Drew the Line at That.

Otago Witness, Issue 2735, 15 August 1906, Page 77

Drew the Line at That.

The hour— midnight. Place— kitchen it* millionaires house. The weather— cloudy, probably rain. I "Tick! tick! tick!" This noise came , from the 3s 6d alarm clock, which the ser1 vant, as "usual, had not taken to her room, ' for fear of getting alarmed. > "Saw! saw! saw!" This noise coukf never be laid to a 3s 6d clock,; only robber* ' would break the silence thus'ly with saws. 'Drop! drop! drop!'' This noise is the lock dropping to the floor. The dooe softly opens and two desperate villains peers i through, the darkne.s3, and, after sj,rikifti4

ft match and" lighting the gas, one of them aoftly bjsses: '"Hie job is did ! Now for the gold !" The other is evidently of the same mind, for he takes from beneath his coat a large tag and a murderous-looking stick, and beckoning to,- his" pal they steal softly up the baclisfcaijs to break the millionaire— his head or his safe. As it takes some time to 'creep up the inilUonaire's back stairs, we will leave the villains creeping and see what is happening in the rich man's sleeping apartment, and why he doesn't awaken to foil the robbers at their game. Could yon see into this room you would certainly bet a sovereign to a bad apple that the man .was asleep, but his wife's eyes are -wide Open as she turns over, thumps him on the funny-bone, and says: — > „ "And so, Charles, you refuse to buy me a diamond necklace like Mrs Jewel has?"

"For the millionth time, I do! Go to sleep!" answered* the 'rich man, opening his eyes for a second to glare at tbe downtrodden woman. "3Tou wretch!" she gasped. "Yon squanderer!" he- growled. ~TU get* divorce !*' "The qnicker fhe better!" In the meantime the robbers had finished their creeping- business, had advanced to the door of the room, and as they paused on the threshold <ti»ey overheard the words given above. Their faces blanched, their hands trembled, and with a bound they fled — fled from"' that' house as if shot from a cannon, and never stopped a stop until a mile of streets lay between them and that unropbed residence.

„ These men could stab, shoot, rob, murder, but when it came to getting mixed up in - a family quarrel — excuse them !