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satisfy "Old Joey Bagstock" or a professional burglar, I was almost blinded by a great swirl of snow. It lay deep in the streets and was still falling rapidly, drifting wildly before the fierce gusts of a strong nor'wester. The streets seemed utterly deserted, not even a policeman caring to face the biting wind for the sake of duty in the abstract. To my own fevered brow, overheated by the unwonted stimulant which I had swallowed, the cutting blast was not entirely ungrateful; and although the walk to the bank was a pretty long one, I was soon there, having met no one on the way. As I mounted the steps of the bank, key in hand, the big clock on the market-house struck the hour of one; but ere the dull and muffled clang had well left the giant throat that gave it but partial utterance, the sound seemed caught up and borne away southward on the wings of the storm. And then but not till then the minor and lesser brazen "voices of the night," from police stations and hotels, halls of justice and ivy-hung church belfries, took up the chorus and sent it on its round; for by immemorial custom of chronometrical etiquette, no clock in our city was permitted to tell the hour until "the big clock" had said it was. so. Was it not a strange incongruity that at such a time, under such circumstances, I should stop to think of a poor conceit like that, and even smile at a certain concomitant idea, a comparison thereby suggested?

Depositing my valise in the deep shadow behind one of the columns flanking the doorway, I began to unlock the door, purposely, making a great ado about it, and whistling merrily; because my policy was to conciliate Mr. Pincher, and to that end I wished to allow the old gentleman ample time to collect his probably drowsy ideas, and to gather up his "Night Thoughts" from the floor, whereon I made no doubt they — or it had been lying undisturbed for hours. "Why, bless my soul! if it ain't Master Rafe! If it ain't you! I do declare!" and much more, in style interjectional, quoth he, meantime slowly and hesitatingly replacing the "columbiad" on the table, accompanying the action with a portentous shaking of head from side to side, intended to signify that I might consider myself extremely fortunate in my identity.

Now, while it was not without precedent my "dropping in o' nights" to smoke and chat with Mr. Pincher - a pleasant and companionable old fossil enough, and fond withal of "Master Rafe" as he would persist in calling me, despite my indignant protest of conscious and outraged manhood filed years agone—still the unusual lateness of the hour, coupled perhaps with something unusual in my manner, seemed to surprise him, and in so far demanded an explanation. "Had been visiting," I said; "sat later than I had thought; pleasant company indoors, stormy night out; so deuced bad, in fact, that I'd be shot if I felt inclined to face it again. Couldn't I pass the rest of the night with him?"

"Why, cert'ny, cert'ny, Master Rafe, you'll be good comp'ny to the old man; or if you feel sleepy, there's the sofy-I'll fix it for you ;" and the kind, faithful old heart set himself with bustling activity to "fix" me comfortably, while I sat plotting mischief to him, puzzling my aching head to devise some plan, some trick to fix him with a dose

of drugged brandy. And yet, though I could but think of all this, seeing myself too as the very villain I was, not viewing my conduct through any glamor of self-deception, I felt no qualms of conscience, only a headstrong will to go my way. ay, even though it led to uttermost ruin. And even now, looking back on that strangest, saddest episode of a by no means uneventful life, I make to myself, the judge, in behalf of myself, the criminal, no plea of extenuating circumstances, save in this- the woman stood between me and my sense of honor- a childlike and unknightly plea that shall as little avail me as it did Father Adam of old time.

"The devil!"- an involuntary exclamation uttered by me at discovery of the startling fact that the flask of brandy was not in my pocket! Yes, I remembered now that after pouring into it a portion

about half. of the laudanum, I had set the flask on my toilettable, where in the nervous haste of my guilty flitting I had left it. Still I had the remainder of the laudanum safe in my vest-pocket. I must manage with that somehow - but how? The will soon suggests a way (an aphorism of striking originality): I was seized with a sudden and violent fit of shivering-not a difficult thing to simulate, thanks to my state of nervous anxiety. "By Jove! old fellow," said I, "I'm afraid I'm going to have a chill: I feel cold as the north side of a tombstone." This tentatively. The bait was good: I could perceive that by the sympathetic interest elicited. Must try it a little stronger. "Ugh! (an anatomical earthquake) I tell you what would do me good: now if I had only about 'forty drops' of some old Hennessy brandy like that I've got in my room up home. Bought it to-day for you; fact. Fetch it down to-morrow night. Ah! but if it were here now, wouldn't I enjoy a swig of it!"

Enough, my diplomacy was successful; the cherished flask, the hidden treasure, was produced, accompanied by a modicum of lump sugar and a running fire of apologetic deprecations of "miseries in the stomick" necessitating an occasional recourse to "licker." After that much mixing and stirring, a clumsily executed but undetected feat of hocus-pocus, and a protest that I "couldn't think of drinking by myself," did the rest. In less than ten minutes the unsuspecting victim, the vigilant Pincher, was quite as insensible to all surroundings as the great arm-chair in whose cushioned depths he so comfortably reposed. Having satisfied myself of that by repeatedly passing a piece of burning paper in perilous proximity to his nose, and even calling him by name without eliciting so much as a grunt by way of response, I left him alone where he had been sitting as usual near a stove within the oval enclosure before mentioned, and passing through into the rear room, I turned on the gas. Then noiselessly, but not without much inward groaning and vexation of spirit, I succeeded in unlocking "Old Provocation" and swinging him open. The rest of my way was "plane sailing." I knew exactly where lay a certain package of bank-bills, one thousand dollars in tens, fifties and hundreds, for I had seen my father place it there a few days before. This sum I thought would suffice for my wants, immediate and prospective, until I should obtain employment somewhere under an assumed name, and perhaps be able to return it to my father.

This package was transferred to my overcoat-pocket, together with a rouleau of gold pieces.

I was about to close the safe as noiselessly as I had opened it, when my ear was caught by a peculiar sound that seemed to proceed from the rear of the compartment in which stood the ponderous books of the concern. Was it the chirping of a cricket? Strange: what should a cricket be thinking of to get itself into such a "tight place" as this? Verily, not all the geological ages since cricket-creation were time enough for relays of crickets to pierce these walls! But stay! like a flash of light the truth breaks upon my mind, and I fall to trembling again - this time in earnest. for that sound can only come from the mordant teeth of tempered steel eating its slow but resistless way through metal nearly as hard-the regular creak, creak, of a powerful drill!

On the instant when I referred the sound in rear of the safe to its true cause I knew all about it, having no need of further surmise or conjecture. I knew who held and worked the drill that was cutting its way so steadily to my father's wealth; knew why he Major Craft -kept his cellar-door so carefully locked, and comprehended well the secret of his strange .demeanor on a certain occasion when, as the reader will recall, I met him issuing therefrom. And along with all this came to me a new revelation as to myself and my own conduct. A complete revulsion of feeling took sudden hold upon me. I shuddered and sickened at thought of my depravity, and the crime I had committed, or was committing, seemed doubly shocking by force of its reflection in the light of this man's infamous ingratitude; for I knew that to my father's favor Craft owed much; that but for my father's rare generosity, forbearance, and almost brotherly trust, he would, in short, have been utterly ruined in business. And well do I recall the devil that possessed me when I reflected that Ruby, my Ruby, my divinity, my "pearl beyond price" (for, strangely enough, she was already reasserting her benign but sovereign empire over my late rebellious heart), that she was in the house and family of this midnight thief, subject to his authority, perhaps even to some extent acquainted with his desperate character and ruled by his malign influence. But no; this last most horrible and unworthy suspicion was indignantly dismissed before half-formed. While these and like reflections coursed hurriedly through my brain the sound of the drill continued, save with momentary intermissions now and then, when it seemed to be withdrawn, either for the application of oil or that the operator might the better catch any sound betokening approach of danger. Retreating on tiptoe from the vault, I drew off my boots. Returning then to the safe, I first replaced the money I had taken nay, stolen is the word—my face burning with newly awakened shame as I did so. I then removed the heavy books one at a time, and with great caution, and laid them on the floor. This done, a curious appearance met my eye. Extending almost entirely around the back of the compartment where the books had stood, was a row of tiny spots or points of light that glimmered and twinkled in the darkness of the vault like a constellation of far-away stars in a midnight sky. Certainly the "cracksman's" plan was cunningly conceived, and could

hardly fail of success. Having by patient nightly labor of many weeks' duration drilled a line of contiguous perforations all around the space selected for operations, a crowbar or "jimmy" would speedily effect a practicable breach, and that too with so little noise as not to force its way through the double walls of vault and safe and summon the redoubtable Pincher and "columbiad" to the rescue. As regards the intervening mass of cement and masonry between his cellar and the iron of the vault, it had been a mere question of time to remove or cut through that. Utterly unsuspected as he was, he might take his leisure about it.

Prompted by natural curiosity and a desire to double assurance by further reconnoissance of the enemy's besieging works, I cautiously crept forward on hands and knees and applied an eye to one of the shining holes. Being made by the extreme point of the drill, and consequently widening outward, after the manner of a circular embrasure or hollow cone, the aperture, tiny as it was, afforded a complete view of a rather remarkable tableau,-for it must be confessed that not often does so favorable an opportunity present itself for the study of the dark and ugly side of human nature. And "ugly" indeed did this man look-ugly as the incarnate genius of secret crime ! As I watched with fascinated gaze the play-nay, not play, but workings of his heavy, strongly marked features-ever repellent to me, even at best, when schooled to meet the scrutiny of men by day, but now thrown into strong relief and shadow in the light of a lantern by which he labored I thought I had never seen anything so frightful, and could not repress a shudder of disgust and fear. Surely," thought I, "robbery has been the least of the many dark deeds whose dread history is imprinted on this inhuman, hideous visage."

A

Hatless and coatless despite the bitter cold; his shaggy, tattooed breast exposed; dishevelled hair, dark and matted, tossing from side to side over a deeply corrugated and sweat-covered brow; with teeth set in a horrid grin of eager, almost triumphant greed, he tugged and writhed and groaned, catching his breath in quick hard gasps, bending and straining every nerve and muscle to the work before him. revolver ready cocked, and a large murderous-looking knife, lay within his reach on a projecting stone of the remaining wall, he having excavated a space in which to work about four feet wide by as many in height. As he leaned forward to put his weight against the mechanism of the drill in turning it, his face was within twelve inches of mine. On a sudden something startled him. Stopping the drill, he listened intently. My heart thumped against my ribs so hard that I really imagined he had heard it, and was now puzzled by the sound, as I had been by the chirping of the supposititious cricket. Nor was I rendered more comfortable by his next proceeding; for, either by accident or in obedience to some occult influence, he turned his head slightly and fixed his startled but threatening eyes directly on mine. A cold sweat broke over me: I dared not even breathe, but returned his gaze, simply because I couldn't help it. Fortunately for my sanity this nightmare lasted but a few moments (very numerous and very long they seemed to me), when, apparently satisfied that his ears had deceived him, he turned and bent himself again to his work.

When I look back on the scene, considering the fact that even had the burglar detected my presence the danger was all on his side of the iron barrier, perfect safety on mine, I cannot repress a smile at remembrance of my groundless anxiety and alarm. But my nerves were not in the best condition, that is a fact: the reaction from two drinks of strong spirits and the stern chidings of a guilty conscience were enough to shake them.

Well, the ingenious Major Craft will hardly finish his "approaches' and be ready for his grand assault to-night; wherefore we may safely leave him to amuse himself till cock-crow, at which time, in common with all evil spirits, he must betake himself to quarters. So thinking if I was not too scared to think at all - and by no means fancying a second ordeal of the "evil eye," I beat a retreat, and noiselessly closed the safe, without venturing, however, to spring the lock or replace the books. "Old Provocation" and the oaken door I closed and locked without making any sound likely to be heard by the burglar; then drawing on my boots, I turned down the gas and returned to the other room. Mr. Pincher was still asleep. Suddenly, and for the first time, I was seized with alarm, fearing the possible effects of his having imbibed too heavy a dose of laudanum. Under the exhibition, however, of vigorous pokings and shakings and pinchings, to my great relief the old fellow at length opened his eyes with a jerk that unseated his spectacles, and remarked that "he believed a little more'n' he'd a-been almost asleep!"

Somehow I did not feel at all inclined to continue my studies in the art of lying, in which I had taken my first lesson that night; so disregarding the old man's evident perplexity and hardly-concealed illtemper at being so unceremoniously handled, I merely made some careless remark to the effect that there was no need for him to remain awake, that I was not sleepy, and would watch in his stead. Albeit Mr. Pincher wouldn't hear of such an arrangement, in a few minutes his heavy breathing told that he had acted upon it. Bethinking myself of my valise, I went to the street-door and fetched it in, then sat me down to ponder on the notable events of the night and form some plan of procedure for the morrow. As a matter of course I was to "make a clean breast of it" to my father; and on another point also I was no less resolved, namely, that in no event and under no circumstance was Ruby to remain another day in the house or family of this wretch Craft. As to himself, my father might do with him as he liked. These and a thousand other tumultuous thoughts and fancies whirled in giddy mazes through the "chambers of my brain," until at length I also lost myself in slumber. Strange situation!-two ostensible watchers and guardians of the treasure of the bank sitting wrapped in slumber, while the burglar - detected but undisturbed is allowed to ply his busy tools against the walls of the money-vault. Well, my story, if such it can be called, is almost done, and now I doubt not the reader will welcome a little rapid condensation of what remains to be told.

My father forgave me, then at once set his clear wits to work to devise some plan of educing order and harmony out of a situation so troublesome and painful. I thus characterise it for the reason that