The Iola register., 1886-10-29

when I'm get,in' on in years SEEM
hard"
''Yes. tits so. Beuly. And your hav
in means. leastwise some bonds an
things. as is beknOwn to folks. makes j
more likely't you'll be one for then
gentry to visit first"
''Bonds an things!" almost shrieket
Miss Beulah. "YOu don't suppose
keep them in this house. do ye? Why
all I've got, no great at that, is sure
an safe ip the vault to Darthford Bank
wouldn't no more ha' KEEP 'em in the
house than would p'ison. But ther
there's the spoons. an Grandsir' Burt's
silver tumbler. and tn old teapot that
set such store by. Itell ye, there'd bt
consider bic of haul for EN-"
'Might send them to the bank, too. v
ayes. might, but how is the burg
lars to know that?"
"I'm sure l don't know" sad Miss
Beers, her eyes twinkling little. ION
less you put notis onto the door"
''Shor' Indignantly replied Miss Beu
lab. little suspicious that she was an
amusement to her friend, and resentine
the possibility.
81 must really 60. said Mary Jane
perceiving the effect she had produced.
as only a timid and touchy woman
could. So she went. leaving Beulah to
sOiiloquize over her terrors.
81 won't sleep down stairs no more,
that's certain" she said aloud. "fll
move up charmber to-day, ef I'm spared
SO to do. l might wake up an see one
of EN- at the winder any time, if KEEP
in the downstairs bedroom, and that
would Jest about finish me. And what
shall do with them silver things?"
Long and deeply did she ponder over
this problem, till at last the six spoons,
carefully sewed in flannel, were put
under the nest of setting hen in the
woodshcd. the tumbler buried in the
middle of large bag of rags, and the
teapot well concealed in brown paper,
put up the sitting room chimney, and
tied to nail just as far up that sooty
funnel as the eager spinster's arms
could reach to drive the spike, pro-
cess from which she emerged grimy
but exulting, and saying to herself,
''There! l don't believe no burglar
that ever was born would think O. look
in up chimney for teapot!'
Probably they would not, but for as
| surance of safety she did not tell Lccty
any thing about her hiding-places, or
con!ide TO her Miss Beers tale of horror
about the burglar; but who can say to
the gossip of country town that it shall
go no further? Lecty heard all about
the Morse burglar the very next morn
ing when she went to the neighbor' S
for milk, and she had sense enough
to put the story and Miss Beu-
lah's removal to the upper bed
room together, and discover that her
mistress was terrified. She came home
limp and fearful, and sobbed as she set
down her pail.
so land! o Miss Beuly, aint it real
awful! didn't think no burglars would
ever come to Dorset, did you?"
go long an strain the milk, Lecty"
was the sharp answer. "You won't be
hurt nor hindered by 'em. Blessed be
nOthn' is your case, for if they took We
off bodily, there wouldn' no responsible
need to cry"
This was not consolation. but it was
tonic. SO Lecty went Off with her milk;
but once out of Miss Beulah's invigorat-
ing presence, her weak mind began to
sink into terror again, and before her
mornings work was done, she had con-
iured up visions of murder and robbery
fit to adorn a sensational novel.
Miss Beulah had not slept very well
in her new apartment. to tell the truth;
she had to own that this room was ac-
cessible both from the front chamber
and stairs-for it had a door into the
''spare room'-and also from the loft
into which it opened. SO that two burg
lars might assail her at once; or, if one
only came in. there was a dreadful un-
certainty as to which door he would
choose. This thought prevented her
from blocking either passage BY the
heavy bureau which she had thought of
using as a fertilization, TIL she rcmem-
bcred it would close one way for her
own escape. She lay awake long time
meditating on this problem, but nature
and habit at last prevailed. and she
slept till very late in the morning, to
Lecty's surprise and disgust.
All day the possibilities absorbed and
the minister came to tea, the spoons
had to be extracted from under the old
hens nest, and that dissatisfied fowl
thereat expressed herself poignantly on
the backs of Miss Beulan's hands. But
the smart had to be endured; it was not
SO bad as the fact that she surely de-
tected one of Lecty's red eyes peeping
through knot-hole, watching the pro-
ceeding; but she hoped to battle her by
rolling the flannel package in her
apron, and ripping out the contents in
her own room.
Still. they were to hide again,
and after the Rev. Mr.. Jones had gone,
those precious morsels of metal were
bestowed for the night in her left boot,
lying carelessly on its side, hoping that
sleep would fetch counsel as to their
future place of deposit.
But hardly was she asleep at last,
after some wakeful hours. than terri
bic hubbub in the yard aroused her;
hens squawking and fluttering, the
downfall of something in their shed.
the loud. shrieking crow of her big
Brahma rooster. woke her to a fearful
consciousness that burglar was after
her spoons, for she was too sleepy to
remember that they were no longer
under the hen.
She jumped from her bed to the res
cue. instinctively pulled ON her boots.
and every raging corn on her left foot
was mercilessly thrust against the
spoon edges so hard that unconsciously
she yelled more sharply than the old
rooster, and Lecty, reused BY the tumult.
came screamingin. leaving all the doors
open behind her. for Miss Beulah
had forgotten to turn the key leading