a sofa into that room where the pegs are—as
there's no closet—I think I shall be able to
detect the thief. I wish the sofa, if you please,
to be covered with chintz, or something of
that sort, so that I may lie on my chest,
underneath it, without being seen.'

"The sofa was provided, and next day at
eleven o'clock, before any of the students
came, I went there, with those gentlemen, to
get underneath it. It turned out to be one of
those old-fashioned sofas with a great cross
beam at the bottom, that would have broken
my back in no time if I could ever have got
below it. We had quite a job to break all
this away in the time; however, I fell to
work, and they fell to work, and we broke it
out, and made a clear place for me. I got
under the sofa, lay down on my chest, took
out my knife, and made a convenient hole in
the chintz to look through. It was then
settled between me and the gentlemen that
when the students were all up in the wards,
one of the gentlemen should come in, and
hang up a great-coat on one of the pegs. And
that that great-coat should have, in one of
the pockets, a pocket-book containing marked
money.

"After I had been there some time, the
students began to drop into the room, by
ones, and twos, and threes, and to talk about
all sorts of things, little thinking there was
anybody under the sofa—and then to go
upstairs. At last there came in one who
remained until he was alone in the room by
himself. A tallish, good-looking young man
of one or two and twenty, with a light
whisker. He went to a particular hat-peg,
took off a good hat that was hanging there,
tried it on, hung his own hat in its place,
and hung that hat on another peg, nearly
opposite to me. I then felt quite certain that
he was the thief, and would come back by-
and-bye.

"When they were all upstairs, the gentleman
came in with the great-coat. I showed
him where to hang it, so that I might have a
good view of it; and he went away; and I
lay under the sofa on my chest, for a couple
of hours or so, waiting.

"At last, the same young man came down.
He walked across the room, whistling—
stopped and listened—took another walk and
whistled—stopped again, and listened—then
began to go regularly round the pegs, feeling
in the pockets of all the coats. When he came
to THE great-coat, and felt the pocket-book, he
was so eager and so hurried that he broke the
strap in tearing it open. As he began to put
the money in his pocket, I crawled out from
under the sofa, and his eyes met mine.

"My face, as you may perceive, is brown
now, but it was pale at that time, my health
not being good; and looked as long as a
horse's. Besides which, there was a great
draught of air from the door, underneath the
sofa, and I had tied a handkerchief round my
head; so what I looked like, altogether, I
don't know. He turned blue—literally blue
—when he saw me crawling out, and I couldn't
feel surprised at it.

"'I am an officer of the Detective Police,'
said I, 'and have been lying here, since you
first came in this morning. I regret, for the
sake of yourself and your friends, that you
should have done what you have; but this
case is complete. You have the pocketbook
in your hand and the money upon you; and
I must take you into custody!'

"It was impossible to make out any case in
his behalf, and on his trial he pleaded guilty.
How or when he got the means I don't
know; but while he was awaiting his sentence,
he poisoned himself in Newgate."

We inquired of this officer, on the conclusion
of the foregoing anecdote, whether the
time appeared long, or short, when he lay in
that constrained position under the sofa?

"'Why, you see, Sir,' he replied, 'if he
hadn't come in, the first time, and I had not
been quite sure he was the thief, and would
return, the time would have seemed long.
But, as it was, I being dead-certain of my man,
the time seemed pretty short.'"

"EVIL IS WROUGHT BY WANT OF
THOUGHT."*
* THOMAS HOOD.

"IT must come some day; and come when
it will, it will be hard to do, so we had best
go at once, Sally. I shall have more trouble
with Miss Isabel than you will with Miss
Laura; for I am twice the favourite you
are."

So said Fanny to her cousin, who had just
turned to descend the staircase of Aldington
Hall, where they had both lived since they
were almost children, in attendance on the
two daughters of the old baronet, who were
near their own ages, and had always treated
them with great kindness.

"I am not sure of that," replied Sally, "for
Miss Laura is so seldom put out, that when
once she is vexed, she will be hard to comfort;
and I am sure, Fanny, she loves me every bit
as well as Miss Isabel does you, though it is
her way to be so quiet. I dare say she will
cry when I say I must go; but then John
would be like to cry too, if I put him off
longer."

This consideration restored Sally's courage,
and she proceeded with Fanny to the gallery
into which the rooms of their young
mistresses opened; but here Fanny's heart failed
her; and, stopping short, she said,

"Suppose we tell them to wait awhile
longer, as the young ladies are going to travel.
We might as well see the world first, and
marry in a year or two. But still" added
she, after a pause, "I could not find it in my
heart to say so to Thomas; and I promised
him to speak to-day."