A Woman's Wonderful Nerve

Mrs. Isadore Middleton, a leader in Mobile, (Ala.) society, has given a remarkable exhibition of courage. Her husband was absent from tlie city, and Mrs. Muldletoii was in lier chamber, putting away her jewelvy, when sudshe i.oticfii (rhzxt n lciu;r . j back part of the room had thrown the shadow of a man, who was crouching under the centre table, on the floor at her f eet. Instead of fainting with fear or slirieking for help, the brave woman seated herself at the very table underneath wkich the miscreant was concealed, and rang for the servant. "Hand me writing materials, Bridget,'" said she, with perfