Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-02-13

affair. / shall be obliged to remain
here any way, and viii not object to any
thing that will help to pass away the
time. But these men must not be the
only ones who are seated. David, you
and Alice can clear away that broken
table and the rest Of the stuff, and then
we might as well sit down and make
ourselves comfortable"
Alice, with cloth and brush, ap-
preached very timidly the scene Of the
disaster, but the younger burglar, who
was nearest to her, gazed upon her with
such gentle and quiet air that she did
not seem to be frightened. When she
and David had put the room in fair
order placed two easy chairs for my
| wife and Aunt Martha at . moderate
distance from the burglars, and took
| another myself little nearer to them,
and then told David to seat himself
near the other end Of the bench, and
Alice took chair at little distance
from the ladies.
''Now, then, - said Aunt Martha to the
burglars, sI would like very much to
hear what any one OF you can say in ex-
tenuation of having broken into a
gentleman's house BY night"
Without hesitation the tall man be-
gan his speech. He had long and
rather lean, close-shaven face, which at
present bore the expression Of an
undertaken conducting a funeral Al
though it was my aunt who had shown
the greatest desire to hear his story, he
| addressed himself to my wife. 1 think
he imagined that she was the more in
fuential person of the two.
Madam" said he, 81 am glad of the
opportunity of giving you and your fam
lily an idea of the difficulties and mis-
cries which beset large class of your
| fellow-beings of whom you seldom have
any chance of knowing any thing at all,
but of whom you hear all sorts of the
most misleading accounts. Now, am
a poor man. 1 have suffered the greatest
miseries that poverty can infiict. 1 am
here, suspected of having committed a
crime. 1t is possible that 1 may be put
to considerable difficulty and expense in
proving my innocence"
81 shouldn't wonder" interrupted.
To this remark he paid no attention.
Considering all this" he continued,
''you may not suppose, madam, that as
boy was brought up most respect
ably and properly. My mother was a
| religious woman, and my father was a
boat builder. l was sent to school, and
my mother has often told me that I was
| a good scholar. But she died when l
was about sixteen, and l am sure, had
this not happened, l should never have
been even suspected of breaking the
laws of my country. Not long after
her death my father appeared to lose
interest in his business and took to
rowing about the river instead of build
ing boats for other people to row. Very
often he went out at night, and 1 used
to wonder why he should care to be on
the water in the darkness, and some
times in the rain. One evening at sup
per he said to me: Thomas, you ought
to know how to row in the dark as well
as in the daytime. am going up the
river tonight and you can come with
me-
SIT was about my ordinary bedtime
when we took boat with two pair OF
oars, and we pulled up the river about
three miles above the city"
"What city?" 1 asked.
'The city where was born, sir" he
said, 'and the name of which 1 must be
excused from mentioning for reasons
connected with my only surviving pa
rent. There were houses on the river
bank, but they were not very near each
other. Some of them had lights in
them, but most of them were dark, as it
must have been after eleven o'clock.
Before one of them my father stopped
rowing for moment and looked at it
pretty hard. 1t seemed to be all dark,
but as we pulled on little 1 saw a
light in the back of the house.
''My father said nothing, but we kept
on, though pulling very easy for mile
or two, and then we turned and fioated
down with the tide. You might as we'll
rest, Thomas said he, for you have
worked pretty hard
TO BE CONTINUED.