Litchfield enquirer., 1875-06-24

hand man and woman, when they retired Co their room over the dinipg-hall, and I heard the two servant girls exchange con- fidHnees and compare notes as they finger ed In the passage which led Co their dor mitories; but these overlapping of the household gossip had long since ceased to annoy or hinder me.
 About half an hour after midnight heard a faint, scraping noise somewhere downstairs. At first paid no attention to 1t. Just as began to wonder what it could mean, it ceased altogether
 | had now finished my nights labor and was busy revising and arranging my man. uscript. While puzzling intently over an involved and stilted paragraph, and trying to reform 1t by ensures and mterhnea- hons, I was startled by unmistakable sounds of stealthy, muffied footsteps be- low. My first thought was of robbers. Pshaw said to myself, 1t is only aunt or enc of the servants out of bed and walking barefoot. Having settled down in this belief, I resumed my labor and continued it perhaps five minutes, occa- sionally hearing but giving no heed to soft footballs.
 Suddenly came my aunt's voice, de- mal1ding sternly, "Who's there, and what do you want?" Then followed confused sound of many mufed footsteps, pistol shot. groan, and heavy fall. I seized my revolver and precipitated myself down stairs. know not how.
 The front door of the tower was open and the moon was shining in. My aunt in her white night-clothes was lying on the floor near the foot of the stairs. Three men were running down the pathway lead- ing to the high-road, one of them consid- erably behind the others. I fired all the barrels of my revolver after the retreating figures. The hindmost man stumbled at the second shot. but instantly regained his feet and fled faster than before.
 went to my aunt, lifted her from the floor, carried her to her room, and laid her on her bed. It seemed to me that she gasped for breath while was carrying her. Probably was mistaken, for it af- terward appeared that she had been shot through the heart.
 It was not until I had lighted a candle that Maggie Pengeld. the biggest and anee.
 .sMaggie," said I, s'can your husband and the girls. Your mistress is murder edr'
 Maggie seemed stupefied. I repeated ny order again and again before she ap- peared to comprehend it. At last she lighted lamp, took my candle, and went and called the other servants, who had all been awakened by the first pistol-shot, but had remained quaking in their beds.
 explained to them what had happened as well as could, and told them to run to the village and call the doctor. the sheriff, and the magistrate. Nobody stirred.
 eff you are afraid to go, I said, ''stay here. and will go."
 .Indeed, sir, they are afraid to go or stay, I do be thinking; and small blame to them. said Maggie. ''I'n go, sir, and you can trust them to folly me-"
 Suiting her actions to her words, the brawny Lishwoman started off at great pace. closely followed by the other ser wants did not realize, until saw them pass into the moonlight, how scared and .sss-id taeF al appeared; nor did it necnr to me until many days afterwards that the whole party wore shoes without stockings, that the women were clad in their scanty summer night-gear, or that James had progressed with his toilet only so far as to slip into his pantaloons and fasten one suspender.
 When they were gone, took the lamp and examined the premises for traces of the murderers. The front door had doubt less been opened by means of pair of nippers inserted into the key-hole, so as seize and turn the key, which was in the lock. Upon examining the key, found the end of it worn quite bright. Evident ly the nippers had slipped many times, and that was probably the cause of the scraping noise had heard.
 There was Q sort of vault under the stairs on the first floor of the tower. It appeared like an ordinary closet, but was lined with iron, and had an iron door painted to resemble wood. There my aunt kept her valuables in an old fashion ed strong box, fastened with a paddock, which could have been carried off bodily by two strong men. The murderers had opened the vault, probably with skeleton key, and it had doubtless been thelr in- tention to rifle or cary off the strong-box. My aunt, whose courage amounted to pos tive contempt of danger, had come among them in time to prevent them from med ding with it. thought it more than likely that she had seized one of them, in- tending to hold him until she could sum- mon help, and had thus met her death.
 After examining the interior of the house pretty thoroughly, I went outside to look for tracks, but found none. then remembered that all the footsteps had heard had been mufied, as though made by walking without shoes. I con- cluded that the murderers had worn moc- casins. ns.-then somewhat in vogue in that part of the country. They would make no impression on the firm turf and hard, graveled walks around the house.
 Having made these observations, re- turned to the room where my aunt's body was lying.
 set the lamp on the mantel, where it shone full upon the dead face. The ex- presslon was stern, but not pained nor angry. leaned against the mantel and watched those rigid features, know not how long. It seemed to me my messen- gers would never return. My thoughts would not stay fixed upon any subject While speculating as to the probability of my having wounded one of the flying mur- derers, I wandered off into a series of crude reflections upon the imperfections of my revolver, an old fashioned bundle of small, short barrels turning around a common centre. and forming tire-arm of little range and less accuracy. The boys used to call such weapons Aliens pepper boxes. if remember rightly. My mind went a1Dng this irrevelant track, until I fancied had invented better repeating pistol. I was going on to apply the prin- ciple of my invention to rifles, muskets. and cannons, when I became suddenly conscious of the impertinence of such a train of thought at such time. I then began to think of the sterling qualities of the deceased. and her great kindness to me. My thoughts ran back and forth along the line of her history, but soon stole away into idle coniectures concern ing an old gray horse which had long been a penslOner in her pastures and stables. I struggled to construct some theory which should account for his being named Black Prince, he being; as | have said, gray horse. was about surrendering my indg- ment to the feeble surmise that he had originally been black and had turned gray from old age. when | was startled by what seemed to be a change m the ex- pression of the dead face. My aunt seem ed to be smilingly grimly, as she had been won't to smile when she heard or read a