than we had ever known her before; and,
being an officer's daughter and widow, we
looked up to her opinion, of course. Really
I do not know how much was true or false in
the reports which flew about like wildfire
just at this time; but it seemed to me then
that there was every reason to believe that
at Mardon (a small town about eight miles
from Cranford) houses and shops were entered
by holes made in the walls, the bricks being
silently carried away in the dead of the night,
and all done so quietly, that no sound was
heard either in or out of the house. Miss
Matey gave it up in despair when she heard
of this. " What was the use," said she, " of
locks and bolts, and bells at the windows,
and going round the house every night?
That last trick was fit for a conjuror. Now
she did believe that Signor Brunoui was at
the bottom of it."

One afternoon, about five o'clock, we were
startled by a hasty knock at the door. Miss
Matey bade me run and tell Martha on no
account to open the door till she (Miss Matey)
had reconnoitred through the window; and
she armed herself with a footstool to drop
down on the head of the visitor, in case he
should show a face covered with black crape,
as he looked up in answer to her inquiry of
who was there. But it was nobody but Miss
Pole and Betty. The former came upstairs,
carrying a little hand-basket, and she was
evidently in a state of great agitation.

"Take care of that! " said she to me, as I
offered to relieve her of her basket. "It's
my plate. I am sure there is a plan to rob
my house to-night. I am come to throw
myself on your hospitality, Miss Matey.
Betty is going to sleep with her cousin at the
George. I can sit up here all night, if you
will allow me; but my house is so far from
any neighbours; and I don't believe we could
be heard if we screamed ever so!"

"But," said Miss Matey, " what has alarmed
you so much? Have you seen any men lurking
about the house?"

"Oh yes! " answered Miss Pole. " Two
very bad-looking men have gone three times
past the house, very slowly; and an Irish
beggar-woman came not half an hour ago,
and all but forced herself in past Betty, saying
her children were starving, and she must
speak to the mistress; you see, she said
' mistress,' though there was a hat hanging
up in the hall, and it would have been more
natural to have said 'master.' But Betty
shut the door in her face, and came up to me,
and we got the spoons together, and sat in
the parlour-window watching, till we saw
Thomas Jones going from his work, when we
called to him and asked him to take care of
us into the town."

We might have triumphed over Miss Pole,
who had professed such bravery until she
was frightened; but we were too glad to perceive
that she shared in the weaknesses of
humanity to exult over her; and I gave up
my room to her very willingly, and shared
Miss Matey's bed for the night. But before
we retired, the two ladies rummaged up, out
of the recesses of their memory, such horrid
stories of robbery and murder, that I quite
quaked in my shoes. Miss Pole was evidently
anxious to prove that such terrible events
had occurred within her experience that she
was justified in her sudden panic; and Miss
Matey did not like to be outdone, and capped
every story with one yet more horrible, till it
reminded me, oddly enough, of an old story
I had read somewhere, of a nightingale and a
musician, who strove one against the other
which could produce the most admirable
music, till poor Philomel dropped down dead.

One of the stories that haunted me for a
long time afterwards, was of a girl, who was
left in charge of a great old house in Cumberland,
on some particular fair day, when the
other servants all went off to the gaieties.
The family were away in London, and a pedlar
came by, and asked to leave his large and,
heavy pack in the kitchen, saying, he would
call for it again at night; and the girl (a
gamekeeper's daughter) roaming about in
search of amusement, chanced to hit upon a
gun hanging up in the hall, and took it down
to look at the chasing; and it went off through
the open kitchen door, hit the pack, and a
slow dark thread of blood came oozing out.
(How Miss Pole enjoyed this part of the
story , dwelling on each word as if she loved
it!) She rather hurried over the further
account of the girl's bravery, and I have but
a confused idea that, somehow, she baffled
the robbers with Italian irons, heated red
hot, and then restored to blackness by being
dipped in grease. We parted for the night
with an awe-struck wonder as to what we
should hear of in the morning—and, on my
part, with a vehement desire for the night to
be over and gone: I was so afraid lest the
robbers should have seen, from some dark
lurking-place, that Miss Pole had carried off
her plate, and thus have a double motive for
attacking our house.

But, until Lady Glenmire came to call
next day, we heard of nothing unusual.
The kitchen fire-irons were in exactly the
same position against the back door, as when
Martha and I had skilfully piled them up like
spillikins, ready to fall with an awful clatter,
if only a cat had touched the outside panels.
I had wondered what we should all do if thus
awakened and alarmed, and had proposed to
Miss Matey that we should cover up our faces
under the bed-clothes, so that there should
be no danger of the robbers thinking that we
could identify them; but Miss Matey, who
was trembling very much, scouted this idea,
and said we owed it to society to apprehend
them, and that she should certainly do her
best to lay hold of them, and lock them up in
the garret till morning.

When Lady Glenmire came, we almost felt
jealous of her. Mrs. Jamieson's house had