Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 July 1910 — A LOVE DRAMA. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A LOVE DRAMA.

The Characters Were a King and an Actress.

By EVELYN WITWOTH.

[Copyright, IHIQ, By American Press Asso- '• ■ ■. ■_ elation.] At Possenhoffeo. on Lake Stanenberg, in the Bavarian Tyrol, stands a chateau in which lived Sophia, daughter of the Duchess Ludoviac. Possenhoffen is also memorable as the birthplace of the fate Elizabeth, wife of Franz Joseph. emj>eror of Austria. It is there that the emperor when a young man. having gone to propose for the band of Elizabeth’s older sister, saw a girl in short dresses running about the grounds, fell io love with her and asked her hand instead. The change was reluctantly granted by the father of the two girls, and Franz Joseph took Elizabeth back to Vienna. From that marriage sprang Rudolph, crown prince of Austria, it was he and the Baroness Vetsera who gave the world probably the most tragic love affair that has ever involved an heir to a throne. There is another story of a royal lover whose ladylove lived on Lake Stanenberg. This was King Louis of Bavaria. His affair did not end in a tragedy, but came near being one. Louis, who in his youth was especial ly handsome, was of a peculiarly fiery disposition He was betrothed to the Princess Sophia, and the match; acceptable as it was for reasons of state, was. in addition, a lovers’ mating. The royal pair were often together at Possenhoffen, frequently sailing over the bosom of the lake in view of the snowy peaks of the Tyrolean Alps. While in Munich the king met a very beautiful actress. This woman, whom we shall call Gretchen, was captivated by the handsome young king, falling desperately in love with him. She knew that be bad recently been betrothed to Sophia and that his heart went with bis hand. Gretchen formed

a plan to withdraw the monarWs love from the princess and win it for herself. To carry out this plan it was necessary for her to leave the stage. This she did and retired to private life. Her next move in order -to be brought in contact with the king was to enter the service of the princess. Gretchen’s career on the stage had given her an acquaintance with a number of prominent persons, and to these she applied for their influence to secure the position she desired—that of reader. The duties of reader are. as the name indicates, to read aloud for the amusement or instruction of the employer. Gretchen was appointed to the place she coveted and in this way met Louis on occasions when be visited ills betrothed. But neither the beauty nor the wiles of the actress could draw the king from his allegiance. A breach must be made between the two before Gretchen could hope to effect an entrance to his heart. The many presents the king had given the princess were not kept so securely but that the reader had access to them. One day when an opportunity occurred she took from these gifts a half hoop of turquoises shaped like forgetmeuots. intending to make an especial use of it. i There was among the officers of the king’s bodyguard one whom we shall call Carl. He had been struck by the beauty of the princess' reader, and she for a purpose had entered into a mild flirtation with him. She gave him the turquoise half hoop as a mark of her flavor, asking him to wear it for her sake. The young man. proud of his supposed conquest, was not slow to exhibit the proof of it before his royal master, and Louis was shocked at seeing. in possession of another a gift he had given his betrothed. It is only in real stories that people violate every doctrine of probability. One would suppose that any man in his senses, seeing his present in possession of another, would have made an investigation. Louis did not even ask the guardsman how Lc came by the .trinket. Perhaps the doctrines of probability do not apply in cases of jealous lovers. At any rate, there are many instances to show that ordinary sense and common prudence do not. King Louis, furious at the apparent evidence that his beloved had been untrue to

him, wrote her a scathing letter breaking off their engagement The letter fell like a bolt from heaven. It is a question whether disappointment, wounded love or indignation at the unpardonable treatment for which no explanation was given most affected the girl, who from having loved and received the love of a king was suddenly cast off. Such misunderstandings usually become more complicated and less explainable at every step. The second scene in the drama was even more deplorable than the first. The princess was astounded to learn that her reader had fled from her and taken up her abode within the limits of the royal park. This begot another error. As the king believed that the princess had given the guardsman his present, so the princess believed that the reason the king had broken with her was that he might possess the actress. This led to a third complication. Sophia returned to the king all the presents be had sent her except the half hoop of turquoises, which she could not find and supposed had been lost

The evening after the receipt of his gifts the king and the ex-actress-ex-reader were out on the lake. The boat, shaped like a swan, was fitted up in royal style. The moon shone down upon them, its soft light intensifying the girl’s beauty. That they might be alone the oarsmen had been left on shore, the king having himself pulled the boat out on to the lake. ■■■■■

But Louis’ mind was on the princess. with whom he bad been so wroth and who, instead of suing for forgiveness for the offense of which be had* accused her. had broken the last link of the chain that had bound them together by returning his gifts. Moreover, be had noted that the half loop which had made all the trouble was not among the gifts be had received. He spoke of this to his companion. Gretchen came to a sudden resolution.

What influences people is not always known even to themselves, much less to others. It seems singular that the woman who had brought abrnt this rupture of a tiery king with the girl he loved should while be was still hot have determined on a confession. But it must be remembered that she had gained whatever sway she held over her royal lover by the senses. Doubtless she could not endure her secret forever, and if she was to confess and throw herself on his mercy bow could she hope for a more advantageous situation than this moonlit scene? If she was to succeed in winning a pardon no better time or place could be hoped for. Throwing herself at Louis’ feet, she told the story of her crime. Not only were her hopes of forgiveness dashed, but death stared her in the face. That fiery nature which the king had already often displayed and which doubtless presaged the insanity which feii upon him later flashed out as from a demou. Seizing the kneeling girl by the waist, he raised her above the gunw’ale of the boat and threw her into the water. Then, taking up the oars, regardless of her cries, he pulled furiously to the shore. Fortunately for Louis, he was not doomed to live under the stigma of murder. Some gamekeepers heard the cries of the drowning girl and. jumping into a boat, pulled out in time to save her. As soon as she had reached the shore she fled from Bavaria.

The king harried to Possenhoffen, burning to undo the wrong he had done his betrothed. It was to be expected that he would have some difficulty in winning her forgiveness. But was not her lover a king?\ Reaching' the chateau, he sent word that he begged to see her in order that he might explain and ask forgiveness for bis treatment of her. Word came back tq him that she would not see him; that she would never be the wife of a man who had turned her away without a hearing and insulted her by supplanting her with the woman who had perpetrated the deception. There are few cases where a king has been seut about his business by a woman who has really loved him. and it is not likely in such affairs that the indignant fiancee bad long refused to be conciliated, but Sophia maintained the position she had assumed and never became the wife of Louis, king of Bavaria.

And yet this episode which separated a pair of royal lovers turned out a blessing in disguise for the Princess Sophia. Louis' outbursts of temper were but the precursors of insanity. Later his mind gave way. and another took charge of the government of his kingdom, while the legitimate sovereign was confined under the care of a physician. The king .was not violent and was permitted to take walks with his attendant doctor. One evening while they were out together near the lake which Louis had loved so well and which had been the scene of past episodes in his life he made some excuse to leave his guardian for a few moments. He seemed in such good mental condition that consent was given. Presently the doctor heard a splash. Hurrying to the lake, he saw his charge in the water. Jumping in. be seized the king, but the latter was too strong for him and. getting him under water, held him there till life became extinct Afterward the dead bodies of the king and the physician were found in the lake. Another tragedy involving the death of one born at Possenhoffen was the assassination of the Empress Elizabeth of Austria at Geneva by an anarchist. indeed, the place and the period wen- full of remarkable bapfienings tn the royal houses of Austria and Bavaria.

THREW HER INTO THE WATER.