The aegis & intelligencer., 1899-12-01
ANOTHER MAN
IN THE HOUSE.
He Was Mistaken For q Lover, but
Confessed That He Was
Burglar.

Donaghue knelt at the door and put
q practiced ear at the keyhole. There
was q faint sound of breathing, so
faint that Donaghue pressed his rough
ear still closer TO the brassy aperture
in the door and listened even more In
tently. His small eyes glistened III the
dark hallway like the eyes Of cat Che
had been nicknamed THE Cat' for this
very peculiarity). but there was no one
in the house TO see those glistenins
eyes save the servants, fast asleep two
stories above. and tic occupants OF
this one room. lie had watched that
house three preceding days and nights.
He knew that 1t was occupied by
young man and his wife - evidently
newly married and beyond doubt rich.
He knew that the servants were
cook, two maids and butler, and he
had almost worked out in his mind
Just where the pretty wife placed her
jewelry when she went to bed In the
second floor room and just what means
the husband took to secure his proba-
bly, well filed purse.
When one Is in the habit Of making
social calls of the description that Don
aghue was making, it Is much better to
find husbands away from home, the
servants and occupants of the house
all asleep and the policeman on the
beat quite out Of hearing.
The fact was Donaghue shrank from
notoriety. He preferred a quiet en-
trance by tbs window wholly unob-
served If possible and. departing, left
not his card nor anything else that was
Of value and at the same time porta-
BILE. Indeed Donaghue was not the
tall, handsome fellow that most heroes
are. On the contrary, he was of medi-
um height, spare, slouchy and had
general appearance that was anything
but prepossessing. He was not a men,
Der of polite society.
Dead easy" said Donaghue to him
self. "a young married couple, as
thought, and husbands away on the
loose. She's calling his name in her
sleep. But needn't expect him until
morning. and when he does come home
he'll probably be drunk. That's wha:
i call dead easy"
He turned the knob of the door and
opened it the fraction of an inch. His
small eyes glistened in the dark as he
found that the door was not locked,
and that in all probability 1t would not
squeak.
Slowly and with infinite care he
opened the door and entered the room.
Four feet from him, as he stood al
most breathless, with his hand still
lclasping the knob of the door, lay the
sleeping form of woman. A food of
moonlight from the window fell upon
her and melted the pink of her cheek,
the cream of her throat, the lace of the
nightdress and the white sheet that
wrapped her into one scmigolden hue.
The undulation caused by her breath
ing made her look like dropping lily
swayed by the gGrtlest of breezes.
"Great heavensr' thought Donaghue,
what 4 beautyw He could hear her
family mutter the name "PauI-Pauw
at intervals. and he had vague con-
seriousness Of q certain disrespect for
Paul, whoever he might be. man
must be brute to leave such wom-
IL
moment, though. Beauty was a thing
of little, value to Donaghue. His own
Maggie was hardly cursed with the
fatal gift of beauty, and she was quite
as jealous as other wives. He stepped
softly and quickly to the dressing case
at the other end OF the room. He pick
cd up perfumed lace handkerchief
and threw 1t away iEpatiently, al
Though In his more youthful days q
lace handkerchief he would have con-
sidcred prize of no mean raiUc. Be-
low 1t he found what lie wanted and
eypCcteda locket and chain, Il jewel
ed watch, heavy bracelet, n pin and
what seemed to him q handful of
rings. lie held them all up In the noon
light and noticed how they sparEied In
his trembling hand, and he smiled with
delight.
lie turned and looked Mt her. He
felt like adding stolen kiss to the
other jewels he had taken. He almost
laughed aloud at the thought of such n
man as he kissing such q peerless
beauty as the woman who lay ON the
bed before him. And he was Just
about to depart rs peacefully as a So
cial caller when suddenly he heard the
slamming Of the front door in the hall
below.
Her old man." said Donaghue, for
getting that he was probably young
man. "and I'm caught. Caught-bur-
glary-ten years at the least. I'll Kill
him. But I'll be caught whether
kill him or not. and"-self upbraiding-
ly-I could have got away easily
enough II l hadn't stopped to look at
her"
Again he stepped quickly to the door
and listened. He heard footsteps In
the hall beneath. The man had step
ned into the bact parlor, or library,
whichever it was. Perhaps the man
had been out on business and would
stop there for a minute or two at, his
desk. Perhaps there was after all. q