Page:Abroad with Mark Twain and Eugene Field.djvu/174

 "She was not only the solitary rival ever recognized by Jenny Lind, but the greatest collector of titles ever," I replied. De Blowitz calls her the Duchess of L'Esignano, but she was also the Spanish Princess of Peace, the Princess Godoy, the Marchioness of Altavilla and the Countess and Baroness of Ketchendorff."

"In that case," said Mark, "that story about her dying is vastly exaggerated, for she has six lives coming to her before she is finally through. But how and where did she get all those high-sounding names?"

"Bought 'em, of course. Her last husband, the Prince Godoy, was a racetrack tout in Paris and they were married on his highness' deathbed. Auntie engaging to pay the funeral expenses. L'Esignano and Altavilla she likewise married in extremis, as lawyers have it. The Barony and the Countship she acquired through her lover, the saintly Prince Albert, husband of Victoria."

"She was a Frenchwoman, you said?"

"Born in Paris as Victoire Noel."

Mark Twain stood still in the midst of Printing House Square and laid a heavy hand upon my arm. "What you tell me is a great relief," he said. "I thought American girls were the only damn' fools paying for titles."

The much-titled Aunt Rosine didn't die till a year later, but I believe that the false alarm about her demise, set down, was 170