The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1875-01-29

in his way in the shape of thetwo hundred
pounds that was to apprentice her eldest
boy, pay the school fees of tine next, and
release her from an incubus of small debts
that bad troubled her ever since the sud-
den decease Of her husband.
After much discussion of various ways
and means Of providing for the safety of
the valuable packet, it was resolved that
one or other of the sisters should carry it
in her bosom during the day, while at
night it might safely repose ct the bottom
of the little trunk that stood on chair by
their bedside; and this arrangement being
decided on, they prepared to enjoy London
as only intelligent strangers can.
Too modest and ladylike to attract no.
tice by any popularity of dress or manner,
and too humble to divine how often their
fresh sweet faces drew upon them an adj
miring glance, they "did" the principal
sights with that hearty appreciation of
them felt only once in lifetime. But
| pleasure, when it takes the form of era
ming ones neck to admire pictures, or trav-
ersing the galleries ofKensington, or climb
ing the steps at the Crystal Palace, soon
grows fatiguing and after spending their
last evening breathless and rapt auditors
| ut good entertainment, the sisters went to
rest, not altogether sorry that the term al
lotted FOR their stay in town had come to
an end. An early train on the morrow was
to speed them back to, with its quaint
| High Street, ruined castle towering above
the avenue of elms leading to its gates, and
| those beeeZes from the surrounding hills
for which the murky atmosphere of the
great city had been so poor an exchange.
Knfi min # -,
ting breeZes when she suddenly awoke
from slumbers A minute ago she had
tancied tnat she was sitting under the trees
with Miriam, talkinga 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 lmmedi-
ate neighborhood of the window, and that
gracious heavens 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 careful in look
ing to the fastenings than was their Gus
tom.
Before she could summon courage to rise,
or decide whether to awaken her sister, or
first ascertain if anything had been alb
stracted 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 obssurity of the star
less night--was even then cautiously step
ping 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 murder her and her equally helpless
sister if they frustrated him.
Hu,i any one discovered their precious
trust, and was it to rob them Of it the ruff.
fan Cameo Must they lose it, and in this
wayl 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 rapidly draw
ing Northumberland now it 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 q weak woman who
felt herself at the mercy of one of those
lawless characters with which the danger
Gus quarters of tho Metropolis abound
And when hand grasped the bedclothes,
as if 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 last You looked so ghastly fear.
ed you were ill. Did you find the room
too close in the night, that you opened the
window 2"
Tho question brought back all the horri-
BILE 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 feminine attire flung out of the
trunk; and, as she had foreboded, the
packet containing not only her own and
her sisters share Of the legacy, but the
notes pertaining to her aunt, was gone.
| For some time the hali.stupetied 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 a pang to renounce the happi-
ness this money was to have afforded them.
why, they would be but as they were be-
fore. But the widowed aunt, whose worst
cares were to have been lifted from her
burdened shouders-the anxious mother,
whose heart had sung with Joy as she look.
ed around at the little ones and saw her.
self enabled to further their interests
how should they tell her that the precious
sum on which she was depending was losta
"'rhe police !" exclaimed Katie, sudden
~ 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 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 ad-
venture had to be told over and over again,
till she grew weary Of telling it. The
landady of the house, aroused from her
matutinal nap to hear it, was selfishly in
dignant that such an affair should have
happened in a house that had always
borne the best of characters, and talked ut
Katie and Miriam as the cause of it. till
they began to feel guilty as well rs unhap-
py. The executor of the will when appli-
ed to for the numbers of tue notes, shrug-
ged 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.