534 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



the child Marie saw her weeping, but 

 with extraordinary self-possession for- 

 bore to mention it, the result being that 

 at the age of fourteen she was invited 

 with her parents to Vienna, and the first 

 thing the Empress did was to dress her 

 beautifully, and from that time she ap- 

 pears to have been in some manner the 

 confidante of the Empress. 



It is said that no man is a hero to his 

 valet-de-chambre and as presented to 

 us by the Countess Marie the Empress 

 was far from a perfect woman. 



According to the writer of " My 

 Past," Marie's marriage with Count 

 Larisch was prompted solelv by the 

 fact that he was supposed to be charac- 

 terless, and would, therefore, not hinder 

 her — his wife — from keeping her posi- 

 tion with the Empress. It would ap- 

 pear, however, that both aunt and niece 

 were mistaken in him. He had no in- 

 tention of acting as the complaisant 

 husband, and carried his wife far away 

 from Vienna. She returned to the capi- 

 tal from time to time for a short visit, 

 however, and it was during one of these 

 visits that the Empress introduced her 

 to the Baroness Vetsera, whose daughter 

 later became the object of the devoted 

 love of the Crown Prince. 



Countess Larisch says that she was 

 popularly supposed to have introduced 

 the two, and to have encouraged the in- 

 trigue. On account of this wrong im- 

 pression she says that her son shot him- 

 self, and her daughters suffered so much 

 that, after twenty-four years, she has 

 resolved to make public the truth of the 

 matter. It would certainly seem that 

 the book has been written more for the 

 purpose of exculpating herself than in 



order to disclose the secret of Meyer- 

 ling. Anyway, an eminently readable, 

 charmingly illustrated book has been 

 provided for the delectation of those 

 people who love gossip about illus- 

 trious persons. 



For instance, describing the old 

 friend of the Emperor Francis-Joseoh, 

 Frau Schratt, she tells of a visit of his 

 when he stopped rather late, and with 

 his usual consideration, not wishing to 

 disturb the sleeping household, was 

 walking quietly out through the garden 

 entrance, but just as he reached it a 

 door opened, and Frau Schratt's new 

 cook came out in her nightgown, carry- 

 ing a lighted candle. Says the Coun- 

 tess : — 



The sound of footsteps had alarmed her, 

 and, naturally, when she saw the figure of 

 a man, her first impulse was to scream. 



Francis-Joseph came forward quickly. 

 "iBft quiet, you stupid woman; don't you 

 know me? I'm the Emperor," he said, in 

 a low voice. 



The incredulous cook was taken aback, for 

 in her wildest flights of imagination she had 

 never pictured herself meeting the Emperor 

 of Austria wandering about late at night. 

 Still doubtful, she turned the light of the 

 candle full on the stranger's face, and, as 

 she did so, she recognised the well-known 

 features of Francis-Joseph. 



The loyal woman instantly fell on her 

 knees, and began to sing the National An- 

 them at the top of her voice. The Emperor 

 made a hurried exit, and I doubt whether a 

 patriotic hymn has ever been sung under 

 more ridiculous circumstances. 



Another amusing story concerns 

 Duke Max of Bavaria. But these anec- 

 dotes are just interludes in the terrible 

 drama of Meyerling, for which the 

 reader must turn to an account wherein 

 the bad side of human nature is upper- 

 most. 



THE GRAN CHAKO. 



An l~ nlnimni People, in on Unknown L'lml. 

 By W. Barbrooke Grubb. (.Service.) 



South America has been very much 

 to the fore lately, and Putumayo has 

 become a familiar word, but there is a 

 territory there which is said to cover 

 over 200,000 square miles, and of which 

 few know even the name. The Gran 

 Chaco is, on the ordinary map, a large 

 space almost in the centre of South 

 America, with Bolivia and the Argen- 



tine on the south and west, its only ap- 

 proach to civilisation being by the way 

 of the rivers Parana and Paraguay. 

 This great area is inhabited by nomadic 

 Indian tribes of a reddish chocolate 

 colour, and their country is, in large 

 part, alternately a swamp and a lake. 



In 1889 the Church of England Mis-, 

 sion began a work in that part of the 

 Chaco nearest to the Paraguay, and Mr. 

 Barbrooke Grubb was the pioneer mis- 



