The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1873-03-01

making straight for the closet T 1eer;nn
u"Ii% adn VISA cav word To tell the truth, the
cbioroform had scared me nearly out OF my
,,t,avs kent it ,ocked), and the trunk was at
the further end of it. Let me say here that
this closet or store room was in the ''L'' part
of the house, fully a foot lower than nv
room. Mr.. Burglar was not acquainted with
this fact. CHANGING toward me with his
sharp eyes, to see if was quiet, he took
step forward and vert sprawling on all fours
cont know to his day how he managed to
save the lamp as he did, but it was not brok-
en- IN the tall, and burned as brightly as ever.
MY wits came to me here. / sprang up as
| lightly as a cat out of bed, aud before he
could get VI Oh his feet, I had the door OF the
| closet shut and locked upon him. lie gre"
lamb-like in moment.
"You'ye done it now, haven't you, my
charming creature? l swear IN III ioso
with YOU from this hour to the end OF tiine.
You've got me tight and fast. Wnere tne
use of money nov I'll take the elgnty cents
and YOU may have the forty dollars you
will let me out" ,oichhors y
'a sGoi q with that night cap on? Youh
make voHr fortune But don't hurry, thaI 5
| dear. Let's have little friendly Talk. pay,
ri give you hundred dollars II you VIII let
me out" e.. l.. .o,.,-
| er woman nearly to death-no, sir!'
ssWelI then, i'll give y,'u two hundred''
| ''No, SIR"
'sName your price, then, dear girl. 1 sup
pose every woman has her price-they say
| every man has,"
"No; it wouldn't be right said hes ita-
tingly.
heard him chuckle:
First step toward it; she begins to talk of
what is right
thought of my poor girl out to work by
the week, and so anxious to get an education,
| and Fol sure it is mt to be wondered at if I
did begin to thinl Of setting price. But I
| said not word.
| 'Look here, I'll put five hundred dollars in
| good sound gold under the door, and you
can count it as l push it through piece by
piece, if you will only let me out of this ours
ed hole. I'm smothering''
"Try some chloroform," 1 whispered
through the keyhole.
out?'
had light by this time, and had slipped
into a calico wrapper and my slippers.
eft got the money, could let him out OF
the closet?' I wondered. l shouldn't dare
to meet him he'd rob me again, and perhaps
murder me. But said, "Ill take the gold"
resolving that would try to get out of it
somehow, Just for the sake of poor Rebecca,
who SO much wanted to go to school.
'sYour heart is in the right place." he said,
and the next moment a big, round gold piece
came through the wide crack under the door.
1 couldn't withhold an exclamation of de-
light.
| ''Its right enough now, isn't it?" he
sneered. "There's nothing like gliding over
our sins little. Bah! All the world is
alike! Here goes another, and another
Count fast my precious damsel. l dare say
there is no professional In your church"
SIS there in yours? %
''Well, if there was, gold gets into that
sometimes they say. Hold fast there,
you've got the last clinker, now set me free. !"
"Wait minute
"But won't watt II swear WON'T
Cant you help yourself?'
s'Well, no, not much, but I'm smothering
in here Can't you take pity on poor fel-
I low?'
''Set fiat on the floor" I said
1 heard him plump down on the floor as
obedient.as a school boy.
| "What neXt?"
turned to the kitchen door to see if the
lock was all right. Then 1 turned the key
with sharp click, which sounded to me like
the report OF pistol.
Ihere!' cried, ana SpfanS INTO the
kitchen. locking the door behind me.
He came out Of his prison, swearing like a
trooper.
''Shary old Satan, she's locked herself UP
somewhere trying the kitchen door as he
spoke. ''9ood night, Madam Dell. Coco
night! You've got the best of this YOU
have robbed me. Good night-get down and
say your prayers"
And did. What is more, cried like ba
by over my money, thinking what it would
bring to us.
never saw the strange burglar again, an
| in few weeks Rebecca was comfortably es
tablished at school. No one ever knew where
the money came from. An uncle died about
that time, aud some of my neighbors shrewd
ly suspected that he had left us something
but had nothing to say about the subject.
About six mnnths after my adventure
brother Joe came to me one day, and SAID he
had been stopped in the street by strange
man that morning, and that he had begged
him to say to Madame Quimby that the tri
of her nightcap was just little too wide. Sc
saying, he passed on. "What did it mean ?''
Joe asked. lss Z. .yssEFr 81 sg
"Nothing, only that he was crazy" an.
swered quickly, but my face was as red as q
blaze.