Middletown transcript., 1876-09-23

! ever heard came to mind.
I remembered that none Of our door;
could be locked Papa. who had fe"
strange ideas, declared locks were .
nuisance. felt that | was doomed
went out into the yard, and, to my
dismay, discovered that the sky was
overcast and storm near at hand.
could see the rain coming; faster and
faster it came, it was soon at the house
Oh, how it did rain
On each side Of our yard was brook
pretty and peaceful in pleasant weather,
but very little rain transformed them
both into raging torrents
As l stood at the window | saw first
| one bridge and then the other swept
of. / knew now that must stay alone
| all night; it would be impossible fol
nv brothers and sisters to get home
Travellers, or, as Sally called them,
..trampers, often stopped at our house
| over night, as there was no public house
near. To my horror, | now saw one Q!
them coming across the fields Should
| / hide No, that was not to be thought
Of Without stopping to knock, the
| great rough man walked in.
"Can stay here all night? 2"
dared not refuse him, SO as firmly
as could, answered.:
"Yes."
He seemed surprised at seeing no one
but myself, and questioned me much.
1 told him my brother was upstairs
writing; that we two were alone. That
was the first thing that entered my head
10 tell him. Such 4 villianous counte-
nance as that man had!
His hair was cut close to his head,
leaving his huge ears in hold relief
Wicked-lookin eyes, and q brutal
mouth, completed his general express
sion Of ferocity.
Bedtime came and | directed the
man to room upstairs 10 the servants
department, not the upstairs" were |
had said my brother was.
Now that there was real danger, |
was calm and reasonable. / fastened the
door that led upstairs with my embroid-
cry scissors. which happened to be in
my pocket, SO as to guard against sur
prise, and hurriedly collecting our sill
verware, carried it to mammals room
and hid it in mammals bed No one
would have supposed the bed had been
disturbed
was elated at my ingenuity.
then hunted up what few jewels the
girls possessed. and placing them. with
what money l could find, in box. !
tied them in my pocket After doing
this stole down stairs and removed my
scissors from the door. These scissors
we're counted among my most valuable
treasures / had them many years and
had no intention Of loosing them now
+ / expected the man would only wait
until be thought I and my 6cticious
brother were asleep, and would then
search the house for valuables and finish
BY killing me.
Only one plan for escape that | orig
mated seemed feasible | determined
to wait till | heard my lodger in the
rooms below, and then wrap myself in
papa's shawl, and jump out of the win
dow was not kept in suspense long ;
the peculiar squeak Of the sitting-rocnl
door warned me that it was time to act.
Quietly raised the window. and just as
the step approached the stairs. | jumped
to the ground. Fortunately. there was
bed Of lilies directly beneath the win
dow, and they softened my fall.
That there was danger Of breaking
my neck I had not thought. | was de-
termined to escape.
It was dark as Egypt, the rain was
pouring down in torrents, but this was
nothing in comparison with the horror
within the house
Half mile back Of our house lived q
friend Of papa's-Mr. Vincent. / re-
solved to 90 there. ran along. STUN
bling against fences and falling into
bitches, thinking L never. knew such q
long balf-mile
Finally / reached the house. and
managed to tell my story. Several
young men happened to have been de-
layed there by the storm, and. headed
BY Henry Vincent, young man Of some
twenty-five years, they prepared TO cap
turo my visitor.
! was too excited to remain at Mr..
|iVincent's declared that would 60
Eback home. They all tried to persuade
me not to do this except Henry Vim
Ecent. who said "such little heroine
should do as she pleased" With my
hand tightly clasped in Henry's, we
started.
When we came within sight Of our
house, we saw alight fitting from room
to room, and few words Of boisterous
song foated to Us on the breeze. Silent
|ly my friends surrounded the house,
guarding every avenue Of escape
Henry and I Il would not let him leave
me for a moment) entered the house -
We found the vagabond searching papa's
desk.
He had found seven hundred dollars
that had not seen. when preparing for
fight. He started to run when be saw
US. but finding men and revolvers on all
sides, he was obliged to surrender. .
He was safely bound, and then ques-
toned. 1t appeared he was noted
thief who had long baffled the police.
He said when be learned the house
was occupied by only two individuals
be was much elated. He did not in
tend to proceed to violence. unless my
brother and troubled him too much.
When be- found the house deserted. be
concluded I had not told him the truth
that / was alone. Not finding me,
be supposed I had hid, ard he would
not hunt for me.
Lifting me into his lap. Henry Vim.
cent called me the '.bravest little wo.
l., .-.. L..