or! Mr. Middleton paused on
the threshold, staring into the gloom, but whatever irresolute
thoughts he had entertained of retreat were dispelled by the sound of
a wail from the lady, and the sight of her face, white in the
moonlight, as she rushed out to him.

"Oh, oh," she moaned, gibbering a gush of words which, despite their
incoherence of form, in their tone proclaimed fear, consternation, and
despair.

Lighting a match, Mr. Middleton stepped into the house. Standing in
the little circle of dull yellow light, he saw beneath his feet
windrows of dust and layers of newspapers that had rested beneath a
carpet but lately removed, and beyond, dusk emptiness, and silence. He
advanced, looking for a chandelier, but though he found two, the
incandescent globes had been removed from them. Throwing a mass of the
papers from the floor into the grate and lighting them, a bright glare
brought out every corner of the room. There was nothing but the four
bare walls.

"They have taken everything, everything!" cried the poor lady.

"Who?" asked Mr. Middleton, after the manner of his profession.

"Who? Would that I knew!--Thieves."

Mr. Middleton then realized she had been the victim of a form of
robbery far too common, where the scoundrels come with drays and carry
off the whole household equipment, in the householder's absence. That
which had been done in comparatively well-populated quarters was easy
of accomplishment on this deserted street.

Penetrated with compassion, he moved toward the unfortunate woman, who
with an abandonment he had not expected of one so stately and
reserved, threw herself upon his breast, weeping as though her heart
would break.

"They have taken everything. How can I get along now! My piano is gone
and how can I give lessons without it! I will have to go back to
Peoria!"

Soothingly Mr. Middleton patted the weeping woman on the back. With
infinite tenderness, he kissed her tear-bedewed cheeks and gently he
laid her head upon his shoulder, and then with both arms clasped about
her, he imparted to her statuesque figure a sort of rocking motion,
crooning with each oscillation, "There, there, there, there," until
the paroxysm of her grief abated and passed from weeping into
gradually subsiding sobs, and he began to tell her that he would be
only too happy to give his legal services to convict the villains when
caught--as they surely would be. The lady by degrees becoming more
cheerful and giving