THE MAN WITH THE SILVER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 287, 3 December 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE MAN WITH THE SILVER.

Heroism'will come cropping up in tlie unlikeliest places. The other day friends were showing us over their new house, built in a ■pleasant but rather lonely spot on the outskirts of the town. It was a pretty house, and we were full of admiration for everything about it—tlie view from the balcony, the roses in the garden, the shape of the rooms, and the arrangement of the furniture. But prettier than all seemed to us the little countrified maid who had let us in and presently brought us tea. We said as much to our host when she had left the room. "Ah, yes, she's pretty enough," said he; "but there is more to her than mere prettiness, let me tell you. It's solely owing to her that this house has not been cleaned out by a tbidf. "One evening soon after we had moved in," lie said, "my wife and I went out to dinner, and this girl -was left alone in tlie house. About 11 o'clock she heard sounds as of someone moving about the dining room, and knowing we could not have returned, she came up to investigate. She was desperately frightened, she says, for she is naturally timid, but it was her duty to look after the house, so she felt «he could do no less. She opened the dining rpom door and saw a strange man by the sideboard, busily popping silver spoons into a bag." "Heavens!" we cried. "What did she ~ do?" "That is what we asked her when she : told us. There were several things she could have done. Screamed and fainted, for one thing; or run back to Iter room ■ and hidden' her head under tlie bed- ' I'lotbes. She might even have stolen away and rung up the police, though it is doubtful whether they could have arrived in time. "What she did was to walk quietly into the room and accost the man. She told hi in she was alone in the house and responsible for all it contained. If the silver disappeared, who would believe, she asked him. that she had not .made away with it herselfV She appealed to hin/not to put a poor girl into such a position. She would cry her eyes out, sin: said, if lier master and mistress were to suspect her of being a thief. "And, do you know, the man listened tii her.' and" when she had iinisiied lie emptied his bag and placed everything back in i!s place without a word. Then, still without a word, but actually lookin- shamefaced, she said, he climbed .m" throiijrii tlie window and disappeared into tlie nijrlit. "He could not have been a very hardened malefactor, you think? Well, perhaps not. And yet, again, lie may have been, for it is incredible what you can do with people simply by assuming that they are human like yourself.