THE EMPRESS AUGUSTA.

Te Aroha News, 15 February 1890, Page 5

THE EMPRESS AUGUSTA.

HER EARLY ROMANCE.

A LOVE AFFAIR WITH A YOUNG FRENCH NOBLEMAN. The “ Sun’s ” Berlin cable says: A member of the suite of one of the best known German Princes tells a romantic story concerning the dead Empress Augusta, and it is believed that it has never before been given to the public. Augusta was a princess in petticoats in the court of Weimar, where she was hedged about with all the strait-laced etiquette the small German principalities affected. When she was 17 she was a romantic girl and had learned by heart the stories of the previous half-century’s gallantries at the court of Louis NIY. Before this romantic spirit had lived long enough to die, a young French noble, a scion of more or less long lineage, stopped at the court of Weimar in the progress of a pleasure jaunt from Auvergne. He was accomplished, handsome and a dare-devil. At a court ball shortly following* his arrival the Frenchman met the Princess. They were permitted to become partners, and indulged in mutual love at first sight. This love soon developed into indiscretion, which took the form of secret meetings in the palace grounds. The only people aware of these trysts were the maid and valet of the principals, who served as the medium through which a correspondence was carried on and the meetings arranged. The maid, whether through carelessness or spite, lost one of the letters intrusted to her, and it was picked up by the Duchess, the mother of Augusta, before the maid could recover it. The letter was imfiassioned and eloquent, burning with the ove song of the smitten Parisian, but it led up to the suggestion of an elopement, implored flight and pictured the ideal life of love in the pastoral lands of America. The Duke and Duchess were consumed with rage at this discovery. So high did the feeling run at court that the ducal chamberlain challenged the Frenchman to a duel, and the lover fell mortally wounded. As he fell the Frenchman tore open his tunic, and there, pressed against his heart, was a handkerchief belonging to the Princess. Toward it his hand feebly moved, and he died at the moment he bad seized the lace and was struggling to carry it to his lips. The Duchess was so affected by the incident that she silently placed the handkerchief on the breast of the young man as he lay in his coffin, and it was buried in the coffin. His body was covered with roses strewn upon him by the devoted Augusta. From swoons and sobs she became hysterical and almost crazed. Foi weeks the Princess sobbed about tho palace, until her parents were convinced that her sorrow must have some relief or she would grow insane. They suggested marriage with Prince William of Prussia, and the Princess gave her indifferent consent, careless and thoughtless of what might become of her. With William it was a matter of equal unimportance, for he had also been crossed in a love affair.