"Every day I ask wisdom from on high for that very work;--the work of helping you and all my dear children to be earnest, faithful servants of God." The talk with her father had done much to quiet Lulu's excitement, and she fell asleep very soon after laying her head on her pillow.
It was still night when she awoke suddenly with the feeling that something unusual was going on in the house.
She sat up in the bed and listened.

She thought she heard a faint sound coming from the room below, and slipping from the bed she stole softly across the floor to the chimney, where there was a hot air flue beside the open fireplace.
Dropping down on her hands and knees, she put her ear close to the register and listened again, almost holding her breath in the effort to hear.
The chimney ran up between her bedroom and the little tower room opening into it; the library was under her bedroom, and opening from it was the ground floor room of the tower, which was very strongly built, had only the one door and very narrow slits of windows set high up in the thick stone walls.
In a safe in that small room were kept the family plate, jewelry, and money; though no very great amount of the last named, as the captain considered it far wiser to deposit it in the nearest bank.
The door of the strong room, as it was called, was of thick oak plank crossed with iron bars, and had a ponderous bolt and stout lock whose key was carried up stairs every night by the captain.
Listening with bated breath, Lulu's ear presently caught again a faint sound as of a file moving cautiously to and fro on metal.
"Burglars! I do believe it's burglars trying to steal the money and silver and Mamma Vi's jewelry that are in the safe," she said to herself with a thrill of mingled fear and excitement.
With that she crept into the tower room, softly opened the register there, and applied her ear to it.

The sound of the file seemed a trifle louder and presently she was sure she heard gruff voices, though she could not distinguish the words.
Her first impulse was to hurry to her father and tell him of her discovery; the second thought, "If I do, papa will go down there and maybe they'll kill him; and that would be a great, great deal worse than if they should carry off everything in the house.

I wish I could catch them myself and lock them in there before I wake papa.

Why couldn't I ?" starting to her feet in extreme excitement; "they're in the strong room, the bolt's on the library side of the door, and probably they've left the key there, too, in the lock.