by
the bursting of a cannon. Here the duchss
is laying out a garden of which the tree Is
the center and there are to be fountains
after the style of those IN the gardens of
Versailles.
AS for the redecorating and renovating or
Floors Castle itself. that is in the hands OF
Nd. Boulangor, the famous French designer,
who has carte blanche. He took possession
of the castle some time ago, and carloads
of costly things have been arriving since.
He has procured some wonderful old tap
estries with which the walls of the state
rooms are to be draped. and special bro
cades to his designs being woven for
curtains. These apartments are all in
French style, severely simple, but perfect in