The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1881-01-27

the money out of the secretary drawer.
The man was robbing her father.
Quick almost as the thought itself.
Kitty had sprung to the entry, and
thence to her parents bedroom, which
opened upon it.
farmer was wide awake, and, snatch
Ing loaded gun which hung above
the mantlepiece, was in the yard and
beneath the window as quickly as Kit.
ty herself ceuld have been.
There indeed was the peddler, his
jpack already on his shoulders, some.
thing cleaning family like tin box
in his hands, while he grouped about
the ground, as in search of missing
iarticle.
With one bound Farmer Lane was
upon him, and for some moments
there was heard only the sound of
desperate struggle, mingled with
smothered oaths from the peddler, who
at length, on hearing the rapidly.ap
preaching footsteps and voices of some
Of the farm hands, who had been
aroused by Kitty's cries; suddenly
wrenched himself from the grasp of
his antagonist, gave him a stunning
blow in the face, and with long, swift
strides made for the nearest fence, and
was out of sight before the men could
reach the spot.
Farmer Lane was bruised and
stunned; yet for this he was, on CON-
ing to consciousness, consoled by tho
sight Of his precious tin box, unepen.
ed and safe. The thief had been COM
PEELED to drop it in the struggle, after
which to pause and look for It in tho
dark would have occupied too much
time, and exposed him to capture.
Six months after the event just re-
lated, Kitty Lane was seated alone by
the bright fire of the farm kitchen.
when there bobbed in all old woman
of the neighborhood, sort of poor
pensiOner on the bounty of the far.
mer's family. She had come for lini-
ment for her "rheumatics, and Kitty,
as she gave the phial into her hand,
noticed that she wore but thin wrap
ping for such cold weather.
.'.Stay" said she, kindly; land
while you drink cup of tea will 90
and search in the attic for something
thicker than this old shawl to keep
you warm"
The attic was the depository of bro
ken or superannnated furniture and
old clothes and blankets, and amon4
this latter store Kitty now proceeded
to search.
AS she pulled aside an old coat of
her fathers, suddenly her eyes fell
upon large cloth cape, very much
Id
beneath it,
Kitty looked at it with sort of loath.
ing. It was the garment which she
had picked up on that-to her-fearful
night Of the peddler's attempted rob-
berry.
Cnconsciously she had kept it in her
grasp when she ran to give her father
the alarm, and next day Betsy, the
kitchen maid, found it, and slowed it
with the rubbish in the attic, wonder.
ing whether it would ever be called
for. It was this for which the robber
had been anxiously searching when
Farmer Lane seized him. Since then
the old cape had remained, unseen and
forgotten, in the gloomy attic, until
now brought again to light by Kitty's
search
1T looks shabby enough outside"
thought Kitty, as she stood gazing at
it. ''But the green flannel lining is
new and thick. It will make a com.
Portable wrapping for old Mrs. Holmes
If she will wear it, Reluctantly
she grasped it and attempted to reach
it down from its place. But it had
hung so long that the nail had pene-
trated through the flannel lining,a slip
of which was torn off by the jerk she
gave it.
1T can be mended," thought Kitty.
Il will ask Betsy to do it,
She stopped short and her eyes grew
wider. What was that protruding
just beyond the torn edge of green
flannel! Something green also-a
piece of soiled paper it at first seemed.
She looked closer. It was a bank
note
Kitty took from her pocket tiny
pearl.handled pocket.knife, and care.
fully cutting away some stitches, pro-
| duced bank-note-a $50 bank.bill.
She could hardly believe her eyes;
but on further stripping away the
cloth she discovered another, and then
/
thin oiled silk, which formed a lining
of the cloth cape, and protected them
| from the wet.
| Trembling with excitement and a
sort of horror which yet facinated her.
the girl sat down at the dusky attic
window, and stripping of the green
flannel lining, unstitched note after
note, until there lay before her such
wealth as she had never dreamed Of
nearly $4,000! Gained honestly it
might be, and yet, perhaps, stolen.
At this thought she let the notes
fall with sickening horror. How
did she know but that worse robbery
| had been committed for the sake of
those notes
But, meanwhile, what would she do
with this money! She wondered that
the peddler had never attempted to
regain possession of the valuable gar
merits but since that night of his at.
tempted robbery Of her fathers house.
he had never been seen or heard of By
any one of that neighborhood.
Some young men had, on the follow.
in search of him, but had seen no
stranger, save tall man, with short
red hair, who spoke in broad Scotch
accent, and carried Bible and some
tracts in his pocket.
1t was in December that this good
fortune befell the young couple, and
when the April crocuses put forth
their little heads among the young
grass in the garden of the crossroads
cottage they beheld Kitty tying up the
vines about her little porch, while
Walter seemed particularly busy with
in door, over which was inscribed in
big letters, .'Store and Post Office"
A Fair PAGE.