St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-07-07
Three Women Discuss Their
Adventures With Desper-
ate Thieves.
One Of Them Rushed Out Of
Doors on Seeing a
Hand,
Another Fell in a Faint, and
the Third Hid Herself
Away.

had fairly good excuses for prowling
about in the dark corridors of the board
ing house in the small hours. The red
headed girl, who is stenograDher, had
a great many tolios to click out on her
typewriter, and the colossus of cir
who is studying at Barnard college was
unable to go to sleep for the clicking,
and the jolly girl who is drawing at
Cooper union sat with her lead on one
side hour after hour trying to finish a
face that gave her no end of trouble. In
the end she threw her crayon at its
nose, and tip-toed across the hall.
As she softly pushed the door open
the Barnard girl. who was bending over
something. Greek. Sprang with start
from her chair. what would you have
DONE" asked the Cooper union girl, IF
l had really been a burglar?"
The typewriter who rOOmed with the
Barnard girl turned up her machine to
make sure of the last letter. Il think"
she answered, that since it is always
good policy TO be hOspitable, l should
have said. as do now, i'll my politest
manner, won't you have chair"
But really" said the tall Barnard
girl. as she bent to pick up her scattered
sheets of queer, grabbed characters. II
often think of it when l have to go away
down stairs at this hour of night, when
they've turned out the gas on every
landing. to find a book Eve left in the
front hall. | staff with four or five
matches, but there's always a draught
that blows them out, or they won't light
except on the box, and l forget the box.
and | say to myself as poke around on
the cold marble slab of that hat stand,
what should | do if my fingers
touched something's"
Feel of it, should suppose" replied
the Cooper Union girl, ITO see II 1t
weren't the book you were hunting for"
''Rut in sober earnest persisted the
timid colossus, what would you do II
YOU were all alone and you met
burglar?"
I'll tell you," said the typewriter,
facing about in her chair, what did
when | met mine"
"YOu've really seen Onep The Coop.
er Union girl and the Barnard girl bent
forward. The clock struck l. 1t was a
delightfully."- weird hour for storytelling.
"Well, not to say whole burglar, but
saw his fingers. They were very long
and slender, and dirty"
Where was the rest OF him?'
"Out on the garden path. You see,
it was at home, out on Long Island,
two or three summers ago. l wrote
verses then. You mightn't believe 1t,
but one set was really copied into
New York newspaper. did it mostly
at night after the folks had gone to bed,
and this night there wasn't anybody to
90 to bed, for mother and | were spend
! ing month alone, and mother had been
sent for to watch with sick neighbor.
1.-The verses were about knight and
some pond lilies. | forget the exact
connection between them, but it was
very pathetic. and 1t made me cry. |
| usually did cry over my verses, and
that was why l stopped writing them
| that and the trouble 1t was TO ma
| rhymes.
! knight. But of a sudden | stopped cry
| ing and writing, for | had the most
| curious sensation, as if somebody were
| looking at me-"
The Cooper Union girl and the Bar
nard girl said, go on"
II looked up at picture that was on
| the wall. 1t had queer eyes, and the
man it was painted from was dead, and
! never liked it, especially late Ill the
evening, but it didn't seem 10 be staring
| in my direction any harder than usual.
| Then | noticed that both doors were
| SIlllI. anu lllCu OOllCllllllS P0AA|0 IA
head around toward the window"
Again the Cooper Union girl and the
| Barnard girl said, $50 on"
"There were outside blindS-green
| blinds, YOU know; | had shut them when
| lighted the lamp and had left the win
! dow open. 1t seemed to me that ole
| blind moved. | winked the last OF the
tears away and looked again. One
blind was certainly aiar, but if had
moved at all it had stopped moving. |
! bent my head over my paper. but L
| kept a sideWise look out through my
! lashes In a minute or two the blind
moved again; l was sure OF 1t TINS
time. Nv heart thumped and L forgot
| all about the knight and the pond lilies.
| In minute l saw, as l told you, fin
gers. A hand had taken firm grasp of
| the blind that it might not bang, and
| the long browniSh fingers had slipped
around on the inside"
The Barnard girl said breathlessly:
| What did you do?"
| II sat minute in cold perspiration.
| Then | got up and walked straight to
| the door that was beside the window,
opened it, sand stepped out on the
| piazza"
"And you saw"
Nothing; it was very dark night,
| OuJ L jump e1iAA oNNthbNAs
then the dogs next door began to bark
| and the moon came out bit and three
| dark figures went tearing up the street
| with the dogs and two or three men
| from the neighbors' after them. You
see, after all, it's very tame story.
| The burglars we're never caught. Two
! of them had tried the house next door,
| and one was accommodating me. But
| I've wondered sometimes. ii L had
| stopped to think, should l have gone
and opened the doOr?"
Now" said the Cooper Union cir l.,
'Fm going to tell you my burglar
story"
"You!' said both the others; "have
YOU seen a BURGLAR" They drew close
| together, and the Barnard girl pulled
| shawl about her shoulders.
''An up and down section of one, not
very wide. though considerably greater
| in extent than fingers"
The typewriter left her chair and
curled up among the pillows of the big
old lounge. The clock struck the half
hour.
sit was last Decoration day. l was
boarding at my brothers. and everybody
had gone out. Even the kitchen girl
had leave to see the parade. L got home
| first of the family at about noon. When
| Ientered the front hall | saw my broth
| er's little detective camera in the middle
| of the floor. 1 thought it rather funny,
and it gave me a second surprise