The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1889-10-05


frocks so hopelessly predominated over
the black coats. Remembering all
these things. the girl set her teeth
hard, gathered her eyebrows into a
resolute frown and vowed that If she
had lost her first innings she would be
even yet with the London world.
Miss Wynne 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 became
almost an heiress. When six months
had passed, a little paragraph appeared
in several Welsh papers containing the
following intelligence:
1--WE understand that the beautiful
Miss Jessica Wynne will, at the expira-
ton of her mourning, return to society
as the bride of Captain Montgomery
Swift. This gallant officer, now on
leave. will. however, shortly after the
honeymoon be compelled to join his
regiment abroad"
This announcement, shorn of local
hyperbole, gradually found its way
into the Birmingham and Manchester
dailies, and finally drifted into one or
two London papers.
Mrs. Montgomery Swift took charm
ing furnished house in Mayfair, kept q
perfectly appointed brougham and vic
toria, procured her toilets from Paris
and forthwith became the rage. Her
gowns were copied, her repartees
quoted. her five o'clock at homes
crowded. She gave neither dinners nor
parties, awaited herself of few of the
introductions obtained through the
Tressillians. who were abroad; with
charming impertinence and pretty
audacity dropped all the people she
considered bores, and plunged into the
maddest whirl of social dissipation.
American girls CRASHED their teeth
with envy when the little ''grass
widow" carried of their most hopeful
admirers. dowagers frowned, young
metrons nursed their lips, mothers OF
manageable daughters were bitter.
but Mrs. Montgomery Swift needed
them not. and reveled in her popularity.
who the deuce is Captain Swift.
and where does he hang outP' queried
a guardsman of a fellow warrior part
ing from Jessica. when she re-entered
her carriage after her daily walk in
the park. ~
"Who cares a big ID for the husband
of pretty woman?" was the fippan,
answer. "He's somewhere on the gold
coast, or in India, or at Suakim. she
tells me; he might be dead and buried
for all l care-only it's much safer Il
know there's husband somewhere
and, to do the little woman justice
although she flirts. to the mines, she
does drag the captain in pretty freely
and even were he to mount guard ovel
her like watch dog, he wouldn't FIND
much to make rumpus about
"No," said the other, refiectively
pulling his mustache; Tits case o
Canute and the sea-just so far and
no farther She's ticklish one II
deal with. l don't quite make her outs
| .'She does pull q fellow up prett.
short sometimes, that's fact; but she'l
awfully jolly-no confounded sentimen
about her-not like those old stageri
who run you in before you know wher'
you are. She's rare fun. by Jover
and he smiled with retrospective en-
Joyment.
i For once the verdict of clubs, mes
rooms and smoking rooms was just
Mrs. Montgomery Swift's morals wer
unimpeachable. Without ostentatiol
she frequently alluded to her absen
consort retailed passages from hi
correspondence, bewailed the loni
; exile and frequent changes entailed b,
his profession, wondered how long b.
would remain in those outlandisl
J places where wives were an impossi
J bility, and occasionally reduced he
admirers to frantic despair by announc
} ing her intention of joining Captain
J Swift wherever he might be sent next
When assured that such self immola
. ton would be madness, she pensivel
concluded that perhaps it were wise
to await his return to civilization an
England.
Sometimes mot very often-Jessic
i was alone, and then she would look q
herself in the glass and smile quantity
i "lsn't it funny?' she murmured, scan
ming her features. II am sure ar
, not quite 30 fresh and pretty as wa
two years ago, and don't think / al
nearly as nice. And yet-then nobod
even looked at me. while now" He
eyes sparkled. 20. my blessed hui
. band, what a service you have rendere
, me! And to think that shall never
| never ha ahla 70 .enau uoliiN