The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-06-17

opened it, crossed the piazza, stepped
into the garden, and just as / was
anxiously considering whether the risk
of sudden awakening would be so great
as that of exposure to the cold night
air, hurriedly crossed a small plot of
ground, and, lifting the cover of dis
used pump-box-it had been built
around one of those garden pumps
peered into it, softly closed it, and
started to retrace her steps to the
veranda.
l had barely time to escape to my
room, slip off the clothing l had so
hastily donned but few minutes be-
fore, and cover myself with the bed
clothes, when she entered, and, retiring,
seemed almost in a moment to be sleep
ing quietly.
| felt little doubt now as to what had
become of the jewel-box. My wife,
nervous at the entrance of the servant
into the dining-room on the night when
she had been trying on the Jewels, had
allowed a morbid fear of robbery to in
vest her SO completely that she in her
sleep had undertaken to conceal the
Jewels, as she thought, in some more
secure spot than beneath my pillow,
from which she had probably seen the
corner of the case protruding. The de-
fective fastening on that particular win
dow in the conservatory must in some
inexplicable way have suggested to her
an exit there; for the rest, indeed for
the whole matter, the reader can Judge
as well as myself.
| have since related these facts to
several medical men, but without re-
ceiving from them any satisfactory So
luton, farther than that, in times of
strong excitement, persons of nervous
temperament are naturally more strongly
and lastingly affected than others; and
that, as in my wife's case, a predispo-
sition to somnambulism, though latent
for years. learned from my wife that
she had occasionally walked in her
sleep when young but had long since
been supposed completely cured, the
family having supposed the disorder to
have passed away with childhood
might have tended to the results l have
narrated. With regard to the recur-
renee, they regarded the return to the
scene where it was first enacted, after
temporary absence, reasonable ground
for its repetition.
To complete my story it is scarcely
necessary to add that my wife on awak-
ening was entirely unconscious of the oc-
currences of the night; and when to-
gether that morning we visited the
scene of her wanderings, and took from
the pump-boX the jewel-case, consider
ably the worse for nearly two months
exposure, no one could have been more
surprised than herself. A few words
more and | am done. l shortly after
ward purchased the estate on which
we now reside; and, removing here at
my wife's request, sought out and rein
stated the man | had so unjustly sus-
pected and discharged, and he remains
with us to this day, a most trusty servant.
For some time, by the advice Of my
physician, made no allusion to the
affair of the diamonds in my wife's
presence, fearing that reference to ii
might induce in some manner to other
somnambulistic wanderings. But as
time passed and no recurrence took
place, this fear gradually wore off, and
to-day my wife frequently tells the
story to our children of how careful she
was once of their fathers diamonds. -
Every Other Saturday.