THE GRAND DUKE'S DIAMOND GIRL.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 103, 29 September 1874, Page 3

THE GRAND DUKE'S DIAMOND GIRL.

(From the New Yorh Herald.) Paris, July G, 1874. One night in the winter of 1871 there was a masked ball at the Opera House of St Petersburg, and seldom before even in the brilliant capital of the Northern Coesara had festival lights shone over so muuh beauty and renown. It Avas carnival time, when pleasure is half-privileged to take wider license than usual, in order to prepare for the terrible rigors of the orthodox Russian Lent, during which folks must dine and sup upon lentils and salted cucumber. All the golden youth of Russia was there, and all those elder men who can wear their years without becoming morose and crabbed. Under the pretty dominoes and graceful masks which were fluttering about like the fire I lies of a southern summer night were many of the great Court ladies, with perhaps here and there a princess of the Imperial House of Romanoff, for, between the present state of manners and society in Russia and that which existed in England during the reign of Charles 11., there are several points of resemblance. The conversation of the rich and highborn is astonishingly free. AN AMERICAN WIDOW —YOUNG AXD BEAUTIFUL. Among the company present on this occasion was an American girl of extraordinary beauty. She had not acquired so much experience in matrimony or chosen such a variety of partners in life as numberless respectable people at St Petersburg, Moscow, and Odessa; but, although she was scarcely out of her teens, she was a widow. She looked as fresh as a new-blown flower, and was full to overflowing of youth and high spirits. So exquisitely perfect a piece of womanhood is seldom seen. She had dark hair in great profusion, and an imperial sort of forehead, broad, open, and white as ivory. Her dark eyes flashed under her long lashes like black diamonds, and were all aglow with wit and kindliness. The nose was of that firm yet delicate aquiline which denotes courage and resolution; the mouth was wondrously full and soft; the upper lip small and formed like a bow; her teeth were as living pearls, and her complexion dazzlingly fair. Little feet, small hands, _ and taper fingers; a figure which a fairy might envy. Sprightly words and laughter, which fell on the ear like music, complete an honest description of this American beauty on the night she Avent to the masked ball at St Petersburg. FEMALE PRIVILEGES WHEN UNDER A MASK. Now the great fun of these assemblies is that ladies are allowed by custom to make all sorts of advances to gentlemen, for they are masked and concealed by their dominoes, while men go in simple evening dress. The orthodox thing for a lady to do, therefore, is to fix upon some gentleman whom she wishes to tease or to mystify and to tell him some incident of his life which he fancies a profound secret, then to leave him puzzled and bewildered. The American widow was looking out for somebody whom she knew, in order to torment him in this way, when she saw a group of her friends talking with a stranger, and, after listening to some fragments of their conversation, as women will, she suddenly pounced upon the stranger and led him aAvay. What she said to him is only knoAvn to themselves, but Avhen he quitted her that night he was spell-bound and fascinated. ROMANTIC ACQUAINTANCE AVITII A PRINCE. Well it might be. There is no Avit in this lower world equal to American Avit; no humor so racy and original. When this Russian heard it for the first time from lips so sweet, no wonder that he Avas enchanted. She spoke freely to him and without reserve, thinking that he Avas merely some young count or petty prince ; and as she spoke she seemed drawn towards him by a subtle sympathy in their characters. She was fjuite abashed when she found out that she had been gossiping unceremoniously with the Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinowich, nephew of the Emperor of all the Russias. They never parted afterwards for tAvo years and a half. THE CZAR'S NEPHEW TN TRAINING.

The young Grand Duke had good abilities and good nature, but his education has been wofully neglected. The American woman taught him, formed him into a gentleman, and raised him up to her own intellectual standard, which was high, She was the daughter of Dr Ely, a Protestant •clergyman of Connecticut, a man of some distinction in science and letters. Ho was, unfortunately for his belongings, also a great traveller ; and if she, who was now the companion of a Russian Grand Prince, had gone wrong in early life, it was because she had f been left too much to a hot-tempered, bigoted, and narrow-minded mother, who had taught the doctrines of passive obedience with a thick stick. Her daughter, however, had been well schooled, and had learned Latin, French, and music, so that she was an excellent instructress to a young man who knew nothing. LOVE AND A LOVE CONTRACT. The Grand Duke loved her so intensely that he made her sign a formal contract in which she bound herself by a solemn oath never to leave him or to speak one word, save in friendship, to any other mortal man. When he went

