The Lakeland evening telegram., 1916-11-01
A BENEFICIAL
BURGLARY
By ALAN HINSDALE


am especially fond of rowing and can
rove to better advantage in a car than
In any other way. Touring in the au.
tumn. when the leaves are turning.
find delightful.
One evening In October about sunset
l passed cozy place a short distance
on the road and determined to ask to
be housed for the night. Finding the
gates locked. left my auto in the road
and. climbing the fence, walked up to
the house. There was an ominous 81
lence. Not dog, not chicken, not
even cat, gave evidence of life The
nearer view showed me that the win
dow shades were drawn. One shade
had not been entirely pulled down, and
! gould look into the living room. What
gives some rooms an lair of comfort
that others do not possess, unless it is
the taste of the furnisher, don't know
This room was especially inviting, so
inviting that yielded to temptation
to force an entrance.
| made a burglar Of myself and with
an iron bar found ON the place jimmied
the window and went inside. There
was well filed wood basket beside
the fireplace, and lighted fire and
sat down In big easy chair before 1t
| dreamed all sorts of dreams about
the place, but they all connected me
with it, and they were all dependent
upon lovely imaginary girl who was
to make me happy in it, After awhile
hearing step on the porch without,
| turned and saw the object of my
dreams looking in through the window
! AT any rate a girl was there and evi-
| IDENTIFY interested in the person with.
in. | arose and went to the window,
the girl retreating before my advance
Don't be frightened" | said reas-
suringly I'm not burglar" And
l explained to her how | happened to
be there. She heard me through, then
told me that the place belonged to her
She would not come inside, but after
some hesitancy told me bit of
story. She had been born and lived
near by She became engaged, and
her fiance had built the house with the
intention of their making nest to-
gether In 1t when they were married
1t was all ready for their occupancy,
and they were to have been married
In a few days, when her lover sick
ened and died. She had never been in
1t since few days before his death
Having seen a light in the window,
she had come from her home to dis
cover what 1t meant. apologized for
trespassing and offered to vacate i'm
mediately,
NO." she said; II wish you would
remain as long as you like. You have
broken melancholy spell. live
where | can see this house all the
while, and think that it has kept me
In an abnormal condition. The mo-
ment | saw the light in it that spell
seemed to snap"
She asked me to 60 to her home
with her for the evening. | did So
and she introduced me to her mother,
a sister and brother. | passed
pleasant evening with intelligent and
refined persons, and when bedtime
came ! was offered a room for the
night.
NO" l said, looking at the girl who
had told me her story, 81 think it
would be better for you that some one
should sleep in your house."
+. She made no reply to this, but asked
! me to come to her home for breakfast
the next morning. | proposed that the
family come to the other house for
breakfast Her mother urged this, and
l left them expecting them to come to
me the next morning
| slept In the best bedroom, which
was in readiness. and the next MORN
Ing arose early to make few neces.
sary preparations. In due time my
, hosts appeared, and all except the be-
reaved girl took on the merriment of
picnic. But was happy to find that
before the meal was over she had lost
much of her sadness Before | left
my newly made friends she said to me:
IF AT any time while you are tour
ing you find yourself in this neighbor-
hood please feel welcome to remain |
overnight here"
| accepted the offer. intending 70 |
do that very thing The next month
! rode out to the place. called on my |
the evening together in the vacant
house. J asked permission to use the
premises for a few friends at Christ.
mas time, ana it was granted. | had
sne"i"l OBJECT in this. which was to
get the bereaved girl used to merry
making there. | told my friends her
story and that proposed to make her
one of the party If possible. They all
endeavored to make her forget her
grief. and one night we persuaded her
to sleep in the house.
This did more than anything else to
break the ice, and before the party
broke up she had entirely thrown of
her abnormal condition.
When the spring opened began my
touring and never failed to spend at
least one night In the vacant house.
OF course ! always visited the owner
1t was my object to make her the cen
ter figure of my dreams when sitting