WHILE THE STABLES BURNED
About nine o’clock that night Liddy came into
the living-room and reported that one of the housemaids
declared she had seen two men slip around the corner
of the stable. Gertrude had been sitting staring
in front of her, jumping at every sound. Now
she turned on Liddy pettishly.
“I declare, Liddy,” she said, “you
are a bundle of nerves. What if Eliza did see
some men around the stable? It may have been
Warner and Alex.”
“Warner is in the kitchen, miss,” Liddy
said with dignity. “And if you had come
through what I have, you would be a bundle of nerves,
too. Miss Rachel, I’d be thankful if you’d
give me my month’s wages to-morrow. I’ll
be going to my sister’s.”
“Very well,” I said, to her evident amazement.
“I will make out the check. Warner can
take you down to the noon train.”
Liddy’s face was really funny.
“You’ll have a nice time at your sister’s,”
I went on. “Five children, hasn’t
she?”
“That’s it,” Liddy said, suddenly
bursting into tears. “Send me away, after
all these years, and your new shawl only half done,
and nobody knowin’ how to fix the water for your
bath.”
“It’s time I learned to prepare my own
bath.” I was knitting complacently.
But Gertrude got up and put her arms around Liddy’s
shaking shoulders.
“You are two big babies,” she said soothingly.
“Neither one of you could get along for an
hour without the other. So stop quarreling and
be good. Liddy, go right up and lay out Aunty’s
night things. She is going to bed early.”
After Liddy had gone I began to think about the men
at the stable, and I grew more and more anxious.
Halsey was aimlessly knocking the billiard-balls
around in the billiard-room, and I called to him.
“Halsey,” I said when he sauntered in,
“is there a policeman in Casanova?”
“Constable,” he said laconically.
“Veteran of the war, one arm; in office to
conciliate the G. A. R. element. Why?”
“Because I am uneasy to-night.”
And I told him what Liddy had said. “Is
there any one you can think of who could be relied
on to watch the outside of the house to-night?”
“We might get Sam Bohannon from the club,”
he said thoughtfully. “It wouldn’t
be a bad scheme. He’s a smart darky, and
with his mouth shut and his shirt-front covered, you
couldn’t see him a yard off in the dark.”
Halsey conferred with Alex, and the result, in an
hour, was Sam. His instructions were simple.
There had been numerous attempts to break into the
house; it was the intention, not to drive intruders
away, but to capture them. If Sam saw anything
suspicious outside, he was to tap at the east entry,
where Alex and Halsey were to alternate in keeping
watch through the night.
It was with a comfortable feeling of security that
I went to bed that night. The door between Gertrude’s
rooms and mine had been opened, and, with the doors
into the hall bolted, we were safe enough. Although
Liddy persisted in her belief that doors would prove
no obstacles to our disturbers.
