The Magnificent Montez Part 25

When not engaged in these innocent relaxations, Lola would give herself up to other pursuits. Thus, she hunted and fished and shot, and often made long trips on horseback through the forests and sage bush. Having a fondness for all sorts of animals, on one such expedition she captured a bear cub, with which she returned to her cabin and set herself to tame. While thus employed, she was visited by a wandering violinist, who, falling a victim to her charms, begged a lock of her hair as a souvenir of the occasion. Thereupon, Lola, always anxious to oblige, struck a bargain with him. "I have," she said, "a pet grizzly in my orchard. If you will wrestle with him for three minutes, you shall have enough of my hair to make a bow for your fiddle. Let me see what you can do." The challenge was accepted; and the amorous violinist, merely stipulating that the animal should be muzzled, set to work and secured the coveted guerdon.

Something of a risk, perhaps. Still, it would have been a more serious one if Lola had kept a rattlesnake.

Appearances are deceptive, and Bruin was less domesticated than Lola imagined. One day, pining perhaps for fresh diet, he grappled with his mistress and bit her hand. The incident attracted a laureate on the staff of the _California Chronicle_, who, in Silas Wegg fashion, "dropped into verse:"

LOLA AND HER PET

One day when the season was drizzly, And outside amus.e.m.e.nts were wet, Fair Lola paid court to her Grizzly And undertook petting her pet.

But, ah, it was not the Bavarian Who softened so under her hand, No ermined King octogenarian, But Bruin, coa.r.s.e cub of the land.

So, all her caresses combatting He crushed her white slender hand first, Refusing his love to her patting, As she had refused hers to _Pat_!

Oh, had her pet been him whose glory And t.i.tle were won on the field, Less bloodless had ended this story, More easy her hand had been _Heald_!

This doggerel was signed "F.S.", initials which masked the ident.i.ty of Frank Soule, the editor of the _Chronicle_.

V

Never without her dog-whip, Lola took it with her to her cottage in Gra.s.s Valley. There she soon found a use for it. A journalist, in a column account of her career, was ungallant enough to finish by enquiring "if she were the devil incarnate?" As the simplest method of settling the problem, "Lola summoned the impertinent scribbler and gave him such a hiding that he had no doubts left at all."

Shortly afterwards, there was trouble with another representative of the press. This was with one Henley Shipley, the editor of the _Marysville Herald_, who, notwithstanding that they were "regularly attended by the _elite_ of the camp," had described her "Wednesday soirees" as "disgraceful orgies, inimical to our fair repute."

Thereupon, says a sympathiser, the aspersed hostess "took her whip to him, and handed out a number of stinging and well merited cuts."

The opportunity being too good to miss, the editor of the _Sacramento Union_ set to work and rushed out a special edition, with a long description of the incident:

This forenoon our town was plunged into a state of ludicrous excitement by the spectacle of Madame Lola Montez rushing through Mill Street, with a lady's delicate riding whip in one hand and a copy of the _Marysville Herald_ in the other, vowing vengeance on "that scoundrel of an editor," etc. She met him at the Golden Gate Saloon, a crowd, on the _qui vive_, following in her footsteps. Having struck at him with her whip, she then applied woman's best weapon--her tongue.

Meanwhile, her antagonist kept most insultingly cool. All her endeavours being powerless, the "Divine Lola" appealed to the miners, but the only response was a burst of laughter. Mr. Shipley, the editor, then retired in triumph, having, by his calmness, completely worn down his fair enemy.

The immediate cause of the fracas was the appearance of sundry articles, copied from the _New York Times_, referring to the "Lola Montez-like insolence, bare-faced hypocrisy, and effrontery of Queen Christina of Spain." The entire scene was decidedly rich.

One can well imagine it.

