Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1875-05-14

LONDON as only 1nColllg6uC StIduSolo o"f
/ Too modest and ladylike to attract an
notice by any popularity Of dress or man
ner, and too humble to divine how oftel
their fresh sweet faces drew upon them al
admiring glance, they "did'' the principa
sights with that hearty appreciation %
| them felt only once in a lifetime. Blu
| pleasure, when it takes the form OF Gran
ing ones neck to admire pictures, o.
traversing the galleries of Kensington, o.
climbing the steps at the Crystal Palace
soon grows fatiguing; and after spending
their last evening, bfeathless and rapt au
ditors at good entertainment, the sisters
went to rAst, not altogether SORRY that thu
term allotted for their stay in town had
come to an end. An early train on the
morrow was to speed them back to -
with it's quaint High Street, ruined castle
towering above the ayenueef elms leading
to it's gates, and those breezes from the
surrounding hills for which the murky at
mosphere Of the great city had been SC
poor an exchange. ee4 a
Was Katie dreaming of these invigor-
ating breezes when she suddenly aWoke
| from her slumbers? A minute ago she
had fancied that she was sitting under the
trees with Miriam, talking little sorrow
fully of some past trouble; but now the
grass, the ferns, the Pickering sunbeams
that played across them-all, all was gone;
only the cold blast Of the air that had
chilled her into wakefulness was still
sweeping ACROSS her cheek. .
She raised herself on her elbow, but the
night was so dark that nothing in the room
could be discerned except in the immedi-
ate neighborhood Of the window, and that
gracious heavens-wa wide open.
Numberless tales of thefts perpetrated
in this manner flashed into her mind as
soon as she made the discovery, and she
recollected, now that it was too late, how
she and Miriam had been less careful in
looking to the fastenings than was their
custom.
Before she could summon courage
enough to awaken her sister, or first aseer-
tain if anything had been distracted from
the chamber, a sound at the window made
her CULVER with increasing alarm. A dark
figure was there-a figure but dimly seen
in the obscurity of the starless night-Was
even then cautiously stepping through it.
Katie covered down in the bed, afraid to
cry oft for help; for the bell was not with
in her reach, and desperate man, intent
upon plumber, might murder her and her
equally helpless sister if they frustrated
him.
Had any one discovered her precious
trust, and was it to rob them of it the ruff
fan came? Must they lose it. and in this
way? Growing frantic in her terror,
Katie put out her hand to grasp the trunk
| in which 1t was hidden, but shrank back
| as quickly, for the 9gure was advancing
nearerL arer--and9 NOW i'll Was $lose to
the bedside, and bending over her as she
lay. .
Involuntary she closed her eyes. She
| was no heroine endowed with marvellous
presence of mind, but weak woman who
felt herself at the mercy of one of those
lawless characters with which the Met
ropolis abound. And when a hand grasped
the bedclotkes, as if to drag them from
her she tainted quietly away.
When her senses returned it was morn
ing, and Miriam was leaning over her
with some alarm depicted on her face.
"Thank goodness you opened your eyes
| at last! You looked so CHASTITY I feared
you were ill. Did you find the room too
close in the night, that you opened the
Window"
The question brought back all the hor-
ors of that dark hour, and with cry of
mingled grief and rage Katie sprang out
of bed and siezed the trunk. 1t was un-
locked. 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 feminine attire flung out of the
trunk; and, as she had forboded, the
packet containing not only her own and
sisters share of the legacy, but the notes
pertaining to her aunt, was gone.
For some time the half.stupified sisters
sat gazing at the trunk, too much bewild-
cred by their loss to do anything but la
ment it.. Yet their grief was not wholly
for themselves. They were young and
strong, they told each other, and though
it cost them pang to renounce the hap.
piness this money was to have afforded
them, why, they would be as they had been
before. But the widowed aunt, whose
worst cares were to have been lifted from
her burdened shonlders-the anxious
mother, whose heart had sung with joy as
she looked around at the little ones and
saw herself enabled to further their inter.
ests-how should they tell her that the
precious sum on which she was depending
was lost?
ssThe Police!" exclaimed Kate, suddenly
starting into action. eve must go to the
rolice. The gentleman from whom we re-
ceived the notes may have taken the pre-.
caution of keeping the numbers. We will
not give way to despair until we have done
our best to recover them.''
Only those who have gone through a
similar ordeal can realize the misery OF
| that morning to the sisters. They were
questioned till they grew hoarse with re.
plying. The tale of Katie's nocturnal adj
venture had 10 be told over and over again,
till she grew weary of telling it.-The
landlady of the house, aroused from he1
matutinal nap to hear it, was selfshly in.
| dignant that such an affair should have
| happened in house that had always the
best of characters, and talked at Katie and
Miriam as the cause of it, till they began
TO feel guilty as well as unhappy. The ex.
ecutor of the will then applied to for the
numbers OF the notes, shrugged his Shout
ders, and remarked more sarcastically than
kindly upon the want of caution that had