ht?" Mrs. Passford
insisted. "You will catch a cold that will lay you up, if you go out
in that condition."

"I should not have rung that bell if I had not been afraid of taking
cold," added the son.

"But, Christy, something has happened; and you must tell me about it, or
I shall not sleep another wink to-night," persisted the lady, concluding
that her son was trying to conceal something from her, as indeed he was,
for he feared it would alarm her if he told her some one had come into
the house.

"There is nothing to be frightened about, mother; and I will tell you
all about it," added Christy, as he took his overcoat from the stand and
put it on. "I waked an hour ago, or more, with the idea that some one
had opened the door of my room," and he related the circumstances to his
mother, including his search in the grounds and the road.

"Do you think any one came into the house?" asked Mrs. Passford, though
with but little of the woman's terror that such a statement might have
caused.

"That is my decided opinion. A noise at my chamber door woke me; I found
the front door ajar, though I know I closed it when I came in last
night, and I saw something moving down the avenue, which could only have
been a man. Of course, I conclude that it was a burglar; but none of us
have been killed or harmed."

Christy went to his room and completed his toilet. The house was warm,
and he was soon comfortable enough after the out-door chill. By this
time Miss Florry Passford had put in an appearance in the upper hall,
with Bertha Pembroke. The alarm was again briefly explained, and the
invalid gentleman was assured that nothing alarming had occurred. Then
the young lieutenant and his mother proceeded to ascertain what the
burglar had accomplished in the house.

On the lower floor nothing appeared to have been disturbed. In the
parlor a gold watch, adorned with diamonds, had been left on the table
by Florry, who had forgotten it; but it had not been taken. The burglar
could not have helped seeing it if he had explored the house as such
gentry do on such occasions. In the dining-room no attempt to open the
steel safe set in the wall, which contained a vast amount of silver,
jewelry, money, and other valuables, had been made. In a word,
wherever they examined the rooms, no sign of any depredations could be
discovered. The burglar did not appear to have lunched in the pantry
where some choice viands had been placed. The robber had ce