Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1902-11-27
Parramore's
Burglars
By WILFRBD NORRIS.
IT'S as dark as a VOLTS mouth

Why VIII CTagSs put up those
ocenrsed shutters? The street might
he threatened with a nightly siege.
u There. my last match gone, tool"
Grumbling Indignantly TO himself,
Richard Parramore, junior partner
IN the firm of Parramore q Sons,
LAWYERS. stalked in at the glass pam
n erai door which led directly from an
unliehted passage TO his private
room in an old-fashioned suite of le-
cal Offices. He paused 10 thrust into
a vest pocket the empty receptacle
which had provoked his concluding
observations. then CROPPED towards
an adjoining mantlepiece, hoping to
4 discover thereon a box of the de-
spised hut often priceless tandstickor
The entrance by which he had
4 come closed behind him. thanks to
pneumatic buffer" noiselessly;
n his own footsteps had been dead
a ened by the substantial. if faded,
4 BRUSSELS. that covered the floor of
4 the apartment.
His search for the possible rather
\ than probable matchbox proving in
n effective. the young solicitor moved
4 in the direction of the silent general
\ Office without. He found his way
4 instinctively - the gloom was unre-
4 lieved by the faintest glimmer from
4 the suffered windows anathema-
4 TIED by the lawyer.
4 lie drew open the door into the
\ further apartment with a jerk. and
4 halted. amazed. Ii was not empty,
i nor unmitigatedly dark. A small
4 bullseye lantern threw a steady RAJ
dance upon patch Of worn mat
4 ting. strewn with packets and ems
4 yelopes 70 various sizes and more or
/ less legal appearance. BY them were
! crouched two fgures-n mans and a
4 woman's one cloaked and yelled, the
4 other mufiied to the ears. The lat
i ter was in the act Of ripping up a
4 foolseap envelope which shone white
4 ly IN her gloved hands. II had evil
IDENTIFY been withdrawn, with the re-
mainder Of those littering the floor
near the public entrance Of the Of
fee. from a gaping and shattered let
ter-box attached thereto.
The noise made by the opening
door aroused the two from their alb
sorption, and one of the figures
i sprang up. II was the man's--a
square, yet huddled and ungainly
form-and he leyeled something,
something vague but threatening.
stand where We are, If We don't
wanter lay down fur de last time in
Yer lifel"
4 The woman moved up close 10 the
/ man and whispered something in his
ear but he shook his head.
Here. gent, hand over the key
he commanded Of Parramore. "Then
Wen just ask We TO step inside yer
4 own little iron box here"
With apparent reluctance the law
Yer extracted bunch of keys from
his pocket and tossed them over.
"Whiz de door OPEN" instructed
4 the craftsman. turning TO the girl
i and motioning to the steelvault. TITS
i time we're out o dis"
Falteringly, the girl-for she was
3 but little more-unfastened and
4 dragged wide the clumsy steel panel
in a corner of the office. 1t revealed
an empty, metal-lined compartment,
stacked with documents.
In wild ye." commanded the lead
er Of the odd couple who had SO sud
denly become Parramore's eaptors.
i The lawyer advanced, guarded Wig
ilantly by the man. Parramore linz
gered irritatingly on the threshold
Of the strong room.
Hurry, hurry" remarked his Gus
todian, sharply. waving threatening
~ the extended arm and cleaning
barrel that had been so persistently
menacing the lawyer.
For answer Paramore dropped to
his knees and rolled over. His body
met the feet and ankles of the man,
pitching him forward into the yawn-
ing strongroom. The lawyer leaped
UP. iammed to the iron door, and
locked IL; the man was a prisoner.
Then Parramore turned to that
discounted persons yelled and
cloaked companion. She had shrunk
back into the shadows-the lantern
she held trembling suggestively.
Now" said the lawyer, sternly.
give me that light, woman. OF it will
be worse for you. Yet l would rath-
er not use violence unless you drive
me to It,"
The lantern was set down precip-
lately. Parramore STROBE to it, |
snatehed it up, and turned its rays
on the mysterious crackswoman. She
hid her face hastily. Yet something
in her bearing and in the 1.-THE young
shape that moved so obviously under
her Disgusting garment made the
lawyer start. She was retreating from
him. At once alarmed and bewil- |
dered, Parramore pursued her, but
she escaped him-she was tearing
something under her cloak, tearing
Il desperately, viciously.
The lawyer placed the lantern on