The Magnificent Montez: From Courtesan to ConvertWyndham, Horace
History
The Magnificent Montez: From Courtesan to Convert
Wyndham, Horace
Montez, Lola, 1818-1861
Further particulars were supplied by another correspondent: "I saw Mr.
Heald," says this authority. "He is a tall, thin young man, with a
fair complexion, and often uses rouge to hide his pallor. Many pity
him for what has happened. Others, however, pity the lovely Lola.
Before he left this district, Mr. Heald called on the English Consul.
'I have come,' he said,'to ask your advice. Some of my friends here
suggest that I should leave my wife. What ought I to do about it? If I
stop with her, I am afraid of being assassinated or poisoned.' He then
exhibited a garment covered with blood. The Consul replied: 'I am
positively astonished that, after the attack of which you speak, you
did not complain to the police, and that you have since lived with
your wife on terms of intimacy. If you want to abandon her, you must
do as you think best. I cannot advise you.'"
H.B.M. Consul, however, did stretch a point, since he (perhaps fearing
further bloodshed) offered to _viser_ the applicant's passport for any
other country. Thereupon, Mr. Heald betook himself to Mataro. But,
becoming conscience-smitten, he promptly sat down and wrote an
apologetic letter to the lady he left behind him, begging her
forgiveness. "If you should ever have reason to complain of me again,"
he said, "this letter will always act as a talisman."
Apparently it had the effect, for Lola returned to her penitent
spouse.
The Barcelona correspondent of _L'Assemblee Nationale_ managed to
interview the Cornet.
"He says," announced this authority, "that others persuaded him to
depart, against his real wishes. On rejoining him, Mrs. Heald was most
indignant. Her eyes positively flashed fire; and, if she should chance
to encounter the men who took her husband from her, I quite tremble to
think what will happen!"
Something obviously did happen, for, according to de Mirecourt,
"during their sojourn in Sunny Spain, the admirable English husband
made his wife the gratified mother of two beautiful offspring."
Parenthood, however, would appear to have had an odd effect upon this
couple, for, continues de Mirecourt: "_Mais, en depit de ces gages
d'amour, leur bonheur est trouble par des querelles intestines._"
It was from Spain that, having adjusted their differences temporarily,
the couple went back to Paris. As a peace offering, a rising young
artist, Claudius Jacquand, was commissioned to paint both their
portraits on a single canvas. During, however, another domestic
rupture, Heald demanded that Lola's features should be painted out. "I
want nothing," he said, "to remind me of that woman." Unfortunately,
Lola had just made a similar demand where the Cornet was concerned.
Jacquand was a man of talent, but he could not do impossibilities.
Thereupon, Lola, breathing fire and fury, took the canvas away and
hung it with its back to the front in her bedroom. "To allow my
husband to watch me always would," she said, "be indelicate!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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