The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1883-01-11

best society. You may be quite sure, had he
not been very desirable in every way, he'would
not have been our guest"
Some one else just then claimed Lady
Dasent's attention, and she moved of, leaving
me to digest at my leisure the satisfactory re-
marks she had made relative to Amy's ad-
mirer. Very good family-very well of-very
charming, and so forth. Twas glad to hear it;
and could scarcely avoid a feeling of exulta-
ton when, on our return home Amy told me
that he had asked her to be his wife, and she
had accepted him..
Tired as l was after my unwonted dissipa-
ton, sleep seemed to have forsaken me; Amy's
engagement was all 1 could think of until
daylight began TO struggle into existence;
then I suppose / fell asleep and might have
slept for hours had not my old housemaid,
Margaret, burst into my room without any
ceremony and wakened me with the startling
tidings that Enfield had been on fire and that
the gold plate, also nearly all Lady Dasent's
diamonds had been stoleni
1t seemed altogether too dreadful to be true;
but very shortly afterward Mr.. Mauleyerer
himself appeared and fully confirmed the
tidings. He had disting uished himself greatly
by his bravery in endeavoring, to e~Itinguish
the flames, and in doing so had burned his
right hand rather severely.
81 Thought you might hear an exaggerated
account OF 1t, so l came over at once, he
observed, with a meaning glance toward Amy.
"Who discovered itP" 1 asked, "Whst can
hoFSo bhC nv ohN1 oboVS oht VAS
can have taken the platel"
"And the diamonds?" added Amy.
"Tha remains to be SEEM" replied Mr..
Mauleverer. s'On my way here l telegraphed
to Scotland Yard, and no doubt a sharp detec-
tive will uuravel the mystery"
Partly In order to make it more convenient
for guests at a distance, partly because Lord
Dasent himself objected to late hours, the ball
had begun at the unfashionably early hour of
nine O'Clock; byhalf-past vol it was over; and
by three o'clock comparative silence had
reigned over Enfield. The butler had judged
1t safe-never dreaming of danger-to lock up
the supper-room, the shutters OF all the
windows being strongly barred as well. With
an easy mini, and the key in his coat pocket,
that fu~nctionary retired to bed, while the rest
OF the servants gladly followed his example.
Neither bolts nor bars, however, defended
the diamonds. Lady Dasent replaced them
with her own hands in their cases, which,
without any anxiety whatever she laid upon
her toilet table. Tomorrow they would, as
usual, be deposited in the safe, where they
were ordinarily kept. She had dismissed her
maid directly she came to her room; one OF her
daughters unclasped the circlet from her
throat, and shortly Afterwards it came out
In the evidence-Miss Dasent left her mothers
room, crossed the corridor, and was just about
to enter her own room, when, In the darkness,
some one brushed past her. The circumstance
did not alarm her; 1t was no doub one Of the
servants; SO she thought no more of it.
Lady Dasent's dressfng-room adjoined her
bedroom; and her account OF the affair was
that, a few minutes alter she had got into bed,
she distinctly heard the handle Of her dressing
room door turn and she fancied she heard Q
very quiet sep in the dressiug-roum, which In
a sleepy uay she fancied was her maid.
Lord Dasent heard nnthing-had nothing to
tell; he wished he had. II any one had
brushed past him in the corridor, or he had
heard steps In the dressing-room, there would
have been neither robbery nor fire. As 1t was,
the stealthy footsteps must have approached
the dressing table, and, with a elaboration
almost incredible, some one must have opened
circlet, the bracelets and a pair Of magnificent
earrings-an were gone. The gold plate had
also been ~cleverly carriedof, only a few minor
articles having been spared.
At first all the energies of theNhousehold
were directed toward subduing the fire. 1t
evidently had its origin near the supper-room,
which chanced to be direc ly below Lady
Dasent's rooms. At all events, it was owl x
to her bein : wakened by a strong smell of fire
that the alarm was given in time to save not
OILY the house but some Of the inmates, who
might otherwise have persisted in the flames.
