San Andreas independent., 1856-11-29
The Sandman Mystery.

ishing (confound itD in the most ostenta-
tious manner in my left whisker, and had
turned, as / believe, from black to white
In single night. It was the morning of
my birthday. l had risen full of matured
youth was but two-and- forty in
the best of spirits From baseless dream
of matrimonial subjection I had awakened
to find myself alone. I had said in. my
heart, "There is no need, Harry Loveless,
to take to thysef wife these ten years. y
In the pride of my manhood, in the glory
If | may say so-of my wounded beau
ty | was smitten; that spectral form which
stood out from the raven masses of its fell
lows was warning not to be neglected -
Some evidence of the breaking up of my
system had been apparent to me for years,
which had striyen to account for by tenn
porary causes, and they now became fear
fully significant. [ could not thencefor-
ward, conceal from myself that the button
of the waistband of my trowsers was bet
ter left unfastened; that l felt happier
when out of my little patent leather boots
What then was my conduct upon the dis
CONCly VI tucoc lditS! l. cIdulcdLeu Tie
grey hair with care, and burnt it; I be-
came thinner-waisted, smaller-footed than
ever; [ was gayer-brighter from that
moment; danced more (waltz, especially,
sang more Sentimental ballads, always),
and gave up whist entirely; in short, apo
plectic in feeling, became quite boyish
in manner; for | felt there was no time to
lose in taking unto myself wife.
In the place where | resided the supply
of young ladies far exceeded the demand.
On my right hand dwelt the eight Miss
Nogoes; two red, and one with squint;
ON my left the FIVE Miss Sansous; all so
alike that making love to one would be
making four mistakes; and might lead,
eventually, to the most complicated biga-
my. The two Miss Holdfasts-both in
years, and father commercial-werew within
a stones throw; the terrace towards the
town was filed with half-pay military Off
GERS who had daughters unattached; the
terrace towards the sea with half-pay naval
ditto, with daughters waiting for sailing
orders in the brig Cupid. TO all of these
the amount of my income, down to the
pence and shillings, had been interesting
for years; what l paid month for my
lodg gings; what had been allowed at col
lege; how many horses there had been to
my fathers hearse all that could throw
light, in fact, upon my social position, had
been objects Of their closest inquiry. IF
had had the misfortune to be amongst the
landed gentry, they would have known my
age to minute, for Burke-the only
Burke they ever heard of-was never out
of their minds The few military men
who shone amidst our petticoat parties
at Sandwich were dancible, irritable, go
down-to-supper-with-able enough, but they
were far from eligible; the three men in
the regiment who had more than hundred
a-year besides their pay, were, singularly
enough, the only married ones. In such
state of things, then, Harry Loveless needed
not to have gone to the length of adverti-
sing for bride.
know not to whose bow and spear-to
whose crinoline and "whiskers" s"-I might
have speedily fallen prey, had not the
Sandman family, fourteen years ago. ar
rived amongst us. There was a Mr.. San
diman, and there were three Miss Sandi-
mans; and there was Mrs. Sandman; we
knew there was Mrs. S. by the cards
which they left, sparely enough, in return
ing calls, Mrs. Sandman and the Misses
Sandman Cor the Miss Sandimen, as we
were wont to term them), but we knew
nothing more Of her for many months
The family lived retired life, and picked
and chose out of their neighbors for their
friends. They were therefore described
by some as "nice people when you came to
know them," but by the majority as "not
moving in our best circles by any means;"
the young ladies were certainly far too good
looking to be popular at Sandwith. In
consideration of their charms and of the
execution they effected amongst the hund-
red-and-frst, they were denominated re-
spectively by that gallant corps" Battle"
Murder" and "Sudden Death" They
were all three blondes, but "Sudden Death"
was the blondest saw her first on the
sea beach, walking and reading at the same
time, upon rather windy July day; her
parasol-a pagoda parasol it was, of no sort
of use, but of the greatest possible orna-
ment-was carried off suddenly by zephyr
and revolved rapidly in the direction of
the deep. I started Immediately also.
did the button of my waistband-in head
long pursuit, and arrived at the waters
edge, just too late. To have wetted my
patent leather boots was of course out of
the question; but / did the next best thing
that / could have done, and sent my dog
in after the fair craft. I restored it to its
proprietress. A bow the next time we
met; bow and smile the next time after
that; shake of the hand the third day,
eliminated, on the fourth, to an introduc-
] ton to her two sisters and to Mr. Sandi-
man. then met them daily, by acci-