LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE [Editha] Frontispiece [She spent most of her time in the library reading her papa’s big books] 13 [Through the newspapers she found there were men who lived by breaking into people’s houses] 17 [“Never mind about the burglars, Nixie”] 21 [“The burglars, Miss, that broke into number eighteen last night”] 25 [“Kitty,” he said, “I am obliged to go to Glasgow”] 29 [“Don’t be frightened,” she said, “I don’t want to hurt you”] 33 [He laughed so hard, that he doubled up] 37 [“It’s curious that you should know just where to look for things,” said Editha] 41 [“To think o’ me forgettin’ my card-case,” he said] 45 [Editha came slowly down the staircase with her treasures] 49 [He threw his head very far back, which was vulgar] 53 [“To think of her risking her dear little life to save me!”] 57 [The burglar brought from under his mattress a box, which he handed to the little girl] 61
EDITHA’S BURGLAR.
By Frances Hodgson Burnett.
I will begin by saying that Editha was always rather a queer little girl, and not much like other children. She was not a strong, healthy little girl, and had never been able to run about and play; and, as she had no sisters or brothers, or companions of her own size, she was rather old-fashioned, as her aunts used to call it. She had always been very fond of books, and had learned to read when she was such a tiny child, that I should almost be afraid to say how tiny she was when she read her first volume through. Her papa wrote books himself, and was also the editor of a newspaper; and, as he had a large library, Editha perhaps read more than was quite good for her. She lived in London; and, as her mamma was very young and pretty, and went out a great deal, and her papa was so busy, and her governess only came in the morning, she was left to herself a good many hours in the day, and when she was left to herself, she spent the greater part of her time in the library reading her papa’s big books, and even his newspapers.
She was very fond of the newspapers, because she found so many curious things in them,—stories, for instance, of strange events which happened every day in the great city of London, and yet never seemed to happen anywhere near where she lived. Through the newspapers, she found that there were actually men who lived by breaking into peoples’ houses and stealing all the nice things they could carry away, and she read that such men were called burglars. When she first began to read about burglars, she was very much troubled. In the first place, she felt rather timid about going to bed at night, and, in the second place, she felt rather sorry for the burglars.
“I suppose no one ever taught them any better,” she thought.
