The Queen of Hearts

y to get rid of my unwelcome visitors had made me incautious enough to

cause I knew that plenty of men were at work within hail, in a neighboring quarry. The two looked at each other again when I denied having any cider to give them; and Jerry (as I am obliged to call him, knowing no other name by which to distinguish the fellow) took off his cap t

e door. They trudged off in the direction of Moor Farm; and,

ur afterward I l

red under any actual alarm, for I felt next to certain that neither Shifty Dick nor Jerry had got a chance of setting eyes on so small a thing as the pocketbook while they were in the kitchen; but there was a kind of vague distrust troubling me-a suspicion of the night-a dislike of being left by myself, which I never remember having experienced before.

characters I had was by no means sufficient to warrant me in admitting them into my confidence in the matter of the pocketbook. I had seen enough of poverty and poor men to know what a terrible temptation a large sum of money is to those whose whole lives are passed in scraping u

ard before the people at the farm. Timidity is thought rather a graceful attraction among ladies, but among poor women it is something to be laughed at. A woman with less spirit of her own than I had, and always shall have, would have considered twice in my situation before she made up her mind to encounter the jokes of plowmen and the jeer

st thing I did was to lock and bolt the back and front doo

light in the room, and the sense of security inspired by the closed doors and shutters, that I had ever felt even the slightest apprehension earlier in the day. I san

ng lazily into the blaze, with my knitting on my lap-sat till the splashing of the rain outside and the fitful, sullen sobbing of the wind grew fainter and fainter on my ear. The last sounds I heard before I fairly dozed off to sleep were

of my hair-I started up breathless, cold and motionless, waiting in the silence I hardly knew for what, doubt

ame a second bang, louder than the

"Who's

voice, which I recognised immedi

ching, and there's nobody near to hear you. Listen to reason, my love, and let us in. We don't want cider this time-we only want a very neat-looking pocketbook which you happen to have, and your late excellent mother's four silver teaspoons, which you keep so nice and cle

burst in Shifty Di

ou, my beauty. But you won't drive us to

threats of the two villains would have terrified some women out of their senses, but the only result they produced on me was violent

I am only a poor girl left alone in the house. You ragamuffin thieves, I defy you both! Our bolts are strong,

way. I heard Jerry laugh and Shifty Dick swear a whole mouthful of oaths. Then ther

nty of light. Strange and improbable as it may appear, the next thing that attracted my attention was my poor pussy, crouched up, panic-stricken, in a corner. I was so fond of the little creature that

ured, with heavy stones picked up from the ground outside. Jerry sang at his wicked work, and Shifty Dick swor

and put it in the bosom of my dress. I was determined to defend the property confided to my care with my life. Just as I had secu

h the ugly-looking knobs on it, pushed into the passage t

'll brain you on the spot!" I screec

his head out again much

it with all my might, and the blow must have jarred the hand of Shifty Dick up to his very shoulder, for I heard him give a roar of rage and pain. Befo

uspected they had gone to get bigger stones, a

my father's big tool chest, three chairs, and a scuttleful of coals; and last, I dragged out the kitchen table and rammed it as hard as I could against the whole barricade. They hear

's try it th

id, but I heard their footst

to besiege the

ut it had this advantage in the way of strength-it was made of two solid oak boards joined lengthwise, and strengthened inside by heavy cross pieces. I

f. And they soon found out as much for themselves. After five minutes of banging at the back door they gave

el the bruises I had inflicted on my hands in making the barricade against the front door. I had not lost a particle of my resolution, but I was beginning to lose strength. There was a bottle of rum in the cupboard,

ndow-seat drying my face, when I sudde

had evidently reckoned on frightening me easily into letting them in, and had come unprovided with house-breaking tools of any kind. A fresh burst of oaths informed me that they had recognized the obstacle of the iron bars. I listened breathlessly for s

