Lola Montez : $b An adventuress of the 'fortiesD'Auvergne, Edmund B. (Edmund Basil)
History
Lola Montez : $b An adventuress of the 'forties
D'Auvergne, Edmund B. (Edmund Basil)
Montez, Lola, 1818-1861
Vain hope! By the common domestic women of her time Lola was regarded with
bitter hatred. It is unnecessary to analyse this species of animosity. It
is compounded, apparently, of jealousy, of some vague religious sentiment
of inherited prejudice, and of the trade-unionist's dislike for the
blackleg. This attitude, though instinctive, is not unreasonable on the
part of the vast numbers of women who consider marriage a profession, but
it is more difficult to understand in the case of an aged lady, long since
resigned to celibacy. Such a spinster was Miss Susanna Heald, of
Headington Grove, Horncastle, the aunt of Cornet George. This lady
manifested great displeasure at her nephew's marriage; and, certain facts
having been communicated to her by Lola's numerous enemies, she forthwith
set in motion that efficient engine of man's injustice, the English law.
The honeymoon of the newly-wed pair, if they had one at all, was brief,
for it was on 6th August, at nine o'clock in the morning, as the Countess
of Landsfeld was stepping into her carriage, at 27 Halfmoon Street, that
Police Sergeant Gray and Inspector Whall quietly requested a word or two
with her. They explained that they held a warrant for her arrest on a
charge of bigamy, she having intermarried with Cornet Heald while her
lawful husband, Captain James, was still alive. Lola replied that she had
been divorced from the captain by an act of Parliament. She added with
characteristic petulence: "I don't know whether Captain James is alive or
not, and I don't care. I was married in a wrong name, and it wasn't a
legal marriage. Lord Brougham was present when the divorce was granted,
and Captain Osborne can prove it. What will the King say?" she murmured,
as an after-thought, and referring no doubt to her late royal protector.
They drove to the police-station, and thence to Marlborough Street Police
Court. The rumour of the arrest had spread abroad, and the approaches to
the court were thronged with people, eager to get a glimpse of the famous
Countess of Landsfeld. The "respectable married women" in the crowd no
doubt exulted at the anticipated downfall of the woman who could bind
men's hearts without the chains of law or Church.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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