Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 January 1875 — A PRECIOUS TRUST. [ARTICLE]

A PRECIOUS TRUST.

It was a very modest chamber on the third floor, or what in a less pretentious house would have been called a garret, u that Katie Mayne and her sister Miriam occupied at Mrs. Bideford’s boardinghouse, —— street, Strand; and to the eyes of two country maidens it had the air of having been forgotten at those seasons when good housewives indulge in thorough cleanings, but they considered themselves fortunate to have secured a cheap lodging in a a respectable house, for it was their first visit to London and they had resolved to be economical even in their pleasures. In this chamber, with the door carefully locked, their hats and mantles thrown hastily aside and their bonny faces aglow with pleasure, the sisters were eagerly gazing on the first richqs they had ever possessed —a legacy left them by a distant relative which they had come to town to receive. They had been together to the executor of the trust; they had received from him the little packet containing not only their own money but a sum of equal value which they were empowered to receive for a widowed aunt; and now Katie sat on the edge of her bed with Miriam kneeling at her feet, smiling her satisfaction as the package was untied, and the fresh, crisp bank notes unfolded an'd examined with unflagging interest. Two hundred pounds. How small a sum it would seem to many! How large it was to these young girls! Well born, well nurtured, they had endured for some years as direful a struggle with poverty as ever fell to the share of two friendless orphans; yet they had come through the trial brhvely, so—oh, secret of so much true heroism—-they had never repined. First as junior teachers in a school, then as the principals of a very modest establishment for young ladies in a country town, they had persevered . in the face of difficulties and discourage-* ment that wouffl have crushed less hopeful spirits—content to deny themselves every gratification that was beyond their small means. Two hundred pounds! A little awe mingled with their thankfulness as they counted the notes to assure themselves that the precise was now their very own, lay before them. On peaceful summer Sundays, when they were set free from their duties, they had loved to ramble in a beautiful park near their home, or share with the deer the deep,' cool shadows of its ancient trees, and there, dream and plan aerial castles which, though destined never to be built r of more lasting materials, were very pleasant to dwell upon for the little time they lasted. But they had grown very practical of late, never aspiring to greater possessions than a new piano for Miriam and the modest trousseau without which Katie’s long-deferred marriage must still be a deed for future consideration. And now these aspirations were more than realized! The cheek that had grown pale and thin, despite her cheerful spirit, flushed into its old bloom as Katie reminded herself that her share of this legacy would not only purchase the bridal finery in which every feminine heart delights, but would leave a nestegg to lav the foundation of those great things her clever betrothed was to achieve; and Miriam’s deft fingers played an air with brilliant variations on the counterpane as she thought of the finetoned instrument which was to bring her fresh pupils and do justice to her really excellent playing. But now a small cloud arose on the horizon. They had determined to indulge thepiselves with a little sight-see-ing before they returned home, for it was not only their first trip to London, but in all probability would be their last. This money, however, so gratefully .jrcceived, so joyfully gloated over, what was to be done wfth it while they remained in town? The widowed aunt had given them sundry injunctions respecting hers, the principal being, not to

intrust It to the Postofflce, for she had no faith in it, since she had learned from the newspapers that postmen were not always honest, and though she remorsefully added that she had not a word to say against the old man who had been letter-carrier at for twenty years, still, she would nqt like to put temptation in his way in the shape of the £2OO that was to apprentice her eldest boy, pay the school fee of the next, and release her from an incubus of small debts that had troubled her ever since the sudden decease of her husband. After much discussion of various ways and means of providing for the safety of the valuable packet, it was resolved that one or other of the sisters should carry it in her bosom during the day, while at night it might safely repose at the bottom of the little trunk that stood on a chair by their bedtide; and this arrangement being decided on they prepared to enjoy London as only intelligent strangers can. Too modest and ladylike to attract attention by any peculiarity of dress or manner, and too humble to divine how often their fresh, sweet faces drew upon them an admiring glance, they “did” the principal sights With that hearty appreciation of them felt only once in a lifetime. But pleasure, when it takes the form of craning one’s neck to admire pictures, or traversing the galleries of Kensington, or climbing the steps at the Crystal Palace, soon grows fatiguing; and after spending their last evening, breathless and rapt auditors, at a good entertainment, the sisters went to rest, not altogether sorry that the term allotted for their stay in town had come to an end. An early train on the morrow wasAo speed them back to , with its quaint High street, ruined castle towering above the avenue of elms leading to its gates, and those breezes from the surrounding hills for which the murky atmosphere of the great city had been so poor an exchange. Was Katie dreaming of these invigorating breezes when she suddenly awoke from her slumbers? A minute ago she had fancied that she was sitting under the trees with Miriam, talking a little sorrowfully of some past trouble; but now the grass, the ferns, the flickering sunbeams that played across them—all, all were gone; only* the blast of cold air .that had chilled her into wakefulness was still sweeping across her cheek. She raised herself on her elbow but the night was so dark that nothing in the room eould be discerned except in the immediate neighborhood of the window, and that —gracious heavens! was wide a open. Numberless tales of .thefts perpetrated in this manner flashed into her mind as soon as she made the discovery, and she recollected now that it was too late; how, in their weariness and excitement, both she and Miriam had been less careful in looking to the fastenings than was their custom. Before she could summon courage to rise or to decide whether to awaken her sister or first ascertain if anything had been abstracted from the chamber a sound at the window made her quiver with increasing alarm. A dark figure was there —a figure but dimly seen in the obscurity of the starless night was even then cautiously stepping through it. Katie cowered down in the bed afraid to move or to cry out for help, for the bell was not within reach, and a desperate man intent upon plunder might murder her and her equally helpless sister if they frustrated him. Had anyone discovered their precious trust, and was it to rob them of it the ruffian came? Must they lose it, and in this way? Growing frantic in her terror Katie put out her hand to grasp the trunk in which it was hidden, but shrank buck as quickly, for the figure was rapidly drawing near —nearer —and now it was close to the bedside and bending over her as she lay. Involuntarily she closed her eyes. She was no heroine endbwed with marvelous presence of mind, but a weak woman who felt herself at the mercy of one of those lawless characters with which the dangerous quarters of the metropolis abound. And when a hand grasped the bedclothes as if to drag them from her Katie Mayne for the first time in her life fainted quietly away. When her senses returned it was morning, and Miriam was leaning over her with some alarm depicted on her face. “ Thank goodness you have opened your eyes at last! You looked so ghastly I feared you were ill. Did you find the room too close in the night that you opened the window?” The question brought back all the horrible recollections of that dark hour, and, with a cry of mingled grief and rage, Katie sprang out of bed and seized the trunk. It was unlocked; the ring of keys that had been under her pillow when she went to rest now lay on the floor, with sundry odds and ends of feminine attire flung out of the trunk; and, as she had foreboded, the packet containing not only her own and her sister’s share of the legacy, but the notes pertaining to her aunt, was gone. For some time the half-stupefied sisters sat gazing at the trunk, too much bewildered by their loss to do anything but lament it. Yet their grief was not wholly for themselves. They were young and strong, they told each other, and though it cost them a pang to renounce the happiness this money was to have afforded them, why, they would be but as they were before. But the widowed aunt, whose many cares were to have been lifted from her burdened shoulders—the anxious mother, whose heart gladdened with joy as she looked around at the little ones, and was herself enabled to further their interests—how should they tell her that the precious sum on which she was depending was lost? T “The police!” exclaimed Katie, suddenly starting into action. “We must go to the police. The gentleman from whom we received the notes may have taken the precaution of keeping the numbers. We will not give way to despair until we have done our best to recover them.” Only those who have gone through a similar ordeal can realize the misery of

that morning to the sisters. They were questioned till they grew hoarse with replying. The tale of Katie’s nocturnal adventure had to be told over and over again, till she grew weary of telling it. The landlady of the house, aroused from her matutinal nap to hear it, was selfishly indignant that such an aflair should have happened in a house that had always borne the highest of characters, and talked at them as the cause of it till they began to feel guilty as well as unhappy. The executor of the will when applied to for the numbers of the notes shrugged his shoulders and remarked more satirically than kindly upon the want of caution that had been shown. If the young ladies had not been so childishly eager to receive the money in that form this could not have happened. Then the police pried about, and climbed out of the window and on to the roof, and came back to ask more questions, and repeated their gymnastic exercises ad nauseam, and so on, until Katie’s head ached and Miriam’s patience was quite exhausted. “It was plain as a pikestaff how the robbery had been effected,” the inspector averred. “ There was an empty house a few doors off, through which the burglar or burelars had obtained access to the roof. If people would go to bed with large sums of money in their possession, and their fastenings not properly secured, why, they must take the consequences.” The notes might be traced, but he was doubtful about it—verydoubtful. And the sisters had to endure this, and the visits to their room of every inquisitive person in the house, till evening approached, and curiosity was satiated. Then they once more locked their door, and, faint with fatigue and sorrow, sat down to swallow the half-cold tea and toast brought up by an Irish servant, whose sympathy, though coarsely expressed, had been very acceptable. The homeward journey, to which a few hours earlier they had looked forward with such pleasure, must now be postponed till they could summon fortitude to meet their aunt. The little gifts for friends and relatives that it had been a labor of love to select were put aside with many sighs; and Miriam, after doing her best to wear a cheerful face and coax her sister to eat, suddenly succumbed to her passionate regrets, and, throwing herself on the bed, wept herself to sleep. But Katie could not follow her example. She tenderly drew the clothes over the sleeper and kissed her flushed cheek, and then wrapping herself in a shawl sat down to take a serious view of their position. It was a bitter disappointment to be obliged to postpone hfer marriage, and she felt that in justice to hex betrothed she must put an end to the engagement; for she must no longer work for herself —no longer set aside for her own uses every hard-earned shilling that could be spared from the daily needs. The widow and the fatherless had suffered by her want of caution, and for them she must toil unCeasinglv until the debt was paid. Then poor - Katie began to calculate how much she might save in the course of the year by dint of denying herself and striving to procure some employment for her evenings; but her heart sank as she comprehended that years must elapse before the task she set herself could be accomplished; and the tears, that were more difficult to bring from her eyes than Miriam’s, fell in large, hot drops on the clasped hands lying in her lap. Only last night she had been so happy, so hopeful, picturing to herself the pleasure of her betrothed at her return, and the joy that would light up the sunken eyes of the widow when the precious trust was rendered up and her nieces rewarded with a loving kiss. Only last night so happy, and now— Katie slid off the chair on her knees, and gradually found comfort. The neighboring clocks sounded midnight, and then the small hours; but still she knelt there, unconscious of the lapse of time, till Miriam tossed and moaned, and then sat up in the bed, starting about her, with a curiously vacant look in her blue orbs. Was she going to be ill? At the prospect of this addition to their anxieties Katie’s reviving spirits sank again, and she rose and approached her sister to question her. But Miriam, who had also risen, brushed passed her without appearing to hekr the affectionate inquiry, and stooping over the trunk that had contained the notes began searching in it. 'M'She tossed the contents over and over, muttering to herself the while, until she, found a small packet, notunlike the lost one in size and shape, and wrapping her waterproof tightly round her walked straight up to the window, which she flung open. Katie’s heart almost ceased to beat, for she saw that the young girl was in a state of somnambulism, and a dim conception of what might have occurred on the previous night began to steal into her mind. Unconscious of her terrified sister’s grasp on her skirts Miriam climbed out of the window, and, still followed by Katie, fearlessly made her way along the parapet to, where there stood a flower pot containing a withered shrub and a few handfuls Of mold. Over this she stooped, taking out the plant, to which the dry earth firmly adhered, and carefully depositing the packet beneath it. This done, the somnambulist returned to her Own room in the same way that she had' quitted it, crept into bed again and slept soundly for some hours It was not till the day had dawned that Katie could nerve herself to repeat this exploit; and then it was on her hands and knees that she crawled along the gutter and seizing the flower-pot brought it back with her. Oh, ecstacy! the mystery was solved—there had been no robbery. Miriam herself had been the dark figure at the window—it was she who, her dreams perturbed by some dread of losing the money, had risen from her bed and hid it in this strange and unsuspected hiding-place. It would have been difficult to make her believe that she «had done thlß but for the proof of it that her ..rejoicing sister put before her; bat she cpuld remember now that at some time or other she had heard or read of a prisoner conceal-

ing some documents in this manner; and the incident forgotten in waking moments must have been recalled and acted upon by the teeming brain during the visions of the night. The sisters’ last morning in London was a busy one, for the recovery of the money had to be signified to the police; and so many were eager to congratulate Katie and stare at Miriam as the heroine of a strange adventurer that the work of packing went on amid many interruptions. But if the early train was lost there was a later one; and when the congratulations had been civilly acknowledged of those who had stood aloof in the hour of distress, and the truer sympathy of Irish Nora gratefully rewarded, Katie and Miriam bade adieu to London. There was much to ask and to tell when they reached home; but it was not until the precious trust had been safely given up to its owner and Katie sat with Ker hand firmTy crasped'in' those of her betrothed that she told the tale of the lost money and how unexpectedly it had been recovered.— Cassell's Mapaiine.