SOCIETY PUZZLE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 136, 30 May 1908, Page 3

SOCIETY PUZZLE

HAS TIJK I)L'KK "I:' AiSltl ZZI ISKICX JILTED/ i'lio three jiiosi feverishly l w icl questions in Xmv i urk K ociely „ince ilic mystery uf i|| V limy iuui iJ,,.' ijg,. r . tern is the Duke ol Abruzzi. who -ailed for Liverpool lately under tlic name of Llllgu Slll'to. Has iliss Katherine Klkin, jilud the Duke, and i s ],u hiding a Ijroktii heart under an alias! Ui iia ri the Duke sailed for Europe in order to gain the consent of iiis coti-in, ot italy, to his marriage with •Miss Jilkins? Or is the Duke merely rejoining 1. ship, the liegiua Elena, because hi* "cave expired; and is the story of his Jove ajlair merely a myth. The newspapers and the leaders of -New York society are nnxiotislv dir>cii->-sing these questions. Society" inclincto the lirst theory. Hie delicious nov

«'lty of an American girl jilting a rova! duke is fully appreciated. Socictv' twilling to believe that the Duke i f \l>rnxzi, despite his experience as «!i - 1 . explorer, has been frozen out. -•>J tacts ale iudis|)iilable. Eii.-!. that the Duke of Abruzzi has leP America; and, secondly, that neitlk r ilins Katherine Klkins nor her father. ! who is a typical mining millionaire, will ever consent (o a morganatic miinia./r. Oil such slender foundations the nc.v papers are hopefully building many impossible romances, _ Liming sight of .(lie fiicl that .Mi - I'Jkins would never become a royal princess, even il the King of Italy ennoble!! her, some of the journals even refer lo her as a possible lutiire Queen of Hale. 'there is no doubt whatever that llie Uuke. of Abruzzi ami AI i l'Ukins are great friends, and that, tile former h;u been the guest of the Klkins fiunilv during his stay in the United States, both on this and former occasions.

A meeting is .said to have taken place at the Italian Embassy at "Washington between (he Duke. Senator KJkins, aud the Italian Ambassador, where the possibility of a marriage was discussed. Senator H kins is said to have stated emphatically that, he would never consent to his daughter marrying the Duke unless she would receive full ollicia) recognition at the Italian Court as the of Abruzzi, not as a morganatic wife.