THE GLORIES OF A THRONE.

Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1058, 8 March 1882, Page 2

THE GLORIES OF A THRONE.

[ABERDEEN HEARLD.] That visit of the ex-Empress Eugenic to the chateau at Fountainbleau, round which cluster memories of the brightest days of the French Empire, must have been to the exiled lady in widow's weeds, who etole through the silent rooms, a bitter drop in a deep and j bitter cup. Whitening hair and furrowed cheek have taken the place of that splendid beauty that was the talk of Europe — the visible signs of an unutterable grief. The palace, in the forest adjoining which the brilliant hunting parties were given, has remained intact since it was occupied by the Emperor. In the tenantless rooms fell the gaze of their quondam occupant on articles of furniture indissolubly assocation with the memory of glad moments of her past Ufa Every lounge, the pattern on every piece of tapestry, called up, with relentless cruelty, the harrowing recollection of a time that the passing of years was mercifully helping to bury. Circumstances seemed to combine to remind the exiled monarch of her fate and tourist parties, to whom was being told by garrulous and different attendants for a franc or two, their moneys worth before the Empress could be conducted through them, to her familiar rooms. She wandered through the stately chateau, recognising each familiar spot, suffering, but silent, until she reached the room that was used by the late Prince Imperial. There, just as she remembered having left it, stood the bed on which the boy had slept, and there only did the sovereign lady's feelings overcome the stern will that held their expression in check. Wondering servants, the attendants of the Empress before her sun had set, recognised, through the mask of her care - worn features, their former mistress, and around the bed dropped in common sorrow the tears of humble peasant and the ex-oc-cupant of a throne.