AWAY TO THE KHIVAN WAR the road behind him was strewn with Cossack spearsinen, bearing in hot haste his messages to his beloved, and the telegraph wires between them Avere never still. He was a brave soldier, and he told her how he had fought and conquered ; how he had ridden through wild and morass, over moor and mountain ; how his sword had gleamed in many a dangerous fight, till the clash of his victorious cymb.ils had been heard in the very fastnesses of the Khivan robbers ; and then, with the first glad shout of triumph in his ears, he had taken off Lis harness and was hastening back to her. WOMAN WOliSllir. Upon her part, her vanity had first been flattered ; her woman's heart had been won by a handsome young man of congenial tastes and temper, but gradually lie had taken possession of her whole soul. The love which she bore him, kindled by his knightly deeds in distant lands, his valor, his danger, and his fame had passed into worship and become idolatry. He had been first her lover, then her hero, then her god. She watched over his honor as only devoted women can do, and she kept his new glories bright. MISFORTUNE, SORROW, AND ARREST. He was the only one of the Russian princes who seemed to get into scrapes or to incur unpopularity. But it may have been that he received some ugly blow in that Khivan expedition, or that he contracted some illness; for when he came to her house, which he called his "home," she iioav and then observed that he was under the influence of uncontrollable excitement. At eleven o'clock one night he was arrested on her doorstep, and she has never seen him since. THE CHARGE. The ostensible charge against him was alleged to be that he had stolen the jewels of a star belonging to an image of the Virgin Mary, which was in his mother's bedroom, and which had been given to her by his father, in accordance with a Russian custom, on the day he was baptised. The truth appears, however, to be that these jewels were taken by his aide-de-camp, and that he generously bore the blame to save that young officer from disgrace. It was not likely that the Grand Duke would have committed the rubbery himself ; for he had no need to do so. He has a large fortune, and, as the eldest son and heir to his father, will be some day entitled to a property of such immense value that any usurer in the world would have taken his bond for whatever sum he might have required. Moreover, the Grand Duke is not a spendthrift ; he lived very moderately and allowed only SSOO a month for his domestic expenses. Besides, he had received $50,000 from his bankers on the same day that the robbery was said to have been committed, and the stolen jewels were valued at about SI2OO. The Grand Duke, nevertheless, took the robbery on himself, and, after having been kept some time under ai-rest, he has been banished to the Caucasus. THE AMERICAN BEAUTY SENT AWAY. Meantime the American lady's house was searched, and when nothing was found which could in anyway connect-her with the theft, she was sent out of the country, accompanied by two good-natured policemen, who seemed to be somewhat ashamed of the dirty work they were doing. None of her property was taken from her or injured. Her expulsion from Russia, however, is an exercise of arbitrary power Avhich makes one glad enough that it does not flourish every where. REASONS WHY. The probable reason why the Grand Duke Nicholas has been banished to the Caucasus, and Avhy the American lady has been expelled from Russia, is that there Avas good ground for belieA 7 ing they Avere about to be married. What then ? Rank and wealth can Avin no fairer prize than beauty. She Avas A r ery charming, and had a good deal of that doAvnright American common sense Avhich a Russian Prince, in sight of possible revolutions, might have found of considerable A'alue. It is that harmless sort of smartness Avhich consists of saying nothings pleasantly. She Avould have made him one of the most popular princes in Europe had he married her, and hushed up a feAV bygones, as such things are easily hushed up in despotic countries. She was a conciliatory, agreeable Avoman, Avho Avould have guided him to high destinies, and herself have been capable of any sacrifices ; she A\ r ould done Avonders of heroism in time of public trouble. THE MORAL. It is not a just sentence to pronounce that a young Avoman's antecedents shall stand forever in her way. PRINCES MUST BE GENTLEMEN. A Grand Duke must not play false Avith a Avoman because she is of doubtful character any more than he might cheat a blackleg. He may refuse to have anything to do Avith such persons; but if he chooses to hold intercourse with them his dealings should be c.inducted on the same principles which regulate the conduct of a high-minded gentleman in all the relations of life, and he must treat them in the same upright manner in Avhich he behaves to other people. It is an amazing ai-gument in the mouth of a prince and a soldier to say that he kept Avorthless company in order to behaA-e Avithout integrity towards his companions; and if he Avishes to act honorably—as, no doubt, the Grand Duke Nicholas did—it is a disgrace to a great nation that he should haA'O been prevented from doing so. THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE in England has done so under precisely similar circumstances and so did the Archduke John of Austria. It did not deprive them of their place in the esteem of their fellow countrymen, but rather raised them to greater heights. The Duke of Cambridge is Commander-in-Chief of the British army; and when all the House of Hapsburg-Lor-raino were hurled down from power, the Archduke John Avas elected by universal suffrage as Administrator of the Austrian Empire, not because he Avas an Imperial Prince, but because he had. married an innkeeper's daughter, and dealt honorably with her. AMERICAN CHIVALRY. It is said that some Americans are mixed up Avith this Russian story? if so, Ave need not blush for them. It is no shame to admire a beautiful Avoman in distress, and to show something of chivalry—something of goodness in her defence. I should not be so proud as I am of my connection with the Americans if I saAV them all turn their backs on a lady because a political policeman had been instructed to tease her. All is Avell that ends well, and let no one be surprised if the future Grind Duchess Nicholas hails of Russia hails from Connecticut.