Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1891-01-09
TOMS MONTY.

Mrs. Laughton had foundwhat she had
been looking for all her life the man un-
der the bed.
Every night of her nearlythirty years OF
existence this pretty lite person had
stopped on her knees, bebre saying her
prayers, and had investigated the space
beneath her bed, light brss affair, hung
with a chintz valance; had hen peered be-
1eath the dark recess Of the dressing case,
and having looked in the eep drawer OF
the bureau and into the clost, she fasten.
ed her door and felt as secur, as snail in
shell. As she never, in his particular
business, seemed to have ay confidence
in Mr.. Laughton, in spite of The fact that
she admired and adored hin, neither his
presence nor his absence ever made any
variation in the performance. She had
gone through the motions, h)wever, for so
long time that they had cone to be in
manner perfunctory, and the start she re-
ceived on this night of which speak made
her prayers quite impossible.
What was she to do She coward
par eminence, known to be the most timor-
ous of the whole family; her trtmors at all
sorts of imagined dangers affording laugh
ter to the flock of sisters and brothers.
Should she stay on her knees after having
seen that dark shape, as if going on with
her prayers, while revolving some plan OF
procedure That was out of the question.
Scream She couldn't have screamed to
save her life Runf She could no more
have set one foot before the other than if
her body had melted from the waist down.
She was deadly faint and cold and shaking
and all in a second, in the fraction OF
second, before she had risen from her
STOPPING posture.
oh why wasn't it Virginia instead of
shef Virginia had always had such he
roic plans of making the man come out of
his hiding place at the point of her pistol;
and could cock a pistol, and wasn't cover
ed with cold shivers at the sight of one, as
she was. IF it had only been Francie, whose
shrill voice could have been heard over
the side of the earth, or Juliet, whose long
limbs would have left burglar, and house,
too in the background between the open
ing and slamming of door. Either of
them so much more fit than she, the chick
en-hearted one of the family, to cope with
with this creature. And they were all
gone to the wedding with Fred, and would
not be home till tomorrow; and Tom had
Just returned from the town and handed
her his roll of bills, and told her to take
care of it till he came back from galloping
down to the works with Jules; and she
had tucked it into her belt, and had asked
him, little quakingly, what if any OF the
men of the Dead Line that they had heard
of, or Red Dan or an Apache came along;
and he had laughed, and said she had bet
ter ask them in and reproach them for max
ing such strangers Of themselves as not to
have called in the two years she had been
in this part of the country; and she had
the two maids with her, and he should be
back directly. And she had looked out af-
ter him moment over the wide prairie to
the hills, all bathed in moonlight, and felt
as if she were spirit alone in a dead
world. And here she was now, the two
maids away in the little wing, locked out
by the main house, alone with burglar,
and not another being nearer than the
works. half.mile off.
How did this man know that she was
without any help here How did he know
that Tom was coming back with the mon
ey to pay the men that nightf How did
he happen to be aware that Toms money
was all in the house Evidently he was
one of the men. No one else could have
known anything about it. If that money
was taken, nobody would believe the sto-
ry; Tom would be cashiered, he never
could live through the disgrace; he would
die of a broken heart, and she of another.
They had come out to this remote and
lonesome country to build up a home and
fortune; and so many people would be
stricken with them What mischance
for her to be left with the whole thing in
her hands, her little, weak, trembling
hands-Tom's honor. his good name and
success, their fortune, the welfare of the
whole family, the livelihood of all the men,
the safety of the enterprise What made
Tom risk things so How could he put
her in such jeopardy To be sure, he had
thought the dogs would be safeguard
enough, but they had gone securing after
him. And if they hadn't how could dogs
help her with man under TIE beds
Light and electricity are swift, but
thought is swiftcr. As said, this was all
in the fraction of a second. Then Mrs.
Laughton was on her feet again and before
a pendulum could have more than swung
backward. The man must know she saw
him. She took the light brass bedstead
and sent it rolling away from her with all
her might and main, leaving the creature
uncovered. He lay easily on one side, q
stout club like policeman's billy in bis
hand, some weapons cleaning in his belt,
putting up tie other hand to grasp the
bedstead as it rolled away.
you look pretty, don't you ~ said she.
Perhaps this was as much of shock to
the man as his appearance had been to
her. He was not acquainted with the say
ing that it is only the unexpected that
happens.
"Get up,p said she. "I'd be a man if
was man. Get up. I'm not going to
hurt you"
If the intruder had any sense Of humor,
this might have touched it; the idea of
this fairy queen of a woman, almost small
enough to have stepped out a rain lily,
hurting him But it was so difernent