ch tried my courage even more severely than th

ring it against which I was not provided. The ticking of the clock annoyed me; the crackling of the fire startled me. I looked out twenty times in a minute into the dark corners of the passage, straining my eyes, holding my breath, antici

sudden down the kitchen chimney. It was so unexpected and so horrible in the stillness that I screamed for the first time si

ou she-devil!" roared a

mbers at that moment, had evidently obliged the man to take his face from the mouth of the chimney. I counted the s

we'll burn the place

ch on the roof; and that had been well soaked by the heavy rain which had now

n up by high winds came thundering down the chimney. It scattered the live embers on the hearth all over the room. A richly-furnished place, with knickknacks and fine muslin abo

ul danger I was now in recalled me to my senses immediately. There was a large canful of water in my bedroom, and I ran in at once to fetch

at. The man on the roof must have heard the hissing of the fire as I put it out, and have felt the change produced in the air at the mouth of the chimney, for after the third stone had descended no more followed it. As for either of the ruff

s. Slowly and wickedly the knife wriggled its way through the dry inside thatch between the rafters. It stopped for a while, and there came a sound of tearing. That, in its turn, stopped too; there was a great fall of dry thatch on the floor; and I saw the heavy, hairy hand of Shifty

man Jerry, coming from the neighborhood of my father's stone-shed in the back yard. The han

one-saw, which was far too heavy and unwieldy to be used on the roof of the cottage. I was still puzzling my brains, and making my head swim to no purpose, when I heard the men dragging something out of the shed. At the same instant that the nois

"Whic

er. "We've cracked it already; we

the beam as a battering-ram against the door. When that conviction overcame me, I lost courage at last. I felt that the door must come

s knocking together, and the tears at last beginning to wet my cheeks. "I must trust to th

s mew from the bedroom reminded me of the existence of poor Pussy. I ran in, and huddled the creature

op of my barricade, were hurled, rattling, on to the floor, but the lower hinge

the villains cry-"one more run

tes in my bosom, the silver spoons in my pocket, and the cat in my arms. I threaded my way easily enough through the familiar obstacles in the back

n the distance as if they were running out to pursue me. I kept on at the top of my speed, and the noise s

is time half crazed by what I had gone through. If it had so happened that the wind had changed after I had observed its direction early in the evening, I should have gone astray, and have probably perished of fatigue and exposure on the moor. Providentially, it still blew steadily as it had blown for hours past, and I reached the farmhouse with my clot

n, I found myself in one of the farmhouse beds-my father, Mrs. Knifton, and the doctor were all in th

to me to buy furniture with, in place of the things that the thieves had broken. These pleasant tidings assisted so greatly in promoting my recovery, that I was soon able to relate to my friends at the farmhouse the particulars that I have written here. They were all surprised and interested, but no one, as I thought, listened to me with such breathless attention as the farmer's eldest son. Mrs. Knifton noticed this too, and began to make jokes about it, in her light-hearted way, as soon as we were alone. I thought little o

ng to his own notions, and to please himself," he used to say. "My notion is, that when I take a wife I am placing my character and my happiness-the most precious things I have to trust-in one woman's care. The woman I mean to marry had a small charge confided to her care, and showed herself worthy of

my doings is now told. Whatever interest my perilous adventure may excite, ends, I am well aware, with my escape to the farmhouse. I have only ventured on writing these few additional se

THE

ly, with the pleasant conviction on my mind that our e

ore I could put the question to her, she declared of her own accord, and with her customary exaggeration, that

when we all parted for the night; "and, even if I wanted to leave you, I

e were for George's return. Again to-day I searched the

rd at work, during her absence, on the stories that still remained to be completed. Owen desponded about ever getting done; Morgan grumbled a

m. As the clock struck eight she drew out the second card.

have supposed myself to be listening to him again, and have therefore written in his character, and, w henever my memory would help me, as nearly as possible in his language also. By this means I hope I have succeeded in giving an air of reality to a story which has truth, at any rate, to recommend it. I must ask you to excuse me if I enter into no details in offer

I addressed myself to my