Read Ebook: Earle Wayne's nobility by Sheldon Georgie Mrs

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Ebook has 3618 lines and 149031 words, and 73 pages

He shook his head sadly.

Editha was weeping quietly now. The tears would come in spite of her, though she marveled at his words.

"Come, Editha, I have an engagement at four, and it lacks only fifteen minutes of that hour now."

The words were spoken in cold, measured tones at her side.

The fair girl started, flushed, and glanced around at the speaker in surprise, as if unaccustomed to being addressed in that manner.

"Yes, papa, I will come; but I wanted to say good-by to Earle."

Earle Wayne bowed coldly to the would-be comforter, and stepped back as if to end the interview.

He knew Mr. Dalton was no friend to him, and his words, which contained no sincerity, were intolerable to him.

"Good-by, Miss Dalton," he said, holding out his hand to Editha, and which she had dropped upon hearing Mr. Dalton's stern tones.

That gentleman frowned darkly at the act.

"Good-bye, Earle," she answered, clasping it warmly, while a big tear trickled down her cheek and dropped hot and burning upon it.

Then she turned quickly away, drew her vail over her tear-stained face, while Mr. Dalton led her from the room, himself bestowing only an indifferent nod upon the offending culprit.

About three months previous to the events related in the preceding chapter, on a dark and stormy night, two men might have been seen prowling around a stately mansion in an aristocratic portion of the city of New York. After carefully reconnoitering the premises, to see that no one was stirring within, one of them cautiously proceeded to cut out a pane of glass in one of the basement windows, while the other kept watch upon the sidewalk.

The glass was removed without the slightest noise, whereupon the burglar unfastened the window and lifted the sash. Then making a little noise like the twittering of a sparrow, he was immediately joined by his companion, and both disappeared within the house.

A few minutes later a third man coming along the street, saw the sudden glimmer of a light in one of the lower rooms of the mansion.

Something about it instantly attracted his attention.

It was a quick, sharp flare, and then seemed to go suddenly out.

He waited a minute or two, and the same thing was repeated.

"Aha! a burglar!" he muttered to himself. "I think I'll have to look into this thing."

He stopped, and his first impulse was to turn and go in search of a policeman.

Ah! if he had done so how much of future misery would have been saved him.

But upon second thought he concluded not to do so, and quietly slipped within the shadow of the great porch over the front entrance.

It seemed a long time that he stood waiting there, and he regretted that he had not gone for an officer.

He did not know how long the burglars had been there, and he had feared they would escape before he could return. But finally he heard cautious steps approaching from the rear toward the corner where he was stationed, and now he caught the sound of exultant whispers, that they had been so successful as to get out undiscovered with their rich booty.

The next instant two men emerged into view, bearing their plunder in a bag between them.

With a bound the new-comer darted forward and felled one man to the ground with a blow that sounded like the descent of a sledge-hammer, and then grappled with the other.

The burglar who had been felled had been only momentarily stunned, and, almost instantly recovering himself, he had quietly picked up the bag, which had also fallen to the ground in the melee, and made off with it, leaving his companion to shift for himself as best he could.

The combatants fought bravely and well, but the assailant being lighter than the burglar, and less experienced in pugilistic practice, gradually lost ground, and finally a well-directed blow from his antagonist laid him flat at his feet, when he, also, beat a hasty retreat, having first dropped something on the ground beside his victim.

Steps were now heard approaching upon the pavement; the noise of the scuffle had reached the ears of one of the protectors of the peace, and he was hastening to the rescue.

A light at the same time appeared at a window in one of the lower rooms of the mansion so lately robbed, while above a sash was thrown hastily up, and a slight, white-robed figure leaned forth into the night.

The light in the window below streamed directly out upon the fallen hero--alas! a hero no longer--who now began to gather himself and his scattered senses together once more. As he arose to his feet a cry from above rang out on the stillness of the night.

"Oh, Earle! Earle! how came you here, and what is the matter?"

The voice was that of Editha Dalton, and, springing forward under the window, the young man replied, reassuringly:

"Do not be alarmed, Miss Editha. I have had a fall, but am all right now. I'll come and tell you to-morrow how I happened to be here to-night."

"So, so, my fine young gentleman, you'll come and tell the lady to-morrow, will you? I'm thinking mayhaps you will have a chance to tell some one else by that time, you disturber of the peace;" and, before Earle Wayne could scarcely realize what had happened, a pair of steel bracelets were slipped about his wrists, and he was a prisoner.

"You have made a mistake, sir," he said civilly, to his captor, yet beginning to feel very uncomfortable in the position wherein he found himself. "I was trying to stop a couple of thieves who had just robbed this house, when one of them knocked me down and cleared."

"Yes, yes; I find I always get hold of the wrong rogue--some one else does the deed and the one I catch is always so 'innocent,'" laughed the policeman, with good-natured sarcasm. "Aha! what have we here?" he cried again, as his foot came in contact with some glittering object and sent it spinning on before him.

He stooped to pick it up, and, as the light fell upon it, he saw it was a costly bracelet, set with a solitare diamond surrounded with emeralds.

"That looks 'innocent,' don't it now?" he said, holding it up to the light with a chuckle.

"That is Miss Dalton's bracelet; I've seen her wear it," the young man thoughtlessly and injudiciously admitted.

"Oh, yes, no doubt; and you thought mayhaps that them glittering stones might bring a pretty little sum. I came just in time to stop this little game. Come, I think I can accommodate you with lodgings to-night, my hearty."

At this moment a man came out of the house upon the balcony in great excitement.

"Yes, sir, it is I; but I am no thief, as you very well know."

"No, this does not look like it!" interrupted the policeman, flourishing the bracelet conspicuously.

"I have committed no robbery," asserted Earle, with quiet dignity; "and I did not see that bracelet until you picked it up and showed it to me. It must have been dropped by one of the robber, who fled after I was knocked down;" and he went on to explain how he happened to be there, and what he had seen and heard.

"Mr. Dalton," Earle appealed, fearing he had got himself into a bad predicament, "you know well enough that I would do no such a thing, particularly in this house of all others;" and he glanced in a troubled way up at that white-robed figure in the window.

"Did you see or hear any one else, Editha?" asked her father.

"No; I heard a heavy fall, and after listening a minute I came to the window, where I saw Earle just getting up from the ground; and see! as the light shines upon him he looks as if he had been having an encounter with some one;" and she pointed at the young man's disarranged and soiled clothing.

But Mr. Dalton shook his head, while the policeman sneered. It looked bad, and the presence of the bracelet seemed to them indisputable proof that he was in some way criminally connected with the affair.

Further investigation proved that a quantity of silver, and all of Mrs. Dalton's diamonds, together with quite a large sum of money, had been stolen.

Young Wayne was closely questioned as to who his accomplices were, for the policeman insisted that he must have had one or more.

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