The Washington herald., 1914-08-02

ace walls of the Hapsburgs. But Prince
Berthier brought a miniature Of him, sur
rounded by sixteen diamonds and costing
$4,000 Marie Louise, however. only
waist.
A quickly executed portrait Of the bride
was dispatched to Paris in exchange. and
as Napoleon devoured it with his eyes
he exclaimed with delight, The Haps-
burg lip The Hapsburg lip
That thick lip was the trade mark of
the Oldest imperial race of Europe. and
the charity pupil of Brienne proudly re-
for the rest, Marie Louise's features
were undistinguished and plain. The
Countess Potocka speaks OF her wooden
face" and large pale blue porcelain
ure was good and some authorities say II
was even beautiful, while her hair was
light chestnut and abundant.
Wed by Proxy.
After the usual ceremony of the de-
mand for the hand by Prince Berthier,
the marriage by proxy was celebrated
on a Sunday, as II was in Lent. AL
though the second son Of the penniless
attorney OF Ajaccio was to marry the
daughter OF the Caesars. II did not COM
port with his sovereign dignity to go to
her altar, and he chose for his proxy at
the wedding the uncle of the bride, the
man nine months before on the field of
Wagram!
Two old. drab churches stand neigh
bors on little side streets of Vienna OF
the Ring and near the Burg, the city
palace Of the Hapsburgs. In one Marie
Louise was married; in the other she
was buried. They are the beginning and
the end of her strange story. When she
to receive from her Uncle Charles the
ring of the Emperor Of the French. not
a year had yet passed since she and the
imperial family had knelt at that altar
IN anxious prayer for the victory of
Charles over Napoleon. p.
The new Empress Of the French left
the capital Of her father for the capital
OF her husband early Tuesday morning
copious than is usual with departing
brides. A long and arduous journey Of
two weeks over thawing roads stretched
before the young, untraveled girl, her
daily drive often beginning as early as
in the morning and lasting until darkness
compelled a halt for the night But
singing maidens. prancing troops, and
ringing bells enlivened her progress
through every town.
1t may not have entered her imagina-
ton that her route ran suggestively
through the same county over which
Napoleon had twice marched to drive
her from her home. But it was impos-
sible for her to ignore the parallel be-
tween her trip and that of Marie An
toinette's Inflated Journey, forty years
before.
The Transfer.
When the new Empress of the French
arrived at the River Inn, the frontier of
the kingdom of Bavaria and of the Ma
poleonfc empire, her dowry of 500 900 was
counted out and delivered to the French
and she herself was formally checked of
and transferred like any other consign-
ment.
A wooden pavilion had been erected on
the boundary, and after entering II from
the Austrian side, Marie Louise passed on
TO second or neutral chamber in the
pavilion. Beyond that room was the third
or French compartment, where a COM
pany OF courtiers from Paris waited 10
receive their sovereign. In their lager
ness TO see her. they had bored gimlet
holes in the partition between the two
rooms. and the prefect OF the Tuileries.
ne who had helped three months before
10 carry the fainting Josephine to her
apartments. records his peep at her in
his memoirs. Soon the Austrians knock
ed at the door for the French to come
In. They entered to find the Empress
seated on q throne. and her eyes were
nHed with tears as she looked on her
subjects for the first time.
marie Louise accompanied her new Gus
todians to a merchants house in Brau-
nau. where, following the requirements
of custom, she Invested herself of every
garment and adornment from her own
country, as a symbol OF her purpose to
leave behind her all that was Austrian.
One feature Of Marie Antoinette'a ex-I