"Don't!" said the host, warningly. "The house is surrounded, and you will certainly be shot. Accept the situation, as I did. You gentlemen have been my guests this evening, and I have been highly entertained. May I hope that the pleasure has been mutual?" Before anyone could answer, the door leading to the woodshed was thrown open, and four policemen appeared on the threshold. Montgomery sank helplessly into a chair. Baxter made a dash for the door, while Graham remained impassive, but all were alike handcuffed expeditiously. "Sir," said Graham, taking a cigar from the box, "our misfortune is directly due to the uncontrollable appetite of our companion, but none the less I congratulate you upon your ingenuity." "Thanks," said Mr. Braithwait. "Did I not tell you that you were stupid?" Mr. Graham bowed. "You have taught us a lesson," he said gravely. "I think it is time to abandon the business." "Well, I'll be----" Baxter gasped, and could say no more. "We are disgraced!" exclaimed the youngest burglar, bitterly. Mr. Braithwait waved his hand. "I am sleepy," he said, with a yawn. "Gentlemen, good-night; I will see you again--in court." STRANGER THAN FICTION. UNPUBLISHED CHAPTERS FROM "THE BRONTËS IN IRELAND." BY DR. WILLIAM WRIGHT. INTRODUCTION. The sources of information regarding the Brontë family in England have been studiously investigated, and everything known about them there has been described with great wealth of literary skill and ingenuity; but the eager guesses and surmises as to what lay beyond the English boundaries have been mostly erroneous. Mrs. Gaskell's "Life of Charlotte Brontë" is an exquisite tribute from a gifted hand, but Mrs. Gaskell's dreary moorlands are as inadequate to account for the Brontë genius, as the general picture of suppressed sadness is unwarranted by the Brontë letters, or by the living testimony of Miss Ellen Nussey, Charlotte's life-long friend and confidante. Mr. Wemyss Reid has given us a picture of this singular family in brighter, truer colors; but his theory as to the "disillusioning" of Charlotte at Brussels is a pure assumption, and repudiated with indignation by Miss Nussey. Mr. Augustine Birrell's brilliant "Life of Charlotte Brontë" contains some additional facts gleaned in England, and deserves to be read, if only for the generous indignation called forth by the "Quarterly Reviewer," who sought to assassinate the reputation of the author of "Jane Eyre." A feeling of dissatisfaction was felt in some degree by each of these writers in turn, but by none more clearly expressed than by Mr. J. A. Erskine Stuart in his most useful book, "The Brontë Country." He writes: "For our own part, we desire a fuller biography of the family than has yet been written, and we trust, and are confident, that such will yet appear, and that there are many surprises yet in store for students of this Celtic circle."