EXTRAVAGANCE IN HIGH LIFE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2650, 6 July 1889, Page 6 (Supplement)

EXTRAVAGANCE IN HIGH LIFE.

OllE of the most '• spicy" and interesting topics of conversation in Paris just now is the remarkable and reprehensible extravagance of a young, lovely, and goldenhaired marchioness of the Faubourg St. Germain, who lias been " dunned" by her long-suffering and much-enduring creditors. There is no need to mention names, and it will be enough to say that the lady, who comes from a family which was cnobled under the Restoration, is twenty-live, years old, and was married to the marquess—who lived with his parents —in the year ISS3. The joint incomes of the marquess and the mar chionessamounted toa little under £2 000 and as they lived with the respected parent of the bridegroom, in tho Fau- | bonrg St. Germain, they had no expenses I beyond a trifle of £400 a year, which was set apart for the lady's dresses. This, however, was soon found insufficient by I the marchioness, as she ordered whatever struck her fancy, and when the annual toilette fund was exhausted, she had recourse to that dangerous and disreputable expedient known among minor mortals and vulgar people generally as " chalking it up." By degrees the bills were sent in to the marquess, who found that his lady had been " chalked up" to an astounding extent by the most fashionable —and correspondingly expensive milliners, dressmakers, cigarette merchants, and coiffeurs in Paris. Nevertheless, the loving husband paid, but under serious protestation, whereupon tiie marchioness sulked, and in order to dissipate her chagrin and vexation she went on a circular tour, aud was " personally conducted" round England, Italy, Egypt, and Palestine. She received £2,000 from her husband's bankers before setting out on her tour, but it was stimulated that she should pay £SOO out of this to her tradesmen. This, however, she forgot to do, and from Milan she wrote to her husband that somebody had stolen £SSO from her. The marquess went so far as to set diplomatic machinery in motion, and interested the Italian Government in the loss, but to no purpose. The money was nowhere to be found. In ISS7 tiie marebness returned to Paris, after having seen, like tiie Ithacan, " many men aud cities." She found, however, that the doors of her fathcr-iu-faw's mansion in the noble Faubourg were strictly and severely closed against her, so she took up refuge with the religious congregation known as " The Ladies of Help." While in this abode she obtained a decree of separation from her husband, and this necessiated a formal winding-up of her financial affairs, the very rumour of which brought all her creditors to the front. In ten months she had contracted debts amounting in the aggregate to the sum of £7,000, aud they were of the mojt varied character. A fashionable milliner in the Rue dc la I'aix had supplied various hats, a Greek capote, similar, no doubt, in form to that worn by the rough cullote, aud other items ; an English establishment in the Faubourg St. Honore' had a small bill for bed aud table services a lingere had a long note for lace and chemises of all the colours of the rainbow, while a bookbinder's bill served to show the spcehl literary leanings of tho marchioness. There were works by Zola, by Catulle Mcudes, and even by M. Mace ex-detective, who has written all about the thieves and rascals of Paris. There was a long debate before the Fifth Civil Chandler as to whether the marquess was responsible or not for the liabilities of his wife. After mature deliberation the judges held that the marquess ought to have cried " Hold, enough" ? to his spouse as l.c was her natural guardian aud guide, and accordingly decreed that he should pay. In mitigation of the marquess's punishment, however, some of the bills were considerably reduccd.