"Perhaps you'll understand me better, mother, when I tell you their business."
"What is it?"
"They are burglars."
"Burglars!" repeated Mrs. Hoffman, turning suddenly pale and sinking back into a chair, for she had been standing.
"Yes, mother. They have found out, though I can't tell how, that there are some bonds and plate in the safe upstairs, and that is their reason for coming."
"How did you find out, Paul? What a dreadful thing!" gasped Mrs. Hoffman.
"It will be worse for them than for us, I am thinking," said Paul. "It was a boy told me—a boy that lives with them. I'll tell you about it."
He gave his mother an account of what had already been communicated to him.
"Oh, dear, we shall be murdered in our beds!" exclaimed his mother, in dismal accents.
Upon this Jimmy began to cry, but Paul only laughed.