MIRAMAR 



of his cabins in the frigate Novara^ in which he 

 had made his tour of the world. 



Some say that in this earthly paradise Eve 

 was not quite content. It seemed exile to her. 

 She was ambitious, and she wanted a throne. 

 Fate, perhaps in irony, gave her her desire. In 

 1863 t ^ ie P a * r sailed in the Novara for 

 Mexico on that " dolorous adventure which 

 ended in death." They went not to the 

 triumphs they had hoped ; not, as they had 

 designed, to the regeneration of a stricken 

 country. From the first no faint gleam of 

 success shone upon their mission. It was an 

 unintermittent struggle, a merciless bloody 

 struggle, in which they were abandoned by their 

 allies, betrayed by their friends, and all too sadly 

 made aware that their own equipment for the 

 tremendous task had been insufficient. 



A few years passed and they had made no 

 progress. Charlotte, never to see her husband 

 again, came to Europe to plead his cause with 

 Emperor and Pope. Alas ! disappointment, 

 terror, and grief had turned her brain. She was 

 brought back to Miramar in a condition of 

 living death from which she never rallied. 

 186 



