Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-07-10
MRS. LIGHTF00TS JEWELS

Everybody wondered why pretty
Mrs. Lightfoot, with all the alluring
possibilities of Newport, Lenox and
Bar Harbor i'll full view, should have
chosen TO bury such charms as hers
in that out of the way, dreary nook,
Boreton-by-the-Sea
In truth it was q trifle perplexing
that a widow, young, handsome and
In a period of mitigated grief-just
beginning to take notice-to whom
the air of Bellevue avenue or French
mans bay was as the breath Of life,
should calmly elect herself a denizen
of a little, lazy, seaside village, too
far away for the man of business, but
not far enough o fair enough for
the man of leisure, and whose male con-
tingent exhibited, therefore, an un.
lovely blending Of the cradle and the
: grave.
Still, there she was, the one gay fig
ure amid a throng Of health hunt
ers, listening with sympathetic grace
to lurid details of symptoms, aches and
agues, kaleidoscope in variety and
picturesque in detail as a patent medi-
cine puff, the very air raw with sug-
gestionso the Geneva Cross with am
bulance trimmings.
Yes, her world marveled greatly at
such a butterfly turned grub, yet APP
parently smiling at the change; but
that world has never yet been capable
Of getting inside of a smile. Had il
been able, what an deliberately with
cred sarcophagus it would have
discovered at the back of this one.
For "a dear little Lightfoot was, in
truth, a gilded picture of misery and
an image Of inwardly growing de-
spair. She herself was on a health
hunt like all the others at Boreton,
except that the weakly object of her
sohcitude and nursing care was her
bank account, not her rosy. bright
eyed self.
The fact is, that early in the spring,
visions of pretty toilets with which to
delight Newport, Bar Harbor
and thrill Lenox had so absorbed her
very being that, regardless of last
winters output, she had held high
carnival at the modiste's, which re-
suited in an accumulation Of purple
and fine linen fit for q royal progress,
and a warning note from her trustee
TO the depressing effect that next
quarters income was S forestalled
that she would probably have to make
IL convenient to camp for the summer
in u Of her large trunks, with a
small one by way o. kitchen annex.
This note brought to Mrs. Light
foot's fearful attention the stern, cast
iron fact that tits impossible 10 spend
two thousand dollars a month out OF
an income Of six thousand n year,
without speedily stranding on the
weather shore Of Cape Hard-up and
being butfeted by waves Of bills pay
able.
Imagine such q thunderbolt launch.
ed upon a pretty head brimful Of
dreams OF summer c~OnqucstSl I'M
agile all those new gowns changed
TO sackcloth and ashes at one swOop
Of that musty trustees pen! Think OF
that brilliant campaign from Rhode
Islands shores 10 Maine, andthe Berk.
shire hills turned into n Moscow re-
treat, Ike that of a stranded theatrical
troupe! So 1t was, however. Early
IN July the census of BOrctOn-bv-the-
Sea was increased two souls by the mr.
rival Of Mrs. Sylvia Lightfoot and
maid, and tho number OF its habitable
structures was nearly doubled by the
advent Of their luggage.
On arriving at the station, Maria,
the maid aforesaid. shifted a stern dis
approval Of Boreton and all its ur-
roundings. She had been Sylvia's
nurse from the day that. As "A baby.
she uttered her first indignant protest
at being brought into this world with
out her consent being first asked
and given. From Nurse she bad de-
velopcd into general proprietor Of the
orphan girl, which Office She filled
with all the tyranny OF affection,
grimly resigning it when her charge
married, and resuming IL like an heir
restored ~ his own when death re-
moved tho obstacle, as, IN her hcart
OF hearts, she called the husband.
The irst day at Borcton fulfilled
Maria's impressions. There were
showers without and tears within, al
ternatcd with that joy Of woman's
life, uupackiug-which, however, in
Sylyia's case, was lCsscncd by tho dis
covery that her jewels, instead Of be.
ing sent 10 the safe deposit, as intend
ed, had been packed and brought
down in her luggage, ucro was
sleep Destroyer With those jewels
in the cottage, phantom burglars in
black masks would hover through her
dreams, aud diamonds would 10 the
trump t0 MAJ her slumber5 by its
steady blast. A solemn council with
Maria resulted in the present deposit
Of the gems in the Iatters trunk, a
relic with covering like a roast mar
tyr, in which one might expect 20 find
amummy's last will and testament,
but never the jewelso OF amoderu belle.
A capital hiding place II proved,
and as day after day passed, Sylvia