I Hated Borrowing; But, For The Dear Child's Sake, I Overcame
My Scruples, And Succeeded In Procuring A Candle From A Good
Neighbour, But With Strict Injunctions (For It Was HER LAST),
That I Must Return It If I Did Not Require It During The Night.
I went home quite grateful with my prize.
It was a clear moonlight
night - the dear boy was better, so I told old Jenny, my Irish
servant, to go to bed, as I would lie down in my clothes by the
child, and if he were worse I would get up and light the candle. It
happened that a pane of glass was broken out of the window frame,
and I had supplied its place by fitting in a shingle; my friend
Emilia S - - had a large Tom-cat, who, when his mistress was absent,
often paid me a predatory or borrowing visit; and Tom had a practice
of pushing in this wooden pane, in order to pursue his lawless
depredations. I had forgotten all this, and never dreaming that Tom
would appropriate such light food, I left the candle lying in the
middle of the table, just under the window.
Between sleeping and waking, I heard the pane gently pushed in.
The thought instantly struck me that it was Tom, and that, for
lack of something better, he might steal my precious candle.
I sprang up from the bed, just in time to see him dart through the
broken window, dragging the long white candle after him.
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