Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-01-14
mosphere Of the great city had been 50


| poor an exchange.
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
| sorrowfully of some past trouble: but
now the grass, the ferns, the Pickering
sunbeams that played across them-all,
all were gone; only the blast of cold 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 immediate neighborhood OF the
window, and that-gracious heavensl
was 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, in their WEAKNESS and excitement,
both she and Miriam had been less care
full in looking to the fastenings than was
their custom.
| Before she could summon courage to
rise or to decide whether TO awaken her
sister or first ascertain If anything had
been distracted from the chamber
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
move or to cry out for help, for the bell
was not within reach, and desperate
man intent upon plumber might muir
der her and her equally helpless sister If
they frustrated him.
Had anyone discovered their precious
trust, and was it to rob them OF 1t the
ruffian 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 it was hidden, but shrank
back as quickly, for the figure was rap
idly drawing near-neaTer-and now 1t
was close to the bedside and bending
over her as she lay.
Involuntarily 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
dangerous quarters of the metropolis
abound. And when hand grasped the
bedclothes as il to drag them from her
Katie Mayne for the first time in her life
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 have opened
your eyes at lastl You looked so ghast-
ly / feared you we're i'll. Did you find
the room too close in the night that you
opened the Window"
The question brought back all the hor-
rible recollections of that dark hour,
and, with 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,
as she had foreboded, the packet con-
tanning not only her own and her sisters
share of the legacy, but the notes per-
tanning to her aunt, was gone.
For some time the half stupefied sis
tiers sat gazing at the trunk, too much be-
wildered 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-
nouncc 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
losty
"The policcr' exclaimed Katie, sud-
denly starting into action. I'VE must
go TO the police. The gentleman from
whom we received the notes may have
taken the ,precaution Of keeping the
spair until we have done our best to re-
cover 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
adventure had to be told over and over
again, till she grew weary of telling It,.
The landlady of the house, aroused from
her matutinal nap to hear 1t, was selflshly
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 1t till
they began to feel guilty as well 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 nuslsean, and SO on, until
Katie's head ached and Miriam's pa
thence was quite exhausted.
ut was plain as pikcstaf how the
robbery had been effected" the inspector
averred. There was an empty house a
few doors of, through which the burglar
or burglars had obtained access to the
roof. If people would 60 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