Christmas with Grandma Elsie

by Martha Finley

  CHAPTER XIV.

  The weather the next day was so mild and pleasant that Max and Luluasked and obtained permission to take a ride of several miles on theirponies.

  They went alone, their father and Violet having driven out in the familycarriage, taking the three younger children with them.

  On their return Max and his sister approached the house from a rearentrance to the grounds, passing through the bit of woods belonging tothe estate, the garden and shrubbery, and across the lawn.

  In traversing the wood they came upon a man leaning idly against a tree,in a lounging attitude, with his hands in his pockets, a half consumedcigar in his mouth.

  He was a stranger to the children, and from, his shabby, soiledclothing, unkempt locks, and unshaven face, it was evident he belongedto the order of tramps.

  He stood directly in the path the children were pursuing, just where itmade a sudden turn, and Lulu's pony had almost trodden upon his footbefore they were aware of his vicinity.

  Fairy shied, snorting with fright, and almost unseated her young rider.

  "Look out there, and don't ride a fellow down!" growled the man,catching hold of Fairy's bridle and scowling into the face of her rider.

  Lulu did not seem to be frightened. Her quick temper rose at the man'sinsolence, and she exclaimed authoritatively, "Let go of my bridle thisinstant, and get out of the path."

  "I will when I get ready, and no sooner," returned the man insolently.

  "What are you doing in these grounds, sir?" demanded Max, adding, "Youhave no call to be here. Let go of that bridle and step out of the pathat once."

  "I'm not under your orders, bubby," said the tramp with a disagreeable,mocking laugh.

  "These are my father's grounds," said Max, drawing himself up with adetermined air, "and we don't allow tramps and loafers here; so if youdon't let go of that bridle and be off I'll set my dog on you. Here,Prince, Prince!"

  At the sound of the call, answered by a loud bark, and the sight ofPrince's huge form making rapid bounds in his direction, the trampreleased Fairy's bridle, and growling out an oath, turned and made hisway with all celerity toward the public road, leaping the fence thatseparated it from Capt. Raymond's grounds, barely in time to escapePrince's teeth, as he made a dash to seize him by the leg.

  "Oh," cried Lulu, drawing a long breath of relief, "what a happy thingthat Prince came running out to meet us!"

  "Yes," said Max, "and I hope he has given that fellow a fright that willkeep him from ever coming into these grounds again. If he isn't ascoundrel his looks certainly belie him very much."

  They had held their ponies in check while watching the race between manand dog, but now urged them forward in haste to reach the house; for theshort winter day was fast closing in.

  The captain was standing on the veranda as they rode up.

  "You are a trifle late, children," he said, as he stepped to the side ofFairy and lifted Lulu from the saddle, but his tone was not stern.

  "Yes, papa," said Max; "I'm afraid we went a little farther than weought; at any rate it took us longer than we expected to reach homeagain; and we were detained a minute or two just now, out here in thegrove, by a tramp that caught hold of Fairy's bridle and wouldn't let gotill I called Prince and he showed his teeth."

  "What! can it be possible?" cried the captain closing his fingers morefirmly over the hand Lulu had slipped into his, and gazing down intoher face with a look of mingled concern and relief. "It is well indeedthat Lulu was not alone, and that Prince was at hand. Come into thelibrary and tell me all about it."

  He led Lulu in as he spoke, Max following, while a servant took theponies to their stable.

  Capt. Raymond sat down and drew Lulu to his side, putting an armprotectingly around her, while Max, standing near, went on to give theparticulars of their encounter with the tramp, Lulu now and then puttingin a word.

  "Now, daughter," the captain said at the conclusion of the story, "Ihope you are quite convinced of the wisdom and kindness of your father'sprohibition of solitary rides and walks for you?"

  "Yes, papa, I am, and do not intend ever to disobey you again by takingthem. I wasn't much frightened, but I know it would have been verydangerous for me if I'd been alone."

  "No doubt of it," he said, caressing her with grave tenderness, "italmost makes me shudder to think of what might have happened had youbeen without a protector."

  "And I doubt if I could have protected her without Prince's help, papa,"said Max. "I think he's a valuable fellow, and pays for his keep."

  "Yes; I am very glad I selected him as a Christmas gift to you," saidhis father. "But now I must warn you both to say nothing to, or beforeGracie, about this occurrence; for timid as she is, it would be apt tocause her much suffering from apprehension."

  "We will try to keep it a secret from her, papa," replied both children.

  "And in order to succeed in that you will have to be on your guard andgive no hint of the matter in presence of any of the servants."

  "We will try to remember, papa," they promised with evident intention todo so.

  "That is right," he said. "I think I can trust you not to forget ordisobey. I know you would be loath to have your little sister torturedwith nervous terrors. Now go and get yourselves ready for tea."

  Lulu was full of excitement over her adventure, and through the eveningfound it difficult to refrain from speaking of it before Grace; butequally desirous to obey her father and to save her little sister fromneedless suffering, she resolutely put a curb upon her tongue till shefound herself alone with him at bedtime.

  Then she must needs go over the whole scene again, and seeing that itwas a relief to her excitement, he let her run on about it to herheart's content.

  "Has it made you feel at all timid to-night, daughter?" he askedkindly.

  "No, papa," she answered promptly; "I don't think the man could get intothe house; do you?"

  "I think it most probable he has walked on till he is miles away fromhere by this time," the captain answered. "But even did we know him tobe prowling round outside, we might rest and sleep in peace andsecurity, assured that nothing can harm us without the will of ourheavenly Father who loves us more than any earthly parent loves hischild."

  He drew her very close to his heart and imprinted a tender kiss upon herlips as he spoke.

  "Yes, papa, it makes me feel very safe to remember that, thinking howdearly you love me; so that I know you would never let anything harm meif you could help it," she returned, putting an arm round his neck andhugging him tight. "Oh I am so glad that the Bible tells us that aboutGod's love to us!"

  "So am I; and that my children have early learned to love and trust inhim.

  "'Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the lifethat now is, and of that which is to come.' That is not a promise thatGod's faithful followers shall be rich in this world's goods, but faithin God's loving care makes life happy even in the midst of poverty andpain. Riches have not the power to make us happy, but the love of Godhas.

  "And those who begin to serve God in the morning of life and pressonward and upward all their days, keeping near to Jesus and growing moreand more like him, will be happier in heaven--because of their greatercapacity for the enjoyment of God and holiness--than the saved ones whosought him late in life, or were less earnest in their endeavors to livein constant communion with him, and to bear more and more resemblance tohim.

  "The Bible speaks of some who are 'scarcely saved,' and of others towhom 'an entrance shall be ministered abundantly into the everlastingkingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.'"

  "Papa," said Lulu earnestly, "I want to be one of those; I want to livenear to Jesus and grow every day more like him. (Oh I am so little likehim now; sometimes I fear not at all). Won't you help me all you can?"

  "I will, my darling," he replied, speaking with emotion. "Every day Iask wisdom from on high for that very work;--the work of helping you andall my dear children to be earnest, faithful se
rvants of God."

  The talk with her father had done much to quiet Lulu's excitement, andshe fell asleep very soon after laying her head on her pillow.

  It was still night when she awoke suddenly with the feeling thatsomething unusual was going on in the house.

  She sat up in the bed and listened. She thought she heard a faint soundcoming from the room below, and slipping from the bed she stole softlyacross the floor to the chimney, where there was a hot air flue besidethe open fireplace.

  Dropping down on her hands and knees, she put her ear close to theregister and listened again, almost holding her breath in the effort tohear.

  The chimney ran up between her bedroom and the little tower room openinginto it; the library was under her bedroom, and opening from it was theground floor room of the tower, which was very strongly built, had onlythe one door and very narrow slits of windows set high up in the thickstone walls.

  In a safe in that small room were kept the family plate, jewelry, andmoney; though no very great amount of the last named, as the captainconsidered it far wiser to deposit it in the nearest bank.

  The door of the strong room, as it was called, was of thick oak plankcrossed with iron bars, and had a ponderous bolt and stout lock whosekey was carried up stairs every night by the captain.

  Listening with bated breath, Lulu's ear presently caught again a faintsound as of a file moving cautiously to and fro on metal.

  "Burglars! I do believe it's burglars trying to steal the money andsilver and Mamma Vi's jewelry that are in the safe," she said to herselfwith a thrill of mingled fear and excitement.

  With that she crept into the tower room, softly opened the registerthere, and applied her ear to it. The sound of the file seemed a triflelouder and presently she was sure she heard gruff voices, though shecould not distinguish the words.

  Her first impulse was to hurry to her father and tell him of herdiscovery; the second thought, "If I do, papa will go down there andmaybe they'll kill him; and that would be a great, great deal worse thanif they should carry off everything in the house. I wish I could catchthem myself and lock them in there before I wake papa. Why couldn't I?"starting to her feet in extreme excitement; "they're in the strong room,the bolt's on the library side of the door, and probably they've leftthe key there, too, in the lock. If I'm going to try to do it, thesooner the better. I'll ask God to show me how and help me."

  She knelt on the carpet for a moment, sending up her petition in a fewearnest words, then rising, stood for an instant thinking very fast.

  She could gain the library by a door opening into a back hall and verynear that into the strong room, whose door, if open, would be in aposition to conceal her approach from the burglars till she could stepbehind it; so that her scheme seemed not impracticable.

  She hastily put on a dark dressing-gown over her white night dress, andthick felt slippers on her feet.

  Her heart beat very fast as the thought occurred to her that there mightbe an accomplice in the library or hall, or that the door from the oneinto the other might creak and bring the miscreants rushing out upon herbefore she could accomplish the task she had set herself.

  "Well what if they should, Lulu Raymond?" she asked, shutting her teethhard together, "'twouldn't be half so bad as if they should harm yourfather. You could be very well spared, but he couldn't; Mamma Vi, Maxand Gracie would break their hearts if anything dreadful happened tohim, and so would you too; I'll try, trusting to God to take care ofme."

  With swift, noiseless steps she passed out of her room, down a backstairway into the hall just spoken of, and gained the library door,finding it, to her great joy, wide enough open for her to slip inwithout touching it.

  She could see nothing there; the room was quite dark; but the sounds shehad heard were still going in the strong room, seeming a little loudernow. The men must be in there at work on the safe; with the door ajar,for a streak of light at the back between it and the jamb, told her itwas not quite shut.

  She crept to it and peeping in at that crack, saw a man down on hisknees working at the lock of the safe, while another stood close besidehim, holding a dark lantern, open, so that the rays of light fell fulland strongly upon the lock his confederate was trying to break.

  Lulu could not see the face of the latter, his back being toward her,but as the other bent forward for a moment, to watch the progress of thework, the light fell on his face, and she instantly recognized him asthe tramp who had seized Fairy's bridle in the wood.

  Trembling like a leaf she put up her hand and cautiously felt for thebolt; holding tight to it and exerting all her strength, she suddenlyslammed the door to and shot it into its socket. She heard the villainsdrop their tools, spring toward and try the door with muttered oaths andcurses; but she waited to feel for the key and turn it in the lock; evento pull it out and thrust it into the pocket of her gown, as a swiftthought came to her, that there might be an accomplice lurking about whowould release them if she left it there.

  Then she ran as fast as her feet could carry her, through the libraryand hall, up the stairs and on through the rooms, never stopping untilshe stood panting for breath beside her sleeping father.

  She could not speak for a moment, but laid her face on the pillow besidehis and put her arm round his neck.

  The touch roused him and he asked, "Who is it? you, Lulu?"

  "Yes, papa," she panted; "I--I've locked some burglars into the strongroom and--"

  "_You? you_ have locked them in there?" he exclaimed in astonishmentstarting up and drawing her into his arms. "Surely, my child, you havebeen dreaming."

  "No, papa, not a bit; I've locked them in there and here's the key,"putting it into his hand. "I slammed the door to on them. I shot thebolt too, and I don't think they can get out. But what will we do? Papa,can you get somebody to help you take them to jail?"

  "Yes; I shall telephone at once to the sheriff at Union."

  "Who is it? What's the matter?" asked Violet waking.

  "I can not wait at this moment to explain matters my love," the captainsaid hastily picking up Lulu and putting her in the place in the bedwhich he had just vacated. "I must act, leaving Lulu to tell you herstory."

  With the last word he hurried from the room and the next moment theyheard the telephone bell.