THE FAIR MAID OF ATHENS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 317, 17 February 1910, Page 8

THE FAIR MAID OF ATHENS

A DUCAL KiiMAXCE. The troubled romance of Duke Ma"c ile la Sallo-Rochemaure and of his wife, a beautiful ''Maid of Athens." seems to be about to end happily. The interesting details might have remained unknown but that the young duke's father brought a suit in the Civil Coart at Grenoble to annul his son's marriage. The exciting vicissitudes or this lovematch began in 1005, when the young ,duke married Marika Karousos, a lovely girl, daughter of an honorable family, poor, but commanding the respect of the community. The Duke's father was a friend of Pope Leo XTII., who bestowed on him his title, with the further honor thai it descend to the Duke's children.

Jhe oldest son, Marc, gave no proofs of early piety. Instead, he sowed ins wild oats so freely that his father considered it wise to send him away from j Paris in charge of a tutor, a M. Gniford.j to whom was entrusted the task of | diverting young Mare's mind to more i serious thought?. Tutor and pupil arrived in Athens ~n due time. There the young duke met Marika Karousos. He fell in love with her. His passion was reciprocated. After a violent and rapid courtship the young lady engaged herself to marry the fluke. They even complied with ',iie preliminary formalities which the Greek Church demands before marriage before M. Guifonl discovered the attachment. Then, at the instant command of the duke's father, Guiford actually kidnapped the young man, put him on a steamer, and went to Vienna with him, Eut the heroic blood of all the Greeks was mllamed in the veins of Marika Karousos. She followed to Vienna and there met Duke Marc at a place he had named to he r by secret correspondence. An embrace, a hurritl consultation, and the young pair fled back to Athens and were married before the old duke could intervene. Duke Mare gave a great bridal banquet, and he and V* bride enjoyed their honeymoon until he spent all his money. The bridegroom wrote to his father, who answered sternly, "Return home or be disinherited." Sadly the young du'f? obeyed. His father appealed to Rome to have the marriage annulled. But he failed to reckon with the indomitable Grecian spirit of his son's wife. She went to Rome, was admitted to the Pope and told him truthfully that her baby boy had u een baptise!, not in the Greek, but in the Roman Catholic Church. His Holiness, impressed by her purity and devotion, refused to annul her marriage. Infuriated, the father began the suit in the French Civil Court which is going on at Grenoble. Soon the Vatican ex-communicated him for not abiding by its decision. The suit for annulment of the marriage is being fought bitterly. The elder duke's lawyers have insinuated that Marika's past is not without its shadow. The Court interrupted the proceedings long enough to permit h.?r to deny "the accusations, Indignantly. Everybody understands that the young duke is in perfect sympathy with his wife. Nevertheless, the Court has placed him in his father's eustodv for the time being, and he is in seclusion.