But valuable assistance in eliciting the real facts connected with the career of this remarkable woman, and disentangling them from the network of lies and fables in which they have long been enmeshed, has come from other sources. Among those to whom a special debt must be acknowledged are Edmund d'Auvergne (author of a carefully documented study), _Lola Montez_ (_an Adventuress of the 'Forties_); Gertrude Aretz (author of _The Elegant Woman_); Bernard Falk (author of _The Naked Lady_); Arthur Hornblow (author of _A History of the Theatre in America_); Harry Price (Hon. Sec. University of London Council for Psychical Investigation); Philip Richardson (editor of _The Dancing Times_); and Constance Rourke (author of _Troupers of the Gold Coast_); and further information has been forthcoming from Mrs. Charles Baker (Ruislip), and John Wade (Acton). Much help in supplying me with important letters and documents and hitherto unpublished particulars relating to the trail blazed by Lola Montez in America has been furnished by the following: Miss Mabel R. Gillis (State Librarian, Californian State Library, Sacramento); Mrs. Lillian Hall (Curator, Harvard Theatre Collection); Miss Ida M. Mellen (New York); Mrs. Helen Putnam van Sicklen (Library of the Society of Californian Pioneers); Mrs. Annette Tyree (New York); Mr. John Stapleton Cowley-Brown (New York); Mr. Lewis Chase (Hendersonville); Professor Kenneth L. Daughrity (Delta State Teachers' College, Cleveland); Mr. Frank Fenton (Stanford University, California); Mr. Harold E. Gillingham (Librarian, Historical Society of Pennsylvania); Mr. W. Sprague Holden (Associate-Editor, Argonaut Publishing Company, San Francisco); and Mr. Milton Lord (Director, Public Library, Boston). In addition to these experts, I am also indebted to Monsieur Pierre Tugal (Conservateur, Archives de la Danse, Paris); and to the directors and staffs of the Bibliotheque d'Arsenal, Paris, and of the Theatrical Museum, Munich, who have generously placed their records at my disposal. Unlike his American and Continental colleagues, a public librarian in England said (on a postcard) that he was "too busy to answer questions." H. W. * * * * * CONTENTS FOREWORD CHAPTER I. PRELUDE TO ADVENTURE II. "MARRIED IN HASTE" III. THE CONSISTORY COURT IV. FLARE OF THE FOOTLIGHTS V. A PASSIONATE PILGRIMAGE VI. AN "AFFAIR OF HONOUR" VII. "HOOKING A PRINCE" VIII. LUDWIG THE LOVER IX. "MAITRESSE DU ROI" X. BURSTING OF THE STORM XI. A FALLEN STAR XII. A "LEFT-HANDED" MARRIAGE XIII. ODYSSEY XIV. THE "GOLDEN WEST" XV. "DOWN UNDER" XVI. FAREWELL TO THE FOOTLIGHTS XVII. THE CURTAIN FALLS APPENDIX I. "ARTS OF BEAUTY" APPENDIX II. "LOLA MONTEZ' LECTURES" INDEX * * * * * LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS LOLA MONTEZ, COUNTESS OF LANDSFELD _Frontispiece_