A Business Proposition.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7703, 4 January 1905, Page 4

A Business Proposition.

.THE VALUE OF A COUNT AND HIS TITLE, SHREWD YANKEE CURL MAKES I A DEAL. | A short time ago a foreign nobleman—Count Ciiiji, of Rome, a S'arrdnephew dl the late Pope Leo—went to America, and, of course, was welcomed ami feted. Becoming acquainted with.an Amed'ean heiress—Miss Elizabeth Howe, of Pittsburg, l*enn. —lie proposed to marry her if satisfactory arrangements could be made. .With him it was a business proposition ; it should have been a business proposition with the heiress. The count set as a price- upon his 'hand £14,000 cash down, ami £3,000 a year for the rest of bij life. He was careful to explain that the first-named sum wa» necessary to pay his outstanding obligations, and the second was required to maintafri his nanfc and star.<l,ng as a titled nobleman. The heiress promptly admitted that she was in the market for the hi n d of goods he offered, but considered the price named bv him out of proportion to current values. |Shs had done some ''shopping," and .understood the value of that sort of j/brio-a-brac. She made him a counter proposition of £IO,OOO cash in band and £2OOO by_ way of annuity. The count at first rejected the offer with lino indignation ; but, as frequently happens in trade, the price scorned tCKlay is eagerly sought for on the morrow. The Count accepted the terms of the heiress ; the bargain was duly struck ; the Count got his cash, and the young woman became Contess Cini, of Italy. The [Count will no doubt be able to set,'tle with his creditors l on the basis of 75c on the dollar,, and thus make |thc £IO,OOO do the work of £14,- ( 000 V The Countess is to be comiMlcnded (or her Yankee shrewdness. A pound saved is a pound earned. Business is business everywhere.