CHAPTER XIV
A MIDNIGHT ALARM
The dry, cold air of the outdoors, and the warm fires inside the oldhouse, certainly had the effect of making a very sleepy crowd of boysand girls who were not sorry, after all, to turn in early.
Grace and Anne occupied a room together so large that it could easilyhave been turned into two apartments and each have been the size ofordinary bedrooms.
"I'm glad our beds are close together, anyway," said Grace. "The rest ofthe furniture in this room seems to be miles apart."
Mrs. Gray's room was just in front; Nora and Jessica were in a smallerone back of theirs, and across the hall were the boys' rooms.
"Isn't it a wonderful old house?" replied Anne. "I never slept in such abig room in all my life. And how kind Mrs. Gray is! There is nothing shehasn't remembered."
Each girl had found on her bed a pretty dressing gown of silk and wooland beside it a pair of bedroom slippers. There was a bowl of fruit on atable, and just before they dropped off to sleep a maid brought in atray of glasses with a pitcher of hot milk.
"Mrs. Gray says this will warm you up before you go to bed," explainedthe maid.
"Dear, sweet Mrs. Gray," continued Anne, as she curled up on a rugbefore the fire to sip the warm drink, "she has planned so many thingsfor this party. I am so sorry she has been disappointed."
"He's not a bit like her, Anne," replied her friend, not caring tomention names. "I do wish she had never asked him."
"My only hope," said Anne, "is that we will all seem so young andchildish to him that he will get bored and leave."
"Well, just strictly between us and as man to man, as David is alwayssaying, don't you think he is horrid? He has no manners at all, and it'shard to believe he's a product of the Gray family."
"He has such shifty eyes," said Anne, "and I had a feeling that hisdislike for America was all put on to shock us. I feel so warm andsleepy," she continued drowsily when the lights were put out and theyhad snuggled down in the soft, comfortable beds.
"I heard him drop an 'h' once," whispered Grace, in a sleepy voice.
But there was no reply. Anne was already dreaming of her four beautifulnew dresses.
It might have been midnight, perhaps a little later when Grace awokewith a start. Not a sound disturbed the peace of the old house exceptthe ticking of the clock on the mantel and the occasional crackling ofdying embers in the fireplace. Yes; there was one sound and it arousedher. A loose board creaked in the floor, or was it a door which openedand closed softly? Perhaps it was nothing after all. And she closed hereyes and drew the eiderdown quilt close about her shoulders.
No; there it was again. A distinct footfall. She raised herself on herelbow and peered into the shadows. Far over at the other side of thechamber--it seemed an infinite distance just then--stood a figure. Gracelooked at it calmly. She had never been a coward and she was notfrightened now, only she wondered who could be invading their room atthis hour. Perhaps Mrs. Gray; perhaps one of the servants. No, it wasneither; of course it couldn't be because it was the figure of a man.She saw him now plainly enough hovering over the dressing table.
A small, cold hand slipped into hers. Anne was awake too. She had seenthe figure and lay quite still watching it. Grace silently returned thepressure; then the two lay watching the man's stealthy motions for amoment, while Grace's mind was busy devising a plan by which the robbermight be caught.
Oakdale was a quiet, prosperous place, and burglars were unusual.Occasionally the hands in the silk mills made a disturbance, and therehad been a few highway robberies, but an actual house-breaker seldomtroubled the law-abiding town. The two girls, as they lay watching himfrom under the covers, guessed that this man was a real burglar. He worea black soft hat and carried a small electric lantern, while, with apractised hand, he picked the lock of a small drawer in the dressingtable where the girls had put their purses. Once he turned the lighttoward the beds. Instantly the girls' eyelids dropped and they lay asstill as mice. Having satisfied himself that all was well, the prowlerwent on with his work, finally tiptoeing into the front room where Mrs.Gray was sleeping. Evidently he had made a circuit of the three bedroomson that side of the house. As he slipped out Grace leaped from the bed.Now was the time for action. Putting on her dressing gown and slippersshe dashed to the door leading into the hall, only to come upon theburglar again who had probably been frightened in his last venture andhad retired to the hall for safety.
Fortunately he was standing with his back to her while he closed thedoor, and feeling that she was safe for the moment, she crouched in theshadow of the doorway. The thief evidently thought he also was safe, forhe seized a large, heavy-looking valise from the floor and made straightfor the steps without looking to right or left.
Now a door across the hall opened and another figure appeared. Gracetrembled for a moment, fearing it might be another thief. She had alwaysheard they traveled in pairs. But it was David, wrapped in a long graydressing gown, looking for all the world like a monk.