Never prepared to accept hostile criticism without a protest, Lola sent her own version of the occurrence to a rival organ:

"This morning, November 21," she wrote, "the newspaper was handed me as usual. I scanned it over with little interest, saw a couple of abusive articles, not mentioning me by name, but, as I was afterwards told, had been prepared by the clever pen of this great statesman of the future, and present able writer, as a climax and extinguisher to all the past and future glories of Lola Montez. I wonder if he thought I should come down with a cool thousand or two, to stock up his fortune and cry 'Grace, Grace!'

"This is the only attempt at blackmail I have been subjected to in California, and I hope it will be the last. On I read the paper till I saw my name in good round English, and the allusions to my 'bare-faced hypocrisy and insolence.'

Europe, hear this! Has not the 'hypocrisy' been on the other side? What were you thinking of, Alexandra Dumas, Beringer, Mery, and all my friends when you told me my fault lay in my too great kindness? Shipley has judged me at last to be a hypocrite. To avenge you, I, bonnet on head and whip in hand--that whip which was never used but on a horse--this time to be disgraced by falling on the back of an a.s.s....

The spirit of my Irish ancestors (I being three-quarter Irish and Spanish and Scotch) took possession of my hand; and, on the most approved Tom Sayers principles, I took his, on which--thanks to some rings I had--I made a cutting impression. This would-be great smiter ended the combat with a certain amount of abuse, of which--to do him justice--he is a perfect master. _Sic transit gloria_ SHIPLEY! Alas, poor Yorick!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Lola Montez, in "Lola in Bavaria." A "Play with a Purpose"_]

The atmosphere of Gra.s.s Valley could scarcely be described as tranquil. Its surface was always being ruffled; and it was not long before Lola was again embroiled in a collision with one of her neighbours. This time she had a pa.s.sage at arms with a Methodist minister in the camp, the Rev. Mr. Wilson, who, with a sad lack of Christian charity, informed his flock that this new member among them was "a feminine devil devoid of shame, and that the 'Spider Dance' in her repertoire was an outrage." There were limits to clerical criticism. This was clearly one of them. As she could not take her whip to a clergyman, she took herself. "Resolved to teach the Rev.

Wilson a lesson, she called on him in her dancing dress, while he was conducting a confirmation cla.s.s."

"Without," says a member of the gathering, "any preliminaries beyond saying 'Good afternoon,' she proceeded to execute the dance before the astonished gaze of the company. Then turning to the minister, she said, 'The next time you think fit to make me and this dance a subject for a pulpit discourse, perhaps you will know better what you are talking about.' She then took her departure, before the reverend gentleman could sufficiently collect his senses to say or do anything."

But, notwithstanding these breaks in its monotony, Lola felt that she was not really adapted to the routine of Gra.s.s Valley. Once more, the theatre called her. Answering the call, she went back to it. But on the return journey she did not take Patrick Hull. She also shed the name he had given her, and resumed that of Countess of Landsfeld.

"It looks better on the bills," she said, when she discussed plans for a prospective tour.

The _Gra.s.s Valley Telegraph_ gave her a good "send off" in a fulsome column; and the miners presented her with a "farewell gift" in the form of a nugget. "Rough, like ourselves," said their spokesman, "but the genuine article."

CHAPTER XV

"DOWN UNDER"

I

This time Lola was going further afield. A long way further. Two continents had already been exploited. Now she would discover what a fresh one held.

Her plan was to leave the Stars and Stripes for the Southern Cross. As an initial step, "she sold her jewels for 20,000 dollars to the madam of a fashionable brothel." Having thus secured adequate funds, she a.s.sembled a number of out-of-work actors and actresses and engaged them to accompany her on a twelve months' tour in Australia. Except for Josephine Fiddes (who was afterwards to understudy Adah Isaacs Menken, of _Mazeppa_ renown) and, perhaps, her leading man, Charles Follard, they were of a distinctly inferior calibre.

The departure from California was duly notified in a paragraph sent round the press:

"We beg to inform our readers and the public generally that on June 6 the celebrated Lola Montez left San Francisco, at the head of a theatrical troupe of exceptional talent, bound for distant Australia.

The public in the Antipodes may confidently look forward to a rare treat."

The voyage across the Pacific being in a sailing vessel, was a longish one and occupied nearly ten weeks from start to finish. However, anchor was dropped at last; and on August 23, 1855, a "colossal attraction" was announced in "Lola Montez in Bavaria" at the Victoria Theatre, Sydney. There, thanks to the interest aroused by her exploits in other parts of the world, the newcomer was a.s.sured of a good reception.

But theatrical stars were always accorded a special measure of deference by the colonists. Thus, Miss Catherine Hayes, who was playing at an opposition house, was invited to luncheon by the Bishop of Sydney and to dinner by the Attorney-General; and a Scottish conjurer, "Professor" Anderson, was given an "address of welcome" by the Town Council.

While these particular honours were not enjoyed by Lola (who, for some reason best known to herself, had elected to be entered in the pa.s.senger-list as "Madam Landsfeld Heald"), she was none the less accorded considerable publicity. "The eccentric and much advertised Lola Montez," said the _Herald_ on the morning after her New South Wales debut, "pounces upon us direct from California, and the excitement of her visit is emptying the opposition theatre. Last night the Countess looked positively charming and acted very archly.... On the fall of the curtain, she presented Mr. Lambert (who played the King of Bavaria) with an elegant box of cigarettes."

Naturally enough, the star was interviewed by the journalists. "At the Victoria Theatre," says one of them, "I was privileged to have a talk with Madame Lola after the performance had concluded. I found her--much to my surprise--to be a very simple-mannered, well-behaved, cigar-loving young lady."

An odd picture of Sydney audiences is given by the author of _Southern Lights and Shadows_. "The young ladies of Australia," he says, "are in many respects remarkable. At thirteen they have more ribbons, jewels, and lovers than any other young ladies of the same age. They prattle insipidly from morning to night. The first time I visited a theatre I sat next one of them who had at least half a dozen rings worn over her gloves.... The affectation of _ton_ among them is astonishing. They are special patrons of the drama, and, on the appearance of a star, they flock to the dress circle in hundreds. The pit is generally well filled with a display of shirt-sleeves, pewter pots, and babies. The upper boxes are usually given up to that division of the community partial to pink bonnets and cheeks to match; and flirtations are carried on in the most flagrant and unblushing manner."

The author of this sketch also has something to say about Sydney as a town:

"One part of George Street is as much like Bond Street in London as it is possible for one place to resemble another. Like Bond Street, too, it is hourly paraded by the Bucks and Brummels of the Colony. The Cafe Francois is much frequented by the young swells and sprigs of the city. Files of _Punch_, _The Times_, sherry coblers, an entertaining hostess, and a big-bloused lubberly host are the special points left in my recollection. They serve 800 meals a day at this establishment, the rent of which is 2,400 a year."

II

During this Sydney engagement, Lola, ever interested in the cause of charity, organised a "Grand Sebastopol Matinee Performance," the proceeds being "for the benefit of our wounded heroes in the Crimea."

As the cause had a popular appeal, the house was a b.u.mper one.

Possibly, it was the success of this _matinee_ that led to an imaginative chronicler adding: "Our distinguished visitor, Madame Lola Montez, Countess of Landsfeld, is, with her full company of Thespians, on the point of leaving us for Balaclava. There, at the special request of Lord Raglan and Miss Florence Nightingale, she will inaugurate a theatre for the enjoyment of our gallant warriors and their Allies."

Another odd t.i.t-bit was sent to England by the theatrical correspondent of a London paper. This declared that a masculine member of her company "jumped into the harbour, mortified at discovering that Madame Lola had turned a more friendly face on a younger brother of the Duke of Wellington who had followed her to Sydney from Calcutta."

The artistic temperament.