San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-08-16
MRS. MONTGOMERY SWIFT.

merry dancing eyes, red lips, always parted
over small white teeth, a round waist and a
bright, fresh complexion, she was barely IL,
perfect edition of the pocket Venus and the
possessor of fair portion. These were her
assets, against which stood the facts that she
lived in quiet country house in Wales, that
she had neither father nor mother, and had
been since her babyhood the charge of a wild
owed, childess aunt, blessed with a philan
thropic turn of mind, and more solicitous of
sparir.; labor to her lady helps than of con
tributing to the pleasures of her niece.
However, on the whole, the odds were in
favor of the girl, who being gifted with a
fearless, independent nature, contrived to
make the most of opportunities, and as she
grew up, became the acknowledged belle of
the country side. Her reputation extended
as far as Cardiff and Brecknock, and no
county or garrison ball was deemed success
unless Miss Wynne was present. She was
escorted to these festivities by some obliging
chaperon, to whom Mrs. Polsover trusted her,
sometimes for couple of days at stretch,
with many recommendations as to propriety
and department.
One ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS day, Jessica was
invited by some acquaintance she had made
at Cardiff, and who had taken great fancy
to her, to spend two months with them in
London Immediately after Easter. The girl
passed a week in delirious joy of prepare
ton and anticipation; she dreamed of tri-
umphs which would eclipse those of the little
Welsh belle, of intoxicating delights, of par
ties, balls, Nottingham, Sandown, the New
club, theatres, Of all the places she had read
of in the society papers; and, looking at her
pretty face in the glass, she even hoped that
it might be her proud fate to see her name in
print as 1.-The lovely Miss Wynne" in some
glorified paragraph.
Col and Mrs Tressillian, her future hosts,
were a fashionable middle aged couple, ad-
dicted to a good deal of wandering over Eu-
rope in quest of health and amusement, but
generally occupying a fine house in South
Kensington during the season, where they
entertained literally both their compatriots
and foreigners, whenever they were not them.
selves being entertained.
Jessca Wvnne returned to Wales at the
beginning Of July If Mrs Polsover had
been obServant she might have noticed q
shadow in the laughing brown eyes, a certain
compassion in the scarlet lips She vaguely
observed that the girl was unusually reticent
about her London experiences yes Lon
don was very gay-plenty of things going on,
of course; lots of fine gowns, good music
Oh, yes, heaps of concerts, too-many of
them" Had she enjoyed herself9" "Of
course, how could she help enjoying herself
in London during the season" and answers
to that effect.
The truth of the matter was that the popu-
lar little Welsh belle had been sorely neg
in tn har. ind
nant diSmay, that her beauty, wit and repair
tee remained unappreciated; with increasing
choler she soon remarked that other maidens
as fresh and fair as herself shared her igno-
minious obscurity. Her consciousness, which
was not conceit, told her that she was sacri-
feed to rivals less fair, less clever, and, above
all, less young; she realized that one and all
of the successful queens of society were odious
married women-fast, bold, exacting, tyran-
nical matrons, who monopolized the atten-
tions of the men. She saw those unprincipled
creatures surrounded by their courtiers at
the play and at the races; they were asked
to dinners, picnics and balls, and when
poor little Jessica did get card for a dance
the entertainment painfully reminded her of
the breaking up festivities of her school,
where the white frocks so hopeleSsly FREEDOM
mated oyer the black coats Remembering
all these things the girl set her teeth hard,
gathered her eyebrows into reSolute frown,
and vowed that if she had lost her first in
nings she would be even yet with the London
world
Miss Wynue had not forgotten her vow, or
else fortune favored her. A year later Mrs
Polsover died. leaving half her money to the
lady helps, the other half to Jessica, who be-
came almost an heiress. When six months
had passed a little paragraph appeared in
several Welsh papers containing the following
intelligence
I'VE understand that the beautiful Miss
Jessica Wynne WILL at the expiration of her
mourning, return to society as the bride of
Capt Montgomery Swift. This gallant officer,
now on leave, will, however, shortly after
the honeymoon be compelled to join his regi.
ment abroad"
This announcement, shorn Of local hyper.
bole, gradually found its way into the Bir-
mingham and Manchester dailies, and finally
drifted into one or two London papers
Mrs. Montgomery Swift took charming
furnished house in Mayfair, kept perfectly
appointed brougham and victoria, procured
her toilets from Paris and forthwith became
the rage. Her gowns were copied, her repair.
tees quoted, her 5 o'clock at homes crowded
She gave neither dinners nor parties, awaited
herself of a few of the lntroductions OBJ
tanned through the Tressillians, who were
abroad; with charming impertinence and
pretty audacity dropped all the people she
considered hores, and plunged into the mad
dest whirl of social dissipation. American
girls CRASHED their teeth with envy when the
little grass widow carried off their most
hopeful admirers, dowagers frowned, young
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