And from this fate 1t appeared that Mr.. Maui
everer had a narrow escape. He had behaved
ssplendidlv," SO the Dasents said; and, az my
nephew-elect, ! was proud to hear 1t.
oHAPTER II.
Upon NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. 1t was found that
while the robbery at Enfield Court had been
oACiu RAdiuC0 ohu PNCihCuiLdtCi3 II
fire had evidently been an accidental part of
the thieves programme, as a hastily done-up
bundle, containing some valuable articles, was
discovered just outside the supper-room win
dow, as il dropped in a hasty exit. Happily,
the fire had been subdued in time to save the
greater portion of the house; but the damage
done, to say nothing ofthe immense loss caused
by the robbery, was very considerable.
In due time two detectives came dow from
London, and the excitement continued una
hafad in thn nai ,hh0rhnnh whi1a thpv rama IN al .
but nothing TRANSFERRED. They m ,intained an
amount of stolid reticence which to the curious
was most provoking; and finally they departed
without having apparently done anything to-
ward solving the mystery, far less securing the
thieves.
Gradually things seemed to settle down, and
the robbery at Enfield was replaced in my mind
by my en- ire absorption in Amy's engagement,
to which l had given a qualified consent, on
were satisfied with the connection, and hat
pecuniarv matters were properly adjusted.
Now that he had actually declared himself, l
felt embroidered to ask questions and ascertain
everything possibly could as to the antece-
dents of the man who was to be my darling's
husband.
He was well connected. His mother was
dead, but his father was alive, aud lived in
great seclusi0n at his W property, which was
rich; but on this point I could gain nc definite
information. Still, remembering Lady Da-
sent's "very well off, " I was not much troubled
on the score of money matters. ! had felt ii
incumbent on me to invite him TO spend a few
days with us before he left for Yorkshire, and
it seemed natural that he should come to us.
l told him frankly that Amy had very little
money of her own-something less than two
thousand pounds; but, at M death, intended
to leave her everything, which felt sure he
would approve OF being tied up and strictly
settled upon herself.
I thought his expression changed q little
when l mentioned this, and still so when
l casually asked him In a friendly way if.he
always meant to be an idle man; for he had
left the army, it appeared, and l was anxious
for Amy's sake to see some symptom OF his
wishing to get an appointment or occupation
of some kind.
Meanwhile Amy seemed satisfied; but my
doubts-born OF my extreme affection fol
~her-began to arise and refused to be silenced
Mr.. Mauleverer had written to his father
announcing his engagement; but as vel
neither line nor message from the old gentle
man had reached us. 1t was not treating
Amy properly; and though Amy's entreatieI
to me to be patient, and oft-repeated assur.
snces that Alfred said everything would b.
all right, silenced me for the time, / was fully
resolved to see matters either ended or placed
on a satisfactory footing before much longe
time elapsed.
In the meantime Mr.. Mauleverer received
one morning a telegram which he informed u
contained The news of the illness of an Oh
friend of his in London. He must start i'm
mediately if he wished to see him alive. II
did not mind he would leave his heavy luggage
behind him, and only take a small portman-
teau. Unless something very special hap
pened to detain him he would be with u
again in a couple of days. His adieux wer
hurried but impressive. He seemed reall,
sorry to leave Any, who was, however, en-
abled TO bid him q cheerful good by on tn
strength of his speedy return. On the morn
ing of the second day after he had taken hi
departure Amy was evidently expecting a let
ter from him-not unreasonably, I thought
as it was natural she should wish to hear tina
he had reachei his destination safely. Sh,
was rather restless and fdgety. Perhaps tina
was the cause of my own almostn nervous feel
ings as posttime approached. I could settl
down to nothing.
Amy, darling" I said presently, ''suppos
you take the garden-scissors and snip thes
geraniums for me; they want 1t badly.'
So Amy stepped out on to the little law
with its still brightly filled parterres, and
watched her from the d~rawing-room windo1