The Stories of the Three Burglars | Page 2

this was an invidious distinction. Of
course we did not desire that robbers should break into our house and
steal, but it was a sort of implied insult that robbers should think that
our house was not worth breaking into. We contrived, however, to bear
up under this implied contempt and even under the facetious
imputations of some of our lively neighbours, who declared that it
looked very suspicious that we should lose nothing, and even continue
to add to our worldly goods, while everybody else was suffering from
abstractions.
I did not, however, allow any relaxation in my vigilance in the
protection of my house and family. My time to suffer had not yet
arrived, and it might not arrive at all; but if it did come it should not be
my fault. I therefore carefully examined all the new precautions my
neighbours had taken against the entrance of thieves, and where I
approved of them I adopted them.
Of some of these my wife and I did not approve. For instance, a tin pan
containing iron spoons, the dinner bell, and a miscellaneous collection

of hardware balanced on the top stair of the staircase, and so connected
with fine cords that a thief coming up the stairs would send it rattling
and bounding to the bottom, was looked upon by us with great
disfavour. The descent of the pan, whether by innocent accident or the
approach of a burglar, might throw our little boy into a fit, to say
nothing of the terrible fright it would give my Aunt Martha, who was a
maiden lady of middle age, and not accustomed to a clatter in the night.
A bull-dog in the house my wife would not have, nor, indeed, a dog of
any kind. George William was not yet old enough to play with dogs,
especially a sharp one; and if the dog was not sharp it was of no use to
have him in the house. To the ordinary burglar-alarm she strongly
objected. She had been in houses where these things went off of their
own accord, occasioning great consternation; and, besides, she said that
if thieves got into the house she did not want to know it and she did not
want me to know it; the quicker they found what they came for and
went away with it the better. Of course, she wished them kept out, if
such a thing were possible; but if they did get in, our duty as parents of
the dearest little boy was non-interference. She insisted, however, that
the room in which the loveliest of children slept, and which was also
occupied by ourselves, should be made absolutely burglar proof; and
this object, by means of extraordinary bolts and chains, I flattered
myself I accomplished. My Aunt Martha had a patent contrivance for
fastening a door that she always used, whether at home or travelling,
and in whose merit she placed implicit confidence. Therefore we did
not feel it necessary to be anxious about her; and the servants slept at
the top of the house, where thieves would not be likely to go.
"They may continue to slight us by their absence," said my wife, "but I
do not believe that they will be able to frighten us by their presence."
I was not, however, so easily contented as my wife. Of course I wished
to do everything possible to protect George William and the rest of the
family, but I was also very anxious to protect our property in all parts
of the house. Therefore, in addition to everything else I had done, I
devised a scheme for interfering with the plans of men who should
feloniously break into our home.
After a consultation with a friend, who was a physician greatly
interested in the study of narcotic drugs, I procured a mixture which
was almost tasteless and without peculiar odour, and of which a small

quantity would in less than a minute throw an ordinary man into a state
of unconsciousness. The potion was, however, no more dangerous in its
effects than that quantity of ardent spirits which would cause entire
insensibility. After the lapse of several hours, the person under the
influence of the drug would recover consciousness without assistance.
But in order to provide against all contingencies my friend prepared a
powerful antidote, which would almost immediately revive one who
had been made unconscious by our potion.
The scheme that I had devised may possibly have been put into use by
others. But of this I know not. I thought it a good scheme and
determined to experiment with it, and, if possible, to make a trap which
should catch a burglar. I would reveal this plan to no one but my friend
the physician and my