Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1920-09-12

Painted by Noted Artist.
A DUCHESS always has been spp.
~ posed to be n peculiarly happy In.
dlvidual, proud ind disdainful, auto
cratic and the mistress. not only of all the
smaller fry that reyolve within the orbit
of such a noble parsonage. but mistress Of
herself and all her impulses as we'll.
No one ever thinks duchess would per.
init herself to DO denied anything ut ALL
not even the heart OF the man she might
fall in love with. But now. from Paris,
comes news that proves that when q
duchess falls In love she is confronted
with troubles and heartaches and pitfalls
which even the most romantic American
girl could never dream OF as ever coming
10 her.
The news from Paris Is that Theodore,
Duchess de Chaulnes. daughter OF the late
Theodore =. Shonts, the traction magnate
of New York and ono OF the builders OF the
Panafa Canal. has announced her engage.
ment to the young Duke de Creusot, scion
Of one Of the most famous families OF the
French nobility and ono OF the important
leaders among the royalist set which still
hopes for the eventual return to power Of
the HouiSons in the person OF the Duo
d'Orlcans, pretendcr to the throne.
Theodora's marriage In New York, In
1908, to the Due dc Chaulnes. was the
scene of ona OF the most exciting society
scrambles" ever staged In America. with
such as Mrs. George Gould. Mrs. Stuyve-
SAINT Fish and Mrs. Hermann Oelrichs
halls and on the stairways in the Shonts
home for hours just to catch glimpse OF
the duca bride and have 1t konwn that
they were among those honored with wed.
ding Invitations.
90 Six weeks later the bridegroom died
ON n sudden attack of heart failure in
Il Paris hotel. The young duchess was
y Frustrated with grief. Her sister-inlaw.
p we prominent Duchess Dues. said at the
l,ame I'VE never knew how much an
lmerican girl could love, and we never
: Inspected that little Theodore loved
yhimanuel SO deeply. We shall take her
cnto the family. and adopt her as one OF u.s."
N And right there, with that comforting Of
4 great honor and a great trust upon the
american duchess. widowed at the height
ce'f her honeymoon the trouble that lies in
cne!ng n duchcss-a beautiful widowed
$ duchess, that is-began to pile up for her.
In France. among the great families that
are bound up in traditions of the past.
memories of the golden days Of the Louis
and the First and Second Empires, there
is an institution known rs the 'Conseil de
Famile," which is the French way Of say.
ing "the family council" So powerful is
this family council among the nobility that
the French courts almost invariably sus-
tain It's rulings II they are questioned.
Thus the heads OF a family really are the
rulers Of the whole family and may at will
dictate what each individual member may
do with his or her money or time or heart
There was posthumous child. 1t was
son. Sons are very important in the ducai
set OF any European nation. And this lit
tie son Of Theodore Shonts was very i'm.
portant indeed, for he not only was de.
stined to become the Due de Chaulnes, as
his father was known. but also the Due de
Chevreuse, the Duo dc Montfort, the Due
do Picquigny. the Due d'Angeau and the
Prince dc Galltzin, and maybe the Due de
l.uynes. All these titles. except the last.
had come down to his father through inter
marriages between noble families asso-
ciated with Louis XIV. and XIV, and the
son OF course would inherit them. The
proudest OF these titles was that OF de
Chaunes, because the Due de Chaulnes
always was. since Charles the Seventh
down to the Republic, Grand Constable OF
France and First Chamberlain OF the Kings
household.
The present Duke de Luynes, one of the
leaders in French social life, very
wealthy nobloman whose title dates back
TO Charlemagne, is titular head Of the de
Chauncs family. Should his only son.
who Is very sckly, die, the young son Of
Theodore would become Due de Luynes
also, and would inherit the great castle
Of Dampierre now Theodoras French
home, and all the rich dc Luyncs estates
When the family council, headed by tho
nristocratic Due dc Luynes met, shortly
after the death OF the Due de Chaulnes.
and decided, after serious conference, that
the young American duchess would be &C.
copied as n member Of the de Luynes
family In her own right, she became really
more of @ duchess than she would have
been II her husband had lived.
But, the family council warned her, as
the acknowledged and accepted Duchess
do Chaulnes. she bore great responsibilities.
She was to become the mother OF Due de
Chaulnes and Pcquigny and Montford
and do Chevreuse and d'Angeau. etc, ETC.,
and Of all the things she must BIO most
careful about, falling In love again was tho
49,