St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-11-22
LIVING TAPESTRY,
The Thrilling Adventure of an English
Society Queen.



Society Queen.
London Times.
The following adventure happened
in Bath in the year 49,. 1t was in the
palmy days of Bath, when that now
fallen city rivalled London in brillian-
cy aud dissipation, and when all the
rich, the gay and the highborn OF
England congregated there in the sea-
son and graced the balls and assem-
blies.
Mrs. R, once the belle of the
court of George I'LL, but at this period
gradually retiring from general society,
possessed one of the largest of the
houses, and gave in it entertainments
which were the most popular of the
day. She was celebrated for three
things (once for four, but the fourth
her beauty-was of the days gone by;)
these things were, her fascination, her
benevolence and-a set of the most
perfect and matchless amethysts.
Her house contained tapestried
chambers. The walls of the one in
which she slept were hung with de-
signs from heather mythology, and the
finest piece in the room was that which
hung over her dressing table. 1t rep
resented Ph@bus driving the chariot
of the sun. The figures were life-size,
it filed up the whole space between
the two windows, and the horses were
concealed behind the high old fashion
ed Venetian looking glass, while Phe-
bus himself, six feet high, looked down
by night and by day at his mistress at
her toilette.
One evening Mrs. R had an I'M
usually large party at home. She wore
all her amethysts. On retiring to her
room, about 4 o'clock in the morning,
she took off all her jewels, laid them
on the table and dismissed the weary
maid, intending to put them away her.
self, but before doing so, knelt down,
as usual, to say her prayers.
While engaged in her devotions, it
was a habit with her to look upward,
and the face of Ph1bus was generally
the object on which her eyes most cas-
lily rested. On this particular night,
as usual she raised her eyes to Ph9bus.
What does she see2 Has PygmaliOn
been at work ? Has he filled those
dull eyes with vital fire Or, is she
dreaming? No. Possessed naturally
of wonderful courage and calmness,
she continued to move her lips as if in
silent prayer, and never once withdrew
her gaze, and still the eyes looked
down on hers. The light of her can
dies shOne on living Orbs, and her keen
sight enabled her, after a cleverly-
managed scrutiny, to see that the tap
estry eyes of Phebus had been cut out
and that, with her door locked and
every servant in bed in distant apart
ments, and all her jewels spread out
before her, she was not alone in the
room. She concluded her prayers with
her face sunk in her hands.
We can we'll imagine what those
prayers must have been She knew
there was someone behind the tapes
try she knew that bells and screams
were equally useless, and she lay down
in bed as usual, and waited the issue,
her only omission being that she did
not put away her jewels. "They must
save my life," she said to herself, and
she closed her eyes. The clock struck
five before q sound was heard, and
then the moment arrived. She heard
Il rustic, a descent from behind the
tapestry, and a man stood at her dress
ing table. He took off his coat, and
one by one he secured the jewels be-
meath his waistcoat. What would be
his next move7 Would it be to the
bedside or to the windowq He turned
and approached her bedside, but by
that time she had seen enough, and,
again closing her eyes, she commended
herself to the Providence she had been
craving.
This man was her own coachman.
Apparently satisfied by brief glance
under his dark lantern that he had not
disturbed her, he quietly unlocked the
door and left her. For two hours
they must have seemed two days-she
allowed the house to remain unalarm-
ed, her only movement having been to
relock the door which her living Phm-
bus had left aar.
At Z O'Clock in the morning she rang
her bell and ordered the carriage
around Immediately after breakfast.
All this was according to her usual
habits. On the box was the man who
had cost her a nights rest and most
probably all her jewels. However,
she drove off; she went straight to the
house of a magistrate.
''Seize my coachman," said she, "se-
cure him and search him. l have been
robbed, and hardly think he has had
time to disencumber himself of the
jewels he has taken from me-" She
was obeyed and was right. The anne
thysts were still about him and he
gave himself up without struggle.