(From our Special Correspondent.)

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 383, 10 July 1889, Page 3

(From our Special Correspondent.)

Liondon, May 10. Picture the sensation there would be in London society if some well-known beauty of the beau, mondc, such as Lady Brooke or the Duchess of Leinster, were to be arrested for debt, and all her extravagances and eccentricities made public, and you will be able to imagine the cackling which tout Paris is enjoying over the case of the Marquise Dt'Avary. This lady (nee De Mercy d'Argenteau) comes from a family which was ennobled under the Restoration, is 25 years of age, and was married to the Marquis .(says the Paris correspondent of the '• Telegraph ") in 1883. The joint incomes of the Marquis and Marchioness amounted to a little under £2,000, and as they lived with therespected parent of fche bridegroom, in the faubourg St -Germain, they had no' expenses beyond a trifle of £400 a year,~ which .was set; apart for bjjp lady's dresses, jjijus. however, 'was soon found insufficient^ Try'tn^.March'iorie'ss',' its' she" ordered 'WntftV' ■ever* struck, her fancy," Und when 'thef annual toilette fund was' -exhausted she' hattiiieicourso to that dangerous and disreputable expedient known among minor mortals, and vulgar people generally as- "chalking it up." A Personally Conducted Tour. By degrees the bills were sent in to the Marquis, who found that his lady had been " chalked up " to an astounding extent by the most fashionable — and correspondingly expensive— milliners, dressmakers, cigarette merchants, and coiffeurs in Paris. Nevertheless, the loving husband paid, but under serious protestation, whereupon the Marchioness sulked, and in order to dissipate her chagrin and vexation she went on a circular tour, and was " personally ponducted" round England, Italy, Egypt, and Palestine. She received £2,000 from her husband's bankers before setting out oh her tour, but it was stipulated that she should pay £800 out of this to her tradesmen.-. This,- however, she conveniently forgot to do, and from 1 Milan she wrote to her husband-that somebody had stolen the £BQO fro^her. " The Marquis went co far as to' set diplomatic machinery in motion, and -interested the Italian Government in the-loss, butw!to',no purpose. The money was nowhere, to/be- -found. In 18S7 the Marchiones&'rjaturned to Paris after having seen, like fche 1 Ifchacan; * v many men and cities." She found, , however, that the doors of her father-in-law's mansion in the Noble Faubourg were strictly and severely closed against her, so she r took refuge with the religious congregation" known as " The Ladies of Helpr," i A Decker of Separation. While in this abode' she obtained a decree of separatum/ frojn her husband, and this necessitated"}^ formal -vyinding-up of her financial affairs,, the very rxjmour of which brought all her preditors to the front. In ten months she hadl.contracted debts amounting in the aggregate to the sum of £7,000, and they were of the most varied character. In twenty-five day? she bought bonnets costing £680, and ran up a bill of £220 for Surah silk chemises, and another of £180 for lace-trimmed sheets, some of which were in black foulard silk, others in white, others in mauve, and others in pink. Her dressmakers bills came to "£2,400, her shoemakers' to 120, her jewellers' to £1,720, and her photographer's, to £228. A fashionable milliner in the Rue de la Paix had supplied various hats, &5& 5 Greek capote similar, no doubt, in form to that worn by the rough Suliote, and other' items ; an English establishment in the Faubourg St. Honorehad a small bill for bed and table services ; a Hnc/ere had a long vote for lace and chemises of all the colours of the rainbow, while a bookbinder's bill served to show the special lijterary leanings of the Marchioness. There were works by Zola, by Catulle Mendes, and even by M. Mace", ox-detective, who has written all about the thieves and rascals of Paris. There was a long debate before the Fifth Civil Chamber as to whether the Marquis was responsible or not for the liabilities of his wife. After mature deliberation the judges held that the Marquis ought to have cried, "Hold, enough !" to his spouso, as he was her natural guardian and eruide, and accordingly decreed vhat he should pay. In mitigation of the Marquis's punishment, however, some of the bills were considerably reduced.