The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1902-05-22
ParramOre'S
Burglars
By WILFRED MORRIS.
IT'S as dark as a VOLTS mouth!

1 Why will Craggs put up those
.accursed shutters? The street might
be threatened with a nightly siege.
There, my last match gone, tool"
Grumbling Indignantly to himself,
Richard Parramore, junior partner
in the firm of Parramore & Sons,
lawyers, stalked in at the glass pam
eled door which led directly from an
Hnlighted passage to his private
room in an old-fashioned suite of le-
gal offices. He paused to thrust into
q vest pocket the empty receptacle
(which had provoked his concluding
observations, then CROPPED towards
an adjoining mantlepiece, hoping to
discover thereon a box of the de-
Spised but often priceless tandsticllor.
The entrance by which he had
come closed behind him, thanks to
a pneumatic buffer" noiselessly;
his own footsteps had been dead
ened by the substantial, if faded,
Brussels, that covered the floor of
Hhe apartment.
His search for the possible rather
than probable matchbox proving in
effective, the young solicitor moved
in the direction of the silent general
office without. He found his way
snstinctively - the gloom was unre
zieyed by the faintest glimmer from
the .sh5ttcEsd avs .apathaaapT
tiled by the lawyer.
He drew open the door into the
further apartment with a jerk, and
halted, amazed. 1t was not empty,
nor unmitigatedly dark. A small
bulIseye lantern threw steady raj
6iance upon a patch of worn matt
ting, strewn with packets and emf
Nelopes 70 various sizes and more orr
Hess legal appearance. By them werei
crouched two figures-a mans and a,
woman's, one cloaked and yelled, the
other muffled to the ears. The lat-l
ter was in the act of ripping up al
-foolscap envelope which shone white
1y in her gloved hands. 1t had evil
IDENTITY been withdrawn, with the re-
Emainder of those littering the floor
zYenr the public entrance of the Of
flee, from a gaping and shattered let
ter-box attached thereto.
The noise made by the opening
door aroused the two from their alb
scorpion, and one of the figures
aspr: ag up. 1t was the man's-a
ssq;1are, yet huddled and ungaihly
-forri--and he leveled something,
so hing vague but threatening.
'Stand where We are, if We don't
wanter lay down fur de last time in
yer !.fe!"
TIE woman moved up close to the
man and whispered something in his
ear, but he shook his head.
''Here, gent, hand over the key"
he commanded of Parramore. "Then
well just ask We to step inside yer
own little iron box here"
With apparent reluctance the law
yer extracted bunch of keys from
bis pocket and tossed them over.
'Whiz de door OPEN" instructed
the craftsman, turning to the girl
and niot;oning to the steelvault. cts
slime we're out o. dis"
Falteringly, the girl-for she was
fbut little more-unfastened and
dragged wide the clumsy steel panel
Tn corner of the office. 1t revealed
an empty, metal-lined compartment,
stacked with documents.
I'm wild ye," commanded the lead
GER of the odd couple who had so sud-
denly become Parramore's captors.
The lawyer advanced, guarded Wig
slantly by the man. Parramore lin
egered irritatingly on the threshold
of the strong room.
Hurry, hurry" remarked his Gus
Ttodian, sharply, waving threatening
ly the extended arm and cleaning
barrel that had been so persistently
znemacing the lawyer.
Tor answer Paramore dropped to
Mis- 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, jammed to the iron door, and
Hooked it; the man was prisoner.
Then Parramore turned to that
discounted persons yelled and
cloaled companion. She had shrunk
back into the shadows-the lantern
she held trembling suggestively.
'Now," said the lawyer, sternly,
give me that light, woman, or 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-
1tately. Parramore strobe to it.
snatched it up, and turned it's 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. Shewas retreating from
him. At once alarmed and bewil-
~dered, Parramore pursued her, but
she escaped him-she was tearing
something under her cloak, tearing
1t desperately, viciously.
The lawyer placed the lantern on
che mantel, darted after her, and
seized her in ruthless grasp. The
2 shoulders he had laid hold upon were
soft and rounded. A cry broke from
behind the thick chenille veil: 20,