Year: 1870

mihu easy auu your neAd cool, ana the
whole thing may be done as easy as
turning your hand over. Remember
| it is the only way to save the bank, ,.aud
catch the men that may have robbedfa
dozen banks Do not stir ont of the
house again this evening, or you win
excite suspicion and ruin the game.
Between twelve and two you may OK.
pect your company; and rely upon me
in hiding close to the bank. Mum is
the word" For Mrs -Houghton was
descending the stairs, Q


"Come in again when you come
back, Bixby; can't youf" said the
cashier, still loath to close so hasty and
90 singular = bargain % yG,45ssr
! "Not for the world ? replied the con-
stable. 1T would expose our hand at
once, and spoil the trick Now, Mrs.
HoughtoD, I'm really proud to be the
beau to such a sprightly young BELLE"


And so with word OF farewell, they
were of, and Foster Houghton sat
alone in the house with bis secret.


He was not coward, but q man Of
peace by temperament and training,
and the enterprise in which hshad been
enlisted was both foreign and distaats-
ful to him. How many incidents
might occur, not set down in Bixby'G
programme, TO make the nights work
both dangerous and disagresabls! His
very loneliness made the prospect seem
dOubly unpleasant. A dozen times, as
he sat muSing over 1.-THE put forth his
hand for his boots with intent to 20 out
and Illustrate the robbery in his own
way, regardless of Blxby's schemes Of
capture and glory. As many times be
fell back in bis easy-chair, thinking now
that he was bound in honor by his taoit
agreement with the constable, and
again that the whole story was nothing
but the fruit Of the officers fertile i'm
agination, and that only tho inventor
should make himself ridiculous by his
crsdulity. Now he wished his wife
were at home to make the waiting mo.
ments pass more quickly; then that
Harry were there to give the aid of his
daring and the stimulous of his sboyish
enthusiasm in the strange emergency.
Aud sometimes the old mans thoughts
wandered, 10 spite Of the excitement Of
the hour to his boy, dancing away the
night at TinSborough. He recalled lie
anxietieS over bis sons dissipatiOns, his
associates, his growing recklesnsss of
manner, bis extravagant tastes, the look
Of hard defiance in bis face but an hour
or two before His heart yearned over
the lad In spite of his wild ways, like
DAVid's over Absolom, and he resolved
to try the mothers method and imaa-
inc excuses, and replace harshness with
indulgence, hereafter The village bell
changed out ffsm the stesple close BY,
and Foster Houghton dropped t6e
thread Of his revery with a start, aud
went back to the robbery again. Clear
ly he was getting too nervous. He
must do something to shoke it Oft q


'1'll get Harry's revolver" he
thought, with little purpose what ho
should do with it and he took Che
lamp and went up stairs to the hoy's
empty room. The drawers were thrown
open in confusion which offended che
old cashiers neat prejudices acquired in
the profession. He knew where tho
pistol was kept, but its box was empty;
and he exclaimed under his BREATH


"That is boy all over. He goes
to Tinborough to dance and eat straw
berries, and he carries q pistol, loaded
dare say to the muzzle. II is ten 10
one he will shoot himself or his sweet
heart before the evening is over


As MIR. Houghton fumbled over the
bureau his hand encountered covered
flask. Even his unacenstotnsd nose
was able to recognize its contents as
whisky and bis regret at such discoS-
cry in his sous room was lost in the
Joy with which he hailed the stimulauE
so greatly needed to put his nerves. ia
condition for the events to come. o Per.
hapS he forgot how long it was siheeihs
had called 10 such Z reinforcement;
perhaps his hand shook perhaps be
thought the occasion required large
dose. He took hearty one; and whsn
he was down stairs again the difficult
ties in the way of bagging the burglars
vanished from his mind, He was o
young man once more, and entered in
TO the romance of Bixby's plot, he said
to himself as enthusiastically as Harry
would have done. He paced the room
with an elastic stride very different from
the nervous, wavering step with which
he had heard the news, Bixby and
himself, he thought, would be enough
to overpower any three burglars Then
his head was heavy, and he felt drowsy.
To be in proper condition for the emer-
gency, he reflected, he needed all the
sleep he could get. The resolve was
one to be executed as promptly as form
cd; and few minutes later the cashier
had locked the door, fastened the lower
, windows, and was snugly in bed. .m5di
A gentle tinkle Of the door bell
aroused him again before, as it seemed
to him, he had fairly closed his, eyes.
"The robbers at last" he thought;
and then he rebuk ed himself for the
absurdity Of supp osing that a burglar
would announce his coming by the
door-bell. at is Bixby, ofcOurse," he
r said to himself, 'cometo own he was
4 L. n 4 y IS. n ia