The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-06-05

seen a BURGLAR" They drew close together
and the Barnard girl pulled q 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 tn. pillows of the big old lounge.
The clock struck the half hour.
ut was last Decoration day. / was board
ing at M brothers. and everybody had
gone out. Even the kitchen g1rl had leave
to see the parade. l got home first of the
family at about noon. When / entered the
front hall l saw my brothers. little detec-
tive camera in the middle Of the floor. I
thought it rather funny, and it gave me a
second surprise when [ saw great black
prints as of a huge hand on the wall beside
the stairs. sat down on the hall settee
tried to pry it open. The burglar had
dropped it in disgust, when 1t failed to
failed to yield easily; clearly he was zone.
Still l tiptoed about with a certain
degree OF caution. The parlor and din
ing room were empty and in good order. l
went quietly upstairs to my own room.
This was empty, but not in good order.
Everything in it had been turned upside
down. The mattress WAS stripped off the
bed, all the drawers had been pulled out of
the bureau. and all my small laces and rib
bons lay with the clean linen in a heap.
trampled by dirty boot heels. could have
cried at the havoc, but just then I heard a
noise"
The Barnard girl shivered. Then she
rose and threw herself down or the couch
pillows beside the typewriter. The type
writer begged q share of the shawl they
huddled in a bunch under the one wrapping.
They said: go on!'
"It seemed to come from the next room,
which belonged to my slster-in-law. There
was a door between and On her side there
was a p~ortiere. Was the burglar still in the
house? l listened; ] dared not take a step
in any direction. I heard somebody
whistle. Could my brother have come
home? Was he looking over the ruins? The
tune was Annie Rooney I had heard my
brother whistling it that morning. Gould
it be he?
IT crept to the door and opened it softly,
peeping around the portiers. ! saw ansup
and down section Of Il man. He was at the
moment half in and half out of my sisters
closet; he was a tall man in shabby clothes;
he was not my brother"
The clock struck two. The big Barnard
girl moved under bel shawl uneasily.
II crept back to- my room and into my
closet. / curled up behind the door. 1t
was separated from the other closet only by
a Thin partition. and I WAS afraid he would
hear my heart bsat, but l dared not risk
going downstairs. The man kept whistling
and-my story is q tame one, toby and by
he went away. AS there was no money in the
house and he didn't apparently seek the
dining room for silver, he got little or moth
ing"
Didn't you hear the stairs creak?'' she
asked. ii suppose I might as we'll wind up
this seance with a burglar of my own"
"You have seen one, too!' exclaimed the
chorus.
Eyes, a whole one-6ngers, feet, up and
down, and across sections. But didn't the
"One each is enough for three young
women"
90, you're nervous, that's all; and there's
no one there"
HE got into the house one night and 1
woke up md he was ru~mmagiagm my bureau.
l was frightened out of my senses. but |
shut my eyes and made believe l was sound
asleep. 1 had read somewhere that that
was the proper thing to do"
"Why don't You tell the rest?"
"Ihere isn't any rest; he was like the
others. He got cut of the window and went
down by the piazza t%rellis."
"And you didn't give the alarm?"
II? Oh, / tainted. But the hall floor
creaks, surely"
'Qirls---"
All three sprang up with a nervous start
and the clock struck the half hour.
Girls. IL is 2:30 and you are keeping
everybody on this floor awake" 1t was the
womun who does children's stories and who
has the small hall bedroom.
The Cooper Union girl rose to return to
her own chamber. But, after all" she
said, 'we've not settled what to do if we
should see each her second burglar before
morning."