The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1906-09-14
"Hillonl What's the matter now ?

| up Il itN miuutVa 1Sh, dhu SLH Il llidi )
face at the window, peering into the room,
and she says she's sure he meant robbery.
! And she that upset by it, sir--''
''Tut-tutl Had nightmare, | ex-
peet, said Cyrus, rising, If You Il ex-
cuse me, gentlemen, | II he back in few
minutes.
In something less than half an hour he
returned.
Il am afraid | must wish you good
night, he said. My wife has had a
tremendous fright, She asserts. not only
| that she saw a man face at her bedroom
window, but that it was the face of the
man whom she described to us at dinner
this evening as having shadowed her on
her journey from London.
For my part, l feel pretty sure from
the whole thing is simply delusion due to
| nightmare or some such cause. The
thought Of the fellow was proving on her
mind, and when she woke up suddenly she
faneied she SAW him However, she is
positive that it wNs the real man she saw
And it has had such an effect on her that
she is now afraid of being left alone.
Il may say that, in order to allay NV
wife apprehensious | have taken her dia-
monds and other jewelry down stairs and
lodged them with the manager for safe
custody. Anything, you know, to paeify
a frightened and hysterical woman. Well,
good night. gentlemen
And Cyrus Beddington retired to Join
his better half smiling at the absuriities
Of the feminine fancy
But few hours later this gentleman
found hiulselt in the usual position Of
having to sing small There was abundant
aud substantial evidence that the supposed
vision had been. after all, reality. For
/ visions don leave ladders aud open win
duws behind them, nor do they pick the
locks nt Jewel cs,ss.s and ransack them or
all their mos, valuable content>-which Is
what had happened in the present in
| stance
The COUNTIES. OF Woodmansterue was
the 6rEt to discover her loss. She at once
raised the alarm, and il transpired that a
| pumber Of other ladies had suffered in the
.me way.
/ The manager was summoned. The
| servant, were called up. The police were
sent for. Bus the theft had already made
| hi. esgapc He had climbed in by a lad
| der through the window Of disused box
room The ladder was still there aud the
| window still open Ia the turf just under
Mr. Bcdjington bedroom window, and
again on the plaster Of the wall just be
meath the sill, marks were found which
showed that a ladder had been sct up
there tie had not done 80 badly, either,
having lifted jewelry to the aggregated
value Of seven or eight thousand pounds.
| Of course the unfortunate victims were
much upset by the theft, which ,hey felt
20 be the mOro ag2srAyating because of
Mr. Bcddington : belief that she had
been shaIowcd hy thief had only been
taken seriously. instead OF being lightly
dismissed as the sreaitou Of her own nery-
oas fancy, the whole thing could have
been - easily prevented They were even
disposed To be- angry with Cyrus for not
having taken steps to investigate that stors
Of the face at the window Bat this, A.
be- yraturci to poiut out To them, was
hardly fair His wife had cFied Wolf
80 often. aud nothing had come Of it, that
you coulln blame him for iisbeheyiug IN
the existence Of the wolf when At length
that predatory animal really came.
One satisfactory feature there was, Mn.
arsv,FtAyr The F-tltss
with detailed and accurate description OF
the thief appearance. This description
va, al once tclegraphel all over the eOuu
/ Try.
In the course Of the day an officer came
1 down from Scotland Yard 70 investigate
the robbery. His presence afforded the
/ guests 4 comfortable sense Of security.
/ But several uf those ladies whose treas
ures had escaped took their jewelry, when
I they were not wearing il, TO the manager,
who locked i, away for them in hi, safe.
Ouc who adopted this prudent course was
the powagcr Lady Ttcomhe On the
evening ot the second day after the RIO
| berry, wanting her diamonds to wear At
! that nights ball. she went down to the
othee for her jewel case, Il was handed
TO her, aud she took it upstairs In a few
minutes, however. she came hack, looking
rather flushed aud perJurbed
| .'You have made a mistake, she ex-
claimed This is not my jewel case. Il
Is exactly Of the same make and appear
suce a. mine. aud my key happens to
open it, but it Is somebody else's
By joye r. the detective exclaimed,
slapping his thigh. Then that explains
it, had my suspicious Of that precious
pair from the first, aud have already
searched their luggage on the qpier but
could fni no trace of any stolen property,
Now, of course, SEE how they managed
it, The days story Of the man who
shadowed her was all moonshine, TO divert
suspicion The ladder aud the open win
dow-managed no doubt, By some con
federate outside e-were part of the same
trick.
"Of course she took the jewelry herself
/ when she slammed i'll and went of early
to bed. And then, when she had safely
packed the swag into her jewel case she
sends for her husband, and he has the cool
cheek to bring it down and lodge 1t, for
safe custody, in the manager saie-Just
where no one would ever think OF looking
for it. No doubt he foresaw the possibll-
ity of his luggage being searched aud SO
hit upon that audacious method Of at once
concealing and securing his booty.
1T was certainly master stroke on the
part of our friend Cyrus concluded the
officer, with sneaking admiration, land,
but for this unforeseen mistake in the mat
ter of jewel cases, would probably have
enabled the worthy couple to get safe away
with their spoil But as it is, however,
I'll be able to tell you more about that
at the next assizes.
Cause For Alarm.