THE FORSAKEN FAIRY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1166, 17 April 1884, Page 1

THE FORSAKEN FAIRY.

After an existeuce of just eight months, says our contemporary the World, I-ord Garmoyle's engagement with Miss Fortescue has been broken off. The tears of his mothi-r, the prayers, and it may be the satirical expostulations of his father, have prevailed. Or perhaps the young nobleman lias yielded to a somewhat different course of treatment, and luk parents ceased their protestß after the first natural outburst of chngiia and indignation, because they shrewdly perceived that the tactics of delay were most likely to succeed ; that the infatuated pussion would die a natural death, aod the flame of an unequal lore burn itself out.

The young lady will, we presume, unexpectcdly, make a descent as rapid 13 hor previous elevation. She had no sooner become espoused to the heir of a spic-and-span new earldom than she withdrew from the profession in which she had captivated him, and her photograph retired from the shop windows. She exchanged the mock fairyland of the world behind the footlights for the real fairyland of social delights—for judiciously chaperoned dinners and peliis soupevs ; private boxes, whence she gazed down upon the scene of her formei toils and triumphs ; for introductions into smart circles, and for a brilliant apprenticeship to the glittering glories of her new sphere. All this is over now. Having nearly grasped the substance, she will take her pi nee once more among th« shadows. She will experience all the bitterness of disillusion, all the stinging mockery of disenchantment. The stage can never bo to her what it was before. There can never be the same fascination in popular applause ; the electric star on the_ forehead will never burn as brightly agaiD.

Creditable as the denouement may ba to the solicitude and astuteness of Lord and Lady Cairns, it is as little creditable to their humanity as it is to Lord Garmoyle's sense of chivalry. The young man is, perhaps, simply vain and silly, and he may have imbibed the notion that his exalted rank exempts him from obligations which commorjer people should observe. If, however, his father and mother had made up their mind that the marriage should never come off, they owed it to the young lady and to themselves to put down their patriciau feet at once. A waiting game ha» been in this case successful ; but it is a cruel game as well, Tbe noble family of Cairns is one, »» all the world knows, of immense antiquity and illustrious antecedents. Yet even supposing the future and second Earl Cairns had made Misp Fortescue his wife, he might have cited the sanction of similar mesalliances perpei rated by the heada of houses as antiquated and august as that of Cairns itself. The Countess of Derby, the Countess of Harrington, the Countesi of Craven, Lady Beecher, are only a few of the many instances in which actresses have found husbands in men whose name* were written in the sacred book of L'ebrett. But things were done differently in those days. The marriages were quietly performed, and if they" had been heralded by a certain amount of excitement and fluttering of dovecots, the sequel was tranquil and auspicious. The ladies took their places and their rank without any parade of notoriety or attention. If the courtship had been a nine day's wonder, it was followed by general acquiescence in the nuptials as the most decorous, natural and happy rite- It i» scarcely to be wondered at, evjn when, as in the case of Lord Garmoyle, things began in so different a manner, they should havt ended no less differently. Here is a mere schoolboy—for Sandhurst is a school--fancying probably that he is in love, but certainly anxious, above all things, to gain for himself a little cheap notoriety, and, out of simple wantonness, aggressively flaunting his conquests in the eyes of the world. For months past his excellent parents have not been able to prevent his placing himself and the youns: lady tn evidence everywhere. He has bound her to the wheels of his cab all over London, fs it surprising if he has succeeded in turning her head, in giving her an idea of her importance and her charms, which would be ludicrous in its exaggeration were it not pathetic in its results; has forced her out of her proper position, and has finally left her in the lurch ? All this has been done purely and solely to gratify his own conceit. Miss Furtescue may get a new engagement, and it ma}' te that, in the roli* of a deserted fairy, she will have a fresh attraction for the public. But the mortification, the anguish, and the ridicule will remain. Fur this what money can compennate ? Moin-y, of coiiise, she must have ; at:d if the estimate ot the sum to be paid her (*ome £20,C00) is sufficiently generous, she will ho well advised uot to go to law, even in order that the lioyishlove lexers of Lord Garmoyle may he read in Court.