OUR WOULD-BE BURGLAR.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIV, Issue IX, 2 March 1895, Page 215

OUR WOULD-BE BURGLAR.

BY

COUSIN LAURA.

It was New Year’s Eve, and mother had gone to the nearest village to get some things for our New Year's dinner. Thinking the servants were about the house, we had not taken the trouble to see that the back doors were locked. We were laughing and talking and making as much noise as we could, when Mabel suddenly caught hold of my hand and cried in an awed whisper, * Oh, Harry, listen, somebody is creeping in at the side door.’ * What nonsense ! You girls are such cowards,* I exclaimed, and then we lapsed into silence. After a few minutes, Mabel cried, * They have gone upstairs, and, oh ! they have gone into Daisy’s room.’ The only answer I gave was a laugh. * Perhaps we had better lock the door in case they take it into their beads to visit this room,’ Mabel went on. No sooner had we turned the key in the lock than we were electrified by hearing a sudden crash and a prolonged scream from Daisy’s room, and a sound of someone scuttling down the stairs. As Daisy screamed more and more we promptly followed suit. When all was quiet again we heard mother's voice at the foot of the stairs calling, * Mabel ! Harry ! where are you, and what is all this noise about f As we rushed out of the dining-room with tears streaming down our faces to tell mother what had happened we heard another crash, and then Daisy appeared at the top of the stairs bawling with all her might, *Oh ! Oh ! mother ! mother! where are you! there’s a burglar in my room. 800-hoo-oo!’ _ At this mother burst out laughing, and with tears trickling down her face she told us how she had come in at the side door, and not hearing any sound in the dining-room, had concluded we had gone to bed. Finding no matches in her bedroom she had gone into our room to see if we had any. Groping about in the dark she had come in contact with the washstand with such force that she upset the water-jug. The crash woke Daisy up, and she gave such a scream, which mother said startled her so much that she flew downstairs only to find Mabel and me screaming in the dining-room. When mother had finished speaking we all began to laugh, and made such a noise that the servants came running up to see what had happened. When mother told the story over again they gave us such a teasing that we would never stay alone in the bouse again when mother was away.