The Washington herald., 1911-07-26
THE STORY OF A
DEAD PRINCESS

frMcess Siotnloe Napoleon, VINO re-
Gently died near Turin, and who now IL
at rest in the 6uperga. led a secluded life
in Paris. 1t is said that the aged widow
never felt so much alone as when
in company. She enjoyed solitude and
had no intimate friends. but she had
quite number of proteges in the garrets
of the busy quarters of the city. She
came to Paris at the age of fifteen. bring
ing, as the Parisians said, on the very DAY
Of her arrival war with her. AS it was
likely to be with Austria, then the ira
ditional enemy. such prognostication did
not make her any the less welcome. Her
youth took with the vivacious Parislans,
but her shy and distant reserve chilled
the favor that was ready to go out 10 her.
She had been awaited at Fontainebleau
by the Princess Mathilde, who received
her with courtly pomp and in a mantle
OF imperial purple, lined and faced with
Russian sables on the horseshoe stairs
of the palace. The suggestive garment
was accompanied by bonnet with pur-
pie feathers and the bride was in a blue
velvet pelisse with an ermine cape and
mum which she let go as her new sister
in-law threw her arms around her neck
and after exchanging ceremonial kisses
smothered her with more natural ones
the thaw Of the ice. Clothiide, though
shy never was much embarrassed nor
ready to sink into the earth before high
and mighty personages, but stood her
ground very collected. perhaps even with
a sullen reserve that was almost phe-
nomenal in one so young. ....-.
hn
scene from PAigle Noir, and whom am
quoting, says she had that bearing from
her different ancestresses of the Haps-
burg family when their nature were ho-
mogeneous and not of the shifty charac-
ter that marriage with Lorraines and
Italian Bourbons had given those Of the
last century. I may add she was. as
they had been. ''toute dune piece"
Princess Clothilde had in about the
same degree as Marie Antoinette the
noted Hapsburg thick underlip, very full.
of cherry redness and ripeness. But In no
respect was she naughty. There her like
ness to that unfortunate Queen ended.
But the Germanic royal type appeared in
the chubby cheeks, the tea-rose COM
plexion, quite devoid of pink, but suf-
fused with very pale yellow and with a
satiny gloss. After her marriage, and as
she gained headway IN the court circle.
she was seen often al the Empress balls
at the Tuilieries, at the Monday evening
dances, at a few Palais Royal fetes, even
in the legislative chambers or In the
Pare de Monceau. and the woods of
Meudon with her children and some at
tendants.
Lal nd nrafty
shoulders, sandy, not to say red hair, and
full blue eyes of changeable color. They
had a court stare that I dare say was
also a Hapsburg heritage. 1t had less
fixity than that Of the late King Of Italy,
and showed much less the whites of the
eyes.
Plain she was, but her whole appear
ance too clearly indicated fine character
for her to. be ugly. 1t was pity that
Puvis de Chavannes did not seek In her
for a model of St. Genevieve facing
Attila, and turning him and his Huns
aside from the route to Paris. Nothing
could shake her courage or make her
swerve from a course on which after
mature reflection-for she had not a
prompt brain-she had decided. Her SEN
timents guided her in sudden junctures,
or her conscience. which was also free
from all sophistry or self-deception.
She could not be termed elegant, but
she dressed well in a simple, neat, tidy
style, that gave the impression of atten-
ton to details and general air, SO long
as she was before her toilette mirror,
but no longer.
A tendency to goitre showed itself after
she had been about eight years married.
Years after. in the sos Of the last CEN
tury, the goitre had become more dis
figuring, pushing out the eyes to an al
most binding extent. She was then liv-
ing among her miserably poor neighbors
in the dusty and sordid burg of Mon
calieri in Savoy She lived in what used
to be the waiting roems of attendants OF
princesses of Savoy when they came out
from Turin to the palace on the top OF
the little town for a breath OF cool air.
A Sister of Charity, hospital nurse,
mortuary attendant, might have
shrunk from the f1ardships she constantly
endured in the abodes Of poor people
Day and night she was at the call OF the
sick and dying. If she expected a call
at night she lay down undressed, and,
though 1t came in the small hours OF the
morning. rose at once and departed on a
task Of mercy bent.
France always paid her the pensions
as wife and widow that Napoleon II COW
enanted In her marriage articles to give
her, and she kept her dowry OF 10000
francs and her Jewels, estimated at boo.-
600 francs. Those presented to her by
the Emperor and Empress of the French
and the city of Paris were more valu-
able.
She sold them after she had been forced
to settle down at Moncalieri. Of late
years she became very infirm, but still
able to direct an orphanage for girls that
she founded within the precincts of the
palace. an austere building Of red brick
faced with stone and somewhat resem-
bling the palace of st. Germain and the
escurial at Madrid. The foundations OF
it were laid by that Duke Of Savoy who
commanded the Spanish at St Quentin
and who had to order the destruction OF
the church of St. Lawrence. The feet
and handle of the sridiron are. as at the
escurial, brought into the architecture
This same Duke Of Savoy at one time
had been suitor for the hand at White
hall of British princess, afterward
Queen Elizabeth. FLANEUR.
Copyright. 1911. by Court Gossip syndiate)
Keep ON swatting.
From the Cincinnati TimesStar.
II. in spite of all the swatting that mas