The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1912-05-18
Ea2a21y xZZZakEx Aw NJ M NkNP
E2E1DsGNF M3zz III EzzgNg Gz9gIg MEzz1Y

=. M11z III 1zMeUy Grryr Ng2zaW
boat steamed slowly out The Hungarian Or
chestra struck up lively csardas.
Elizabeth tainted. The Countess Sztaray
cut her corset strings and found tiny III
angular wound below the left breast
Quick, a doctor. The empress is wounded!
There was no doctor, and the boat put oach
to Geneva Opening her eyes Elizabeth asKeo
what is the matter?"
ssDo you ssffer?" faltered the countess
Elizabeth smiled mo- and feebly waved her
hand in time to the jaunty music OF the csar-
das There was melancholy smile on het
face as she slowly shut her eyes.
Elizabeth had died in beauty.
An aged emperor dimes alone on gold plate
from the famous service whose central uecola-
tive piece is worth $4,000. There is put Que
guest-a general aide-de-camp or high o11lclai
of the court. The proudest monarch OF EUROPE
is alone with one guest. Etiquette demands ~.
Five gorgeous f1unkeys in pale blue, puh'
pink and gold, serve the two men. There nave
been no flowers on the table since the tragic
death of the Empress Elizabeth; but the lights
of wax candles CLINT the golden service and the
rare wines in cut glass. They hit from MS
toric tapestries to carved wood furniture and
panels such as no museum possesses ana
make dancing shadows in the distant corner.
Silence
The aged emperor is dreaming OF the gor-
geous gala dinners Of the past. He sees the
Ideal throngs Of other days. Again he hears
the three taps Of the grand chamberlain
cane to announce the entrance Of their i'm
perial and royal majesties. How lonely is the
immense palace, full Of hiding conrtiers, Iunc
tfonaries, servants. IT is still early, not yet
seven.
Francis-Joseph rises. His guest takes cere-
monious leave and the sovereign goes to his
study.
His real life begins.
A confidential valet helps him into hat and
overcoat. By bijou elevator. whose door imi-
tates a bookcase, he descends to the ground
floor.
He walks twenty steps across the little court
yard to the door, where an auto-limousine
awaits him. There is no special secrecy-it is
to avoid ceremony merely He gives no direc-
tons; the chauffeur knows where to go.
Quitting the frigid, solemn Hofburg, out into
the brightlit busting early evening of Vienna
past crowds fastening to theater and music
hall, into fair streets of residence the auto
stops at comfortable villa. The old sovereign
enters the gate alone. The front door opens
as he mounts the three marble steps. When
the door shuts he is no longer the dread lone
ly emperor and apostolic king, but Herr
schratt, regularly called the colonel" careless
and easy, negligent and slouchy bright, warm,
cozy, snug among old friends.
Years ago, when the Burg theater was
wing Of the Hofburg, the great actress Katha-
rna Schratt-the Sarah Bernhard and Rejane
of Vienna-was presented to Francis-Joseph by
Empress Elizabeth herself. For long, she too
has lived retired; and the mourning emperor
found her SO intelligent, SO fine and also good
that old loves and sorrows having burnt out,
kind of peaceful solace.
Leaving crown and scepter on the hat rack,
he enters the bright little cardroom that ad-
joins two bijou little parlors and takes the
best easy chair, while Madame Katharine has
tens with the foot-warmer
Herr Schratt sprawls in unspeakable content.
The bell rings, and the partners of intermin-
able games of tarok-a sort of Austrian bridge
arrive. They are two ancient friends of the
great actress, become friends of Herr Schratt.
always the same; Herr Palmer, director of the
Bank des Pays Autrichiens, and an interna-
tienal private banker extremely illustrious
that his name is as well known as Franz-Jo-
SETS, and-a thing that never ceases to upset
the court-an 1sraelite by race, birth and reli-
gion in the strict sense
The Jewish banker and Monsieur Schratt-
not the head of the Holy Roman empire-ara
fast old cronies to the sorrow and scandal Of
the Countess Chotek, morganatic but directing
wife OF Archduke Francis-Ferdinand, heir to
the dual crown.
Often the emperor loses all the money in hfs
purse-a dozen forins-at the nightly game of
tarok. He plays badly. None wants him for
partner; SO they cut to who takes him. He
laughs boisterously. Meanwhile tea is prepared
In the adjoining dining ROOM
At ten o'clock the auto-limousine is an.
nounced, and Madame Kathrina helps the "col
onel' into hat and overcoat.
The auto rolls through the streets OF
Vienna. still bright and boisterous, to the
cold, solemn Hofburg. It stops at the little
door of the small courtyard The old man en-.
tiers, and silent valet meets him Up the
bijou elevator they ride, to the study he had
Left three hours ago. The confidential valet
takes his hat and coat.
The emperor has retired.