The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1882-01-20

upon the gang, "your lives are in my
power" Chere exhibit the pistols butt),
"but out of perhaps mistaken Glenn
ency l will only shoot one OF you, the
one that is the last to leave my house. l
shall count six" Tor sixteen, according
10 the number of the gang). "and then
fire." Upon which they would, cal
culated, oil skedaidle helterpelter to
the door they got in at. which should
lock and double-lock after them. You
may ask, "why double-lock p but you
will got no satisfactory reply. l know
no more what to double.lock" means
than you do, but my favsrite novelist
a sensational one-always uses 1T, and
conclude he ought to know.
1t was the beginning of a misty Octo-
Der, when the leaves had fallen off early,
and our friends had followed their ex-
ample, and had been sitting up alone
into the small hours resolute to hear my
favorite author to the bitter end-his
third volume, wherein all the chief
characters Except the comic ones) arc
slain, save one who is left sound In
wind and limb, but with an hereditary
disposition to commit suicide. Some
what depressed by its perusal and ex-
ceedingly sleepy, went about my usual
task of seeing all was right in some-
what careless and porfunctory manner.
All was right apparently in the dining
room, all right in the drawing room, all
right certainly in the study (where I
had myself been sitting) and oil right
no, not quite all right in our little black
hall or vestibule, where, upon the round
table the very largest and thickest pair
of navvy's boots ever saw were stand
ing between my wife's neat little UNI
brella anda pair of her gardening gloves.
Even In that awful moment | remember
the sense of contrast and incongruity
struck me almost as forcibly as the pres
ence of the boots themselves, and they
astonished me as much as the sight OF
the famous footprints did Robinson
Crusoe, and for precisely the same rea-
son. The boot and the print were moth
ing in themselves, but my intelligence,
now fully awakened, mt once flew to the
conclusion that somebody must have
been there TO leave them, and was proba-
bly, in the noighborhood, and, indeed,
under my roof at that very moment. Ii
you give Prof. Owen foot of any crea-
ture Gust as of less scientific persons We
say Give them an inch, they will take
an ELY, he will build up the whole ami
NAL out of his own mind; and something
of the Professors marvellous instinct
was on this occasion mine. pictured
to myself (and as it turned out, COR
rectly) monster more than six feet
high, broad in the shoulders, heavy in
the jowl, with legs like stone baus-
trades, and hands, but stoo often
clenched, of the size OF pumpkins. The
vestibule led into the pantry, where, no
doubt, this giant, with his one idea, or
half one, would conclude the chief part
of our plate to be, whereas it was lying
unless he had already taken it-a terri
BILE thought that flashed through my
mind, followed by cluster of others,
like comet with It's tail-under our
bed.
OF course 1 could have gone into tho
pantry at once, but felt averse to be
precipitate perhaps (upon finding moth
ing to steaD this poor wretch would feel
remorse for what he had done and ao
away. It would be wicked thing to
deprive him of the opportunity of re-
pentance. Moreover, i. struck me that
he might not be thief after all, but
only cousin considerably removed y
of one of the maid-servants. It would
have been very wrong of her to have let
him into the house ut such an hour, but
it was just possible that she had done so,
and that he was at that moment supping
in the kitchen upon certain cold grouse
which L knew were in the larder. Such
n state of things, / repeat, would have
been reprehensible. but most sincerely
hoped that it had occurred. A clandes-
tine attachment, however misplaced, is
better than burglary with possible vio-
lence. Coughing rather loudly, to give
the gentleman notice that I was about,
and to suggest that he had better take
himself off in my temporary absence, 1
went up to the attic to make inquiries.
And here L am tempted to a digres-
sion concerning the excessive somno-
lency of female domestics. As regards
our own, at least, they reminded me,
except in number, of the Seven Sleep
ers. 1 knocked at their door about
quarter of an hour before attracting
their attention, and it took me another
quarter to convince them (through the
keyhole) that it was not fire. If it had
been, they must all have been burnt in
their beds. Relieved upon this point,
they were scarcely less excited and "put
out by the communication / was CON-
pelled to make to them, though con-
veyed with the utmost delicacy and re-
finement of which language is capable.
/ asked them whether by any accident
one of them CHANGED to have male rel
ative who wore exceptionally thick high
lows and if he was likely to have called
recently-thatvery evening, for example,.
They all replied il indignant chorus
that they had never heard of such a
thing-by which they meant the sug-
gestion and that no cousin of theirs
ever did wear highlows, being all fe-
males without exception.
Satisfied as to this land greatly disap-
pointed), 1 felt that il was now incum-
bent upon me to pursue my researches.
Candle in hand and pistol in pocket, I
therefore explored the pantry. To my
great relief, it was empty. Was it pos
sible that the thief had departed If
so, he had gone without his highlows,
for they stood on the vestibule table as
A n