Show Y I TO WfO fRENCH DUKE ENGAGEMENT OF DAUGHTER OFT OF-T P SHONTS ANNOUNCED Nobleman Is Finally Victorious After Long Courtthlp Father Gives Up Fight and Agrees to the Union Washington Mr and Mrs Thee loro P Shonts announce tho engagement engage-ment of their daughter Theodora to Due do Chaulnes et De Plcqulny of France tho wedding to take place at their New York home in January The due recently sailed for Franco from Now York where ho had been slnco tho arrival of Mrs Shoats and her l daughters from Europe several month ago The engagement of Miss Shonts and the due has long been expected and Is not a surprise to either society in tutu country or in Europe The persistent courtship of the due covers a space of over 18 months and las boon most fervent He met Miss Shonts in Paris and fell In lovo with her shortly after her presentation at the court of King Edward Her beauty mid youth excited admiration in Paris where she went with her mother after leaving London and the due was tho first to become her follower It was during the trip of tho family In Europe that tho reports of the en agemont of Miss Theodora to the duc i first gained circulation The rumors were denied emphatically by the girls parents at the time but again became Frequent when tho due visited at tho i Shonts home in Washington last sprIng Again they were mot with denials from Mr Shonts but the rumors have cropped out from time to time ever since the denials being just as frequent fre-quent Washington society fully expected to hear tho definite announcement made during the dues visit here and Its failure to materialize was tho cause of much dlsuppontmcnt Tho cause of the delay in the young couples plans It is thought here was duo to tho opposition to tho match on the part of Mr Shonts who desired that his daughter should become the wife of some young American Tho duo comes from the oldest of French nobility and Is possessed of vast estates though they arc said to be embarrassed with debts Tho sister sis-ter of due do Chaulnos duchess dUzes Is a close friend of Mrs Bhonts and was to have accompanied her brother here upon his visit last winter but illness prevented She and due dUzes will come to the wedding wed-ding In January as will several other relatlver his family Miss Shonts is now In Now York but will come to Washington to attend at-tend the reunion at Mrs Shonts school where for several years she was a student After leaving the I school she was taken abroad and was I under special teachers for some time She is a splendid linguist pretty and 20 years old Her maternal grandfather grand-father was tho late Gov Drake of Iowa |