one morning, a half hour before breakfast would be
served, when a big, florid woman came down the stairway to the lower
hall, declaring that someone had been in her room, doing a deal of
mischief.

"Every article in my bureau drawer has been pulled out and thrown upon
the floor, gowns have been removed from my closet, and are piled up on
chairs in a heap, and my hats have been taken from their boxes and
packed up on my bureau. Something must be done about it!" she declared
in anger, and really one could not blame her.

The proprietor appeared, and promised all sorts of things to pacify
the woman and there the matter appeared to end, for search as they
would, no trace of the culprit could be found. The other guests felt
uneasy.

"Who could possibly guess whose room will be ransacked next?" said one
lady, to another who sat beside her at breakfast, to which the other
replied:

"A few more happenings of this kind, and I'll pack my trunks, and
leave for a place where I can, at least, expect law and order."

The guests of the hotel found it an interesting theme for
conversation, and talked of it morning, noon and night, until old Mr.
Pendleton, the invalid, became so tired of hearing about it that his
patience at last gave way.

"What a fuss! What a nuisance of a fuss! I declare. Women are upset if
their finery is tossed around a bit. Nothing was stolen, so why
complain? Why get excited?"

No one replied to his outburst. It was well known that to reply to Mr.
Pendleton was apt to provoke a torrent of abuse, so he was allowed to
sit in his big chair in the corner of the piazza, looking with sharp,
black, bead-like eyes from one woman to the other, silently amused,
because he believed that they dared not answer.

He was a tough, wiry old man, not really ill, but believing himself to
be an invalid, and enjoying the belief. Some one had heard a physician
say that an event, or happening of any sort that would startle him
into quick action would teach him that the health that he believed
lost, was still in his possession.

One morning the queerest thing happened, and as it was just after
breakfast, all the guests of the hotel were present to share the great
excitement.

While the guests were at breakfast, the maids had put their rooms in
order, and as it bid fair to be a hot day, nearly everyone decided to
spend the morning on the broad piazza.

Mr. Pendleton, as usual, sat in his favorite corner. He was talking
wi