The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1875-01-14

rlDle reCOllectlOnS OF that dark hour,
and, with a cry of mingled grief and
rage, Katie sprang out of bed and seized
the trunk. 1t was unlocked; the ring Of
keys that had been under her pillow
when she went to rest now lay on the
floor, with sundry odds and ends of fem
mime attire flung out of the trunk; and,
tanning not only her own and her sisters
tanning to her aunt, was gone.
For some time the half-stupefied sis
tiers sat gazing at the trunk, too much be-
wi!dered by their loss to do anything but
lament 1t. Yet their grief was not
wholly for themselves. They were
young and strong, they told each other,
and though it cost them pang to re-
nounce the happiness this money was to
have afforded them, why, they would be
but as they were before. But the wild
owed aunt, whose many cares were to
have been lifted from her burdened
shoulders-the anxious mother, whose
heart gladdened with joy as she looked
around at the little ones, and was her
self enabled to further their interests
how should they tell her that the precious
sum on which she was depending was
lost?
"The police!" exclaimed Katie, sud-
denly starting into action. 1--WE must
go to the police. The gentleman from
whom we received the notes may have
taken the precaution of keeping the
numbers. We will not give way to de-
spair until we have done our best to re-
cover them"
similar ordeal can realize the misery of
| fhof y,oNrniroO TO 6o ciSfore ENhou
questioned till they grew hoarse with re-
plying The tale Of Katie's nocturnal
adventure had to be told over and over
again, till she grew weary of telling it.
The landlady of the house, aroused from
her matutlnal nap to hear it, was selfishly
indignant that such an affair should have
happened in house that had always
borne the highest of characters, and
talked at them as the cause of it till
they began to feel guilty as we'll as un-
happy. The executor of the will when
applied to for the numbers of the notes
shrugged his shoulders and remarked
more satirically than kindly upon the
want of caution that had been shown.
If the young ladies had not been so
childishly eager to receive the money in
that form this could not have happened.
Then the police pried about, and
climbed out of the window and on to
the roof, and came back to ask more
questions, and repeated their gymnastic
exercises ad 1auseam, and so on, until
Katie's head ached and Miriam's pa
thence was quite exhausted.
| ut was plain as a pikestaf how the
robbery had been effected" the inspector
averred. There was an empty house a
few doors off, through which the burglar
or burglars had obtained access to the
roof. If people would go to bed with
large sums of money in their possession,
and their fastenings not properly Sc
cured, why, they must take the conse-
quences." The notes might be traced,
but he was doubtful about livery
doubtful.
And the sisters had to endure this, and
the visits to their room of every inquisi-
tive person in the house, till evening ap-
preached, and curiosity was satiated.
Then they once more locked their door,
and, faint with fatigue and sorrow, sat
down to swallow the half-cold tea and
toast brought up by an Irish servant,
whose sympathy, though coarsely ex-
pressed, had been very acceptable.
The homeward journey, to which few
hours earlier they had looked forward
with such pleasure, must now be post
poned till they could summon fortitude
to meet their aunt. The little gifts for
friends and relatives that it had been a
labor of love to select were put aside
with many signs; and Miriam, after do
ing her best to wear cheerful face and
coax her sister to eat, suddenly sue
cumbed to her passionate regrets, and,
throwing herself on the bed, wept her
self to sleep.
But Katie could not follow her exam
pie. She tenderly drew the clothes over
the sleeper and kissed her flushed cheek,
and then wrapping herself in shawl
sat down to take serious view of their
position.
It was bitter disappointment to be
obliged to postpone her marriage, and
she felt that in justice to her betrothed
she must put an end to the engagement;
for she must no longer work for herself
no longer set aside for her own uses
spared from the daily needs. The widow
and the fatherless had suffered by her
want of caution, and for them she must
toll increasingly until the debt was paid.
Then poor Katie began to calculate
how much she might save in the course
of the year by dint of denying herself
and striving to procure some employment
for her evenings; but her heart sank as
she comprehended that years must
elapse before the task she set herself
could be accomplished; and the tears,
that were more difficult to bring from
her eyes than Miriam's, fell in large, hot
drops on the clasped hands lying in her
lap. Only last night she had been 80
happy, SO hopeful, picturing to herself
the pleasure of her betrothed at her re-
turn, and the JOY that would light up the
sunken eyes of the widow when the pre-
cious trust was rendered up and her
nieces rewarded with a loving kiss.
Only last night SO happy, and now
Katie slid off the chair on her knees, and
gradually found comfort. The neighbor-
ing clocks sounded midnight, and then
the small hours but still she knelt there,
unconscious of the lapse of time, till
Miriam tossed and moaned, and then sat
up in the bed, starting about her, with q
curiously vacant look in her blue orbs.
Was she going to be ill? At the pros
pect of this addition to their anxieties
Katie's reviving spirits sank again, and
she rose and approached her sister to
question her. But Miriam, who had also
risen, brushed passed her without ap-
pearing to hear the afectionate inquiry,
and STOPPING over the trunk that had
contained the notes began searching in
it. She tossed the contents over and
over, muttering to herself the while,
until she found q small packet, not un-
like the lost one in size and shape, and
wrapping her waterproof tightly round
her walked straight up to the window,
which she flung open.
Katie's heart almost ceased to beat, for
she saw that the VOun0 Girl waa An 4
state of somnambulism, and dim con-
ception Of what might have occurred on
the previous night began to steal into
her mind. Unconscious of her terrified
sisters grasp on her skirts Miriam
climbed out of the window, and, still fol.