Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-02-22

ing-gown and slippers, after the trap,
which was eviden tIy doing a good
twelve miles an hour? 1t was much
more to the purpose to ascertain what
my losses were, and after I had, with
much difficulty. aroused the butler and
the footman (who were apt to sleep
heavily on dinner-party nights), 1 had
the satisfaction of discovering that the
miscreants had been too much scared to
bear away their booty. Some spoons
and forks were scattered about the
pantry; but we counted them all, and
found that not a single one was miss
ing
1 then went upstairs to reassure Jane,
who listened to my narrative with much
interest, and, at the conclusion of it,
begged me to go at once and thank
The McCleverty for the great courage
and presence of mind that he had dis
played.
"He came in Immediately after you
had gone downstairs" she said, ''and
apologized so nicely for intruding
upon me. But his first thought was OF
the jewels He took possession of the
case, assuring me that he would defend
my property with his life. He had a
pistol in his hand and looked as it he
quite meant what he said"
''Confound the fellowv' I returned,
rather GROSSLY; "he might have thought
of defending my life and property,
since he had a pistol handy"
At the same time / was bound to ad.
NIT that it had been thoughtful of him
to remember my wife's valuables; SO
fastened to tell him that it was all
right and to relieve him of further re-
sponsibility. Bnt, alas! it was not all
right, it was all most distressingly
wrong. My reiterated knocks at his
bedroom door meeting with no re-
Spouse, made so bold as to turn the
handle-when, to my horror and dis
may. 1 found the room empty and the
window wide open. Hurrving to the
latter and craning my head out, saw,
extended upon the grass, the ladder
by means of which that arrant imposter
had effected his retreat He had taken
his luggage with him, too. 1t was
plain as could be that ne had carried
out his well-laid plan without any
eed for p recipitation.
What does strike me as little bit
hard is that, after all the expense and
annoyance to which have been put
not to speak of the heroism of my con-
duct on that fatal night should be
covertly sniggered at by my friends
and openly accused by my wife of be-
ing no better than an old noodle. Ex-
perience has taught me that it is idle to
reason with Jane; SO 1 merely shrug
my shoulders when she calmly asserts
that it was / who invited The McClev-
erty to spend a night beneath our roof.
As for Saxby, he takes no sort of blame
to himself in the matter. He says he
never made himself in any way an
swerable for a person as to whose re-
spectability he had grave doubts, and
that he had only asked the fellow to
stay because he had ascertained that
he was q good shot. 1 have reminded
him of the remark already quoted
about "a fine specimen of the old
fashioned Highland head of a CLAM"
but he declares that he has no recollec-
ton of having used such language, and
he has the effrontery to add that lit
tie common sense on my part would
have saved me from being victimized as
/ have been.
why, my good man." says he, 1.-The
name isn't even Scotch one, and any
ordinary book of reference would have
told you that there is no such person as
The McCleverty in existence!'
All the same, 1 suspect that he has
had baddish time of it with Lady
Emily; and, in default of any other
consolation, that must serve.