Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1869-08-05

with laugh at my own ingenuity,
l tucked the roll of notes in among
my luxurious tresses, and drew a net
over to hold allin place. Twas asleep
almost the instant my head touched
the pillow. ought to have slept
soundly, and dreamed happy dreams;
but l did not. Some counterinfluence
seemed to rutile my slumbers, and at
last walked.
Some one was in my room. knew
it as well as though l could see, and
the room was too dark for that.
There was no sound either, but for
all that 1 knew 1 was not alone. l
tried to scream, but l could not make
a sound. l was frozen with terror. l
never thought of the money, or rob-
bers, nor anything that knew of. I
was only horribly frightened, so
scared that l could not move hand or
foot, or make noise. l don't know
but / stopped breathing. l can re-
member yet how cold l felt, though
the night was warm one.
Suddenly, without the warning of
a breath, ! was conscious that q hand
was creeping stcalthily about my
pillow.
1 did not think of the money even
then. AS terror had stolen my sens
es, so now it brought some of them
back. l gave one scream, and sprang
from the bed, or tried to. Two
strong hands stopped me; firm
arm held me, while the other hand
vainly sought to loose my hair, the
mysteries of which it plainly did not
comprehend. The net, more obsti-
nate than nets usually are, would not
come off, probably because, in his
hurry, my mysterious assailant was
unconscious of its plant meshes.
He pulled my hair in his awkward
attempts, horribly. The mere pain
was like spur to me. As his arm
lay across my arms, bent my head
swiftly and fastened my teeth upon
it with vicious snap that only a
woman in my situation would have
been capable of.
The unexpectedness of the attack
dissolved my bonds. With an audible
oath he let me go, and darted away
with winged feet, and met father in
the passage. OF course tainted then
and there; and by the time anybody
had got into my room, my robber
had made his escape.
Alas, however, he should not have
allowed himself to swear; above all,
at woman, and still less at wo-
man with such acute ears as / had.
| had heard his voice, and knew it
belonged to Mr.. Fordyce.
Father fairly turned pale when l
told him, but he cautioned me not to
betray that | suspected anything at
present; and he took Steve's money
under his special charge. We all
met again at breakfast. i should
have said that Mr.. Fordyce had
made his appearance about the same
time that the rest of the family,
whom my screams had aroused, and
in the most natural manner. He
came down to breakfast now smiling,
and just interested enough in my
adventure.
Father went away to town after
breakfast, and Mr.. Fordyce sat on
the piazza and smoked. The officers
who came to arrest him stole upon
him before he thought Of resistance.
1t was plain case. They found
proof enough Of the robberies he had
been at the bottom of, hid away in
his trunks; and he owned up, with
smiling nonchalance. He turned
back his sleeve when no one was
looking, and showed me the blue
prints of my teeth on his white arm,
and kissed them with the old gallant
eanpressment.
OF course Steve made his payment,
and we were married ut an carly day.
-NeW York Ledger.