Year: 1878

"Are you Mr.. Thornton!' salu
voice.


"Yes-what do you want!"


"The house next your Office is on fire,
sir, :" said the stranger. 81 have been
sent to tell you so. If you have any
thing of value there, you had better go
at once and have them removed to a
safe place. | will ride on and say you
are coming"


AS soon as he said this he gallopped
off before we had time to thank him
for coming to tell us.


"What a provoking thing that this
fire should occur now, william, " said,
'just as you arrive at home, tired after
being out all day, and Jerry gone away
too! Who will saddle the horse for
your"


81 can manage all that myself, Bella;
but | confess / don't like leaving you
alone with only two servants, when
there is so much money about the house.
| brought nearly two thousand pounds
back with me. AS pass the lodge |
will send Jerry's son Ned to stay here
until | return. He is strong, coura-
geous fellow, and | can trust him en-
tirely. Keep up good heart, little
Bella, and don't look so miserable"


After William left, / waited for some
time, expecting Ned, but as there was
no sign of him, got tired at last and
went up to bed, as supposed he had
gone to the "wake" with his father. l
brought Rory with me for company,
knowing what capital watch he was.
| did not undress, but lay on the bed. l
was too anxious to be able to sleep, and
was frightened at the least noise. L
nearly screamed once when cinder
fell out of the fire, and every moment
| fancied | heard footsteps. got up
and walked about the room, and stirred
the fire to make blaze, as the candle
had burned down.


Presently Rory gave low growl and
raised his head as if to listen. Then he
growled again. That frightened me
very much, for knew that he must
have heard someone; so | listened in
tently.


Yes; did hear footsteps--it was no
fancy this time! Quite distinctly
heard them on the gravel outside. In
the greatest terror l went and called
the servants. / told them to dress as
fast as they could. We then went to
the bedroom next to mine, the shutters
of which were not fastened. | peeped
out, and as well as the darkness would
permit, saw six or eight men trying
the windows of the lower rooms, and
also the hall door.


"Let us pray to heaven to help u.s."
/ said. "They are come for the money;
they must know it is here. 1t will take
them some time, however, to break in,
for they cannot easily cut through the
iron shutters"


Just then there was crash of glass.
Rory tried to rush down stairs, but |
held him back, not wishing the robbers
to know that we heard them.


Chow stupid Of me not to think of
Rory before, Ellen" l said.


AS quickly as could got a sheet of
paper and pencil, and wrote to Will
liam telling him the robbers were try
ing to break into the house, and asking
him to come back without any delay,
and bring a sufficient guard of police
| to take them. | tied this around Rory's
neck, and having ascertained that there
was no one as yet at the back OF the
house, opened the door leading into
the garden, and sent the faithful dog to
find his master, praying fervently that
he might be successful. The wall at
the end of the shrubbery was low
enough in one place to jump over it,
and was his usual way of coming and
going. But what if any one were in
the garden on his return? | could
only hope for the best.


| returned to the room where the
two servants were. We had no light
and so could not be seen from the out
side. l softly raised the window a
few inches so that we could hear what
the men were saying. They seemed to
be dreadfully disappointed at not hav-
ing effected an entrance.


eff we don't be quick about it now,
Bill, the master will have found out by
this time that the story of the fire was
all sham, and he'll be here in jiffy."


Here was revelation No fire! 1t
was all plan of theirs tc get William
out of the way, knowing there would
only be women in the house then! For
of course they knew that the coachman
and his son were at the "wake."


Finding they could not get in through
any of the front windows, to my horror
heard them say they would try the
back.


'Then my poor dog is lost" said.


with breathless anxiety we watched
and listened. At last, having no bet
ter success with the back windows than
the others, to our great relief we heard
them leave the garden, and as they did
not come round in front very quickly,
we fancied they were having a consul
tatlon as to what they would do next.
All this time | was in the greatest
agony of mind, for, unless something
had happened to Rory, he ought to
be before. went down to the garden
, door, to be ready to let him in when he
| came. ] strained my ears to listen, but
, there was not sound OF any kind
The robbers were not In the garden
, that was one comfort,