Year: 1878




plate had seen-a portion of which at
this moment preternaturally heavy In
my pockets-must have been three times
greater than any the governor possessed,
and that various pieces were of u size
and massiveness that had never before
seen In the establishment In vain be-
thought myself that had seen and rec
ognized the well known door-plate, and
that the area from which entered was
Immediately under, In vain l argued
that since Laura was about TO be mar
ried, the extra quantity of plate might
be intended to form n part of her trous-
seau. ] could not convince myself.
But the course of my thoughts suggest
ed an Idea, and pulling hastily from my
pocket n tablespoon, felt, for | could
not see, the legend which contained my
fate. But my fingers were tremulous,
they seemed to have lost sensation-only
l fancied did feel something more than
the governors plain initials. There was
still n light In the hall. If / could but
bring that spoon within its illumlna-
tiOil AL was SiNilb, uiii 4 NtnbuItu w
descend step after step-not as l had
bounded up, but with the stealthy pace
of thief, and the plate growing heav-
ier In my pocket. At length l was near
enough to see In spite Of dimness that
gathered over my eyes, and, with SEN
sation of absolute faintness, / beheld
upon the spoon an engraved crest-the
red right hand of baronet


crept back again, holding by the
banisters, fancying every now and then
that heard u door open behind me, and
yet my feet no more consented to quick
en- their motion than If i had been pur-
sued by murderer In the nightmare. /
at length got into the room, groped for
now. Oh, no! There was plenty Of
time, and plenty to do in 1t, for had TO
wipe away the perspiration that ran
down my face in streams. What was to
be done? What had / done? Oh, q
trifle, mere trifle. l had only sneaked
into u gentleman's house by u win
dow and pocketed his tablespoons; and
here was locked and barred and belled
in, sitting very comfortably, in the dark
and alone, in his drawing room. Very
peculiarly comfortable. What capital
fellow, to be sure What an amusing
parsonage Wouldn't the baronet laugh
in the morning? Wouldn't he ask me
to stay to breakfast And wouldn't 1
eat heartily out of the spoons i had sto-
len? Who calls me housebreaker
Who gives me in charger Who lugs
me off by the neck 1 will not stand it.
am innocent except of breaking into a
baronet's house. ] am gentleman,
with another gentleman's spoons in my
pocket. / claim the protection of the
lawl Police police


My brain was wandering. L pressed
my hand upon my forehead to keep
down the thick coming fancies, and de-
termined, for the first time in my life to
hold deliberate consultation with my
self. was in an awkward predicament
it was impossible to deny the fact; but
was there anything really serious in the
caseY L had unquestionably descended
into the wrong area, the right hand one
instead of the left hand one but was /
not unquestionably the relation, the dis
tant relation-of the next door neigh
borY / had been four years from his
house, and was there anything more
natural than that / should desire to pay
my next visit through a subterranean
window? had appropriated, it lis true,
a quantity of silver plate had found /;
but with what other intention could L
have done this than to present it to my
distant relations daughter, to reproach
her with her carelessness in leaving it
next door. Finally, was shared Gagged,
trapped-door and window had been
bolted upon me without any remon-
STRANGE on my part-and was now some
considerable time in the house, unsus-
pected, yet prisoner. The position was
serious; but come, suppose the worst,
that / was actually laid hold of as a
malefactor, and commanded to give an
account of myself; well was, as afore-
said, distant relation of the individual
next door; belonged to nobody in the
world if not to him; bore but an in
different reputation in regard to steadi-
ness; and after four years absence in a
foreign country, had returned-idle,
penniless and objectless-just in time
to find an area window opened in the
4 - l..