Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1888-03-28
Ny FAIR UNKNOWN

Ny FAIR UNKNOWN
The quaint, oli-fashioned little town
OF Deal IS one OF the quaintest places
on the kentish coast. True, 1t pos
sesses tiny stone ietty, at the extTem-
it's OF which "A beacon flashes through
the night, but no gay prCmsnaders pace
its aSuhalJed parade, no cockuey chill
dren dIspOTt themselves upon its beach,
and the burnt-cOtk Minstrel Is thezs =
genius almost unknown.
Here / found myself three summers
ago whilst on sketching tour. / had
"d0ue" the town, washed in the sea
In every mood, smeared, sketched,
dauped, and spattered until there was
not stick or stone In the place that
had not found its way into my sketch
book.
On the last day Of my stay Sam
tered down to the beach with the hZy
gait OF a man who has done his duty
my camp-stool under my arm, my box
OF tools IN my hand-uOC that | set out
with any distinct purpose Of using the
same, TOR had exhausted the sea and
my own capacity, but simply for the
sake Of COmlaniOnShip. confess |
was growing triis lonesome. Nature
sometImes bored me.
As l stgOiled along, rejecting with
satisfaction that / would leave the
ieyd with clear conscience and empty
paiat-tubes. q rock lying in a peculiar
position struck my fancy, and | stopped
20 sketch It.
l unfolded my little camp-stool, and
set it down on the hard, level sand.
The tide WAS low, hut the stool stood
uneyeuIy, and. Elaucing down TO ascer-
tain the cause, l saw that one leg
tilted down INTO a footprint; and,
looking ahead, mott sed that the foot
prints went on and on, ZigZag, along
the beach, disappearing in the distance
narrow, dainty fOOtprInts-a wom3n's ,
Feelings akin 10 those experienced I
by Robinson CrusOe rushed over me as |
! eazed. I;emember that had been |
for several weeks IN this out-of. the-way |
place without another human soul with I
whom TO commune except my land |
lady, ana our COmmunIugs were mostly |
OF a sOrdd nature; and here were deli /
cate prints Of 4 personality that might |
Lead To- tie most delightful conse- |
Quencesl
| could sketch no more. Gathering |
W Al INHsAbtr kAtEAA9A " AOA4ON 7
the trail
lam somewhat of a philosOptie Enrn !
Of mind, and rs | walked along l laPsed |
into train Of thought worthy the
great Darwin himself.
In the drst place, measured with I
my eye the length Of the slender foot
prints, and calculating by the proper
proportions that the foot should be as /
long rs the distance from the wrist to |
the elbow, 1 concluded, about five feet /
dve-a good height for 4 woman.
That IL was a woman | knew by the 1
hlnge'like marks where here and 1
there the long dress made its deIAeate /
trail. Then Sue must be slender .Sor
such narrow foot to support hAr
weight; besides, the fOOtmarks were
lightly pressed into the sand. They
wee rather far apart. She took long
steps Cor woman, and nothing gives
more n zee to walk, to my mind. l
detest thes totterlnE, tripping women.
With the .Nstuteuess Of detective
noticed that q e distance between each
two Of the poin = WAS of equal length;
that indicated ale. -tuess and the poIse
OF elastic strength, {, Y dreamy woman
would have walked ali GveU the beach,
and weak woman wou q lgave taken
uneven steps.
All along beside the footprints were
other marks, which, after C tDse lsspec-
uon, knew to be punctuI ed bT the
end OF a parasol. Another LDod feat
uTe, Tor 1t showed that the .Snknowa
'emale whom | was tracking was not
oVer'caretuI Of her complexion, and
argued commendable absence of
vanity, and a corresponding Wesen,'e
good sense. Bnt, alasl the imprin.t I
VI Vhe heel was exceedingly small, and ;
more sharply cut Into the sand than
ne Toe, making the unmlstakable i'm
reSsion OF the French heel. So nv
.ar unknown was a damsel of cIviIizI-
"oa-a slave TO fashion, possibly.
AS pursued the tran round the 5
sont az Walmer Castle it turned in to !
-e "hlte gilsteuiug beach above high 5
"aeeI marx, and there | discovered I
Pesslons II the soft sand as If
T'9eeu Ia stone, the square mould of
Ts1OA, Stnall-a novel; there were the
,.-9 ut garment, and the long,
Nsu1 une where the umbrella or !
@ @1aIHS, had lam, each neat fold of silk
,s'OuCced perfectly, aud the marks ut
- uAnale Where fingers had clutched
Wlg. uue marks-a delicate hand. !
I'm TINS | knew she had stopped to
- uOWn her book and paraSol-she
VI DOT throw them down, therefore !
S1e must De gentle--aud then she must 4
ave stood there and gazed out at the
sea Tor long time.
now ud / know this? From the
.No footprints, side by side, pointing
SSglaNard, and sunk deep in the sand.
.Je must be thoughtful, little sad,
f-u always follows; and here she had
ia s,s a punch Of wild flowers, which she
-lsN nave p!ucked in the fields on her
sss s' 10 wander in fields, to pick |
5eIs as You go, are these not evil |
lug nature? VIM " Os''N'' NV
~ could not help breathing a hope
Ia Ia sue was neither old nor plain. l
TTH up tbs simple bouquet; it was
bsI bp OUT showed every Indication of /;
Sss recently plucked. She could not
Oe Tar away.
And 10y enthusiasm darted forward
started back rs If had been shot.
boT bg' y,.tten written on the sand In clear,
e'1eTs, was aname-''Constance -
INV on circumstantIal evidence.
uat Ue'pre me picture of a being
s,? ,SS had never seen. and of whose
day had not known until this
Sc, could almost imagine that
'auee walked before me nress-