He glanced up and down the hall for a moment, then tapped on the door ofthe next room and without waiting for an answer walked in. In an instanthe was out again and had started swiftly down the stairs, Gracefollowing him. She had intended to speak to him, but it had all takenplace so quickly there was no time. David made straight for the diningroom, opening the heavy door. The room was brightly lighted. In a flash,Grace saw on the table a pile of the beautiful Gray silver, brought overfrom England by past generations of Grays. Grace never knew whatinstinct prompted her to enter the dining room by the butler's pantry atthe very end of the long hall. As she pushed the swinging door, sheheard David say:
"You low blackguard, what do you mean by stealing your aunt's silver?"
Grace started at the mention of the word "aunt." It was, then, thewretched Tom Gray who was robbing his own relative!
"Get out!" returned the other coldly, "and attend to your own business.You are only a kid."
"Give up those things you have stolen, or I'll pound you to a jelly!"cried David, making a rush at the burglar, who dodged nimbly.
Then Grace had an inspiration, which assuredly saved David from verydisagreeable consequences. Real burglars, like rattlesnakes, are notlikely to be dangerous except when they are disturbed. It is then thatthey become dangerous characters. Grace slipped back into the pantry,swiftly opened one of the linen drawers and drew forth what turned outlater to be a breakfast cloth, which was lucky because it was small andeasy to manage.
When, in the next instant, she had pushed the door open, what she sawmade her blood run cold. Tom Gray had whipped out a small pistol andpointed it straight at David's head.
"Get out of here, quick!" he said just as Grace opened the table clothwith a jerk and flung it over his head. A pistol shot rang out, butDavid had dodged in time and the bullet was buried in the mahoganywainscot back of him. The astonished burglar dropped the weapon, andbegan to struggle violently to release himself.
Instantly David pinioned his arms from the back. But the fellow mighteven then have struggled free, if Reddy Brooks and Hippy Wingate had notburst into the room, followed by Anne, who had roused them after Gracehad gone. The three boys swiftly overpowered Tom Gray and tied him to achair with cord Grace had found in the pantry.
But now, what was to be done? Undoubtedly the noise would awaken Mrs.Gray and she would have to be told that her nephew was a burglar aboutto make off with the family silver.
Perhaps the loss of the silver would hurt less than family disgrace.
In the midst of their council Mrs. Gray herself appeared.
"What in the world is the matter?" she demanded.
No one replied for a moment. It was a very uncomfortable situation forthe young guests of the house party. If only the burglar had not been amember of the Gray family!
Then Tom Gray himself spoke.
"I must say this is a nice 'ospitable way to treat a guest and arelation. 'Ere I am taken by a lot of silly children for a burglar.
I,your own nephew, awnt, who 'ad come down stairs on the h'innocenth'errand of finding some h'ice water."
Mrs. Gray looked from one to another of the silent group. Her eyes tookin the silver piled on the table, the pistol on the floor and theburglar's tools and lantern.
"You are a burglar," she said, "a wretched, common thief. I knew it assoon as you entered my house last night. I could not then explain thefeeling of repugnance I had, but I know now what it meant. I shall notoffer hospitality to a coward, for all thieves are cowards. Boys, takewhat he has stolen from his pockets."
Reddy and Hippy searched the bulging pockets of the thief's coat andwaistcoat, and brought forth a quantity of jewelry, watches and purses.
"Now, David," continued Mrs. Gray, firmly, "be kind enough to give methat pistol."
David obeyed her, wondering if she meant to shoot her own nephew.
Mrs. Gray pointed the pistol at the thief with as steady a hand as ifshe had been shooting at targets all her life.
"Untie the cords," she commanded.
They cut the cords with a carving knife.
"Now, go!" said the old lady, still pointing the pistol at his head."Leave my house quickly. I shall not punish you, because a thief isalways punished sooner or later."
Tom Gray looked immensely relieved, Grace thought, in spite of hiscrestfallen, hangdog air. They followed him down the hall, Mrs. Gray inthe lead, until he slammed the front door after him and disappeared inthe night.
Then, turning with her old, sweet manner, she continued:
"My dear children, I want to thank you for helping me rid my house ofthis man. I know I can depend on all of you never to mention it toanyone. It would have been a great blow to me if I had not been soangry; but now let us all go to our beds and forget this horrid episode.To-morrow we shall be as happy as ever. I am determined it shall notinterfere with our good time."
Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year at High School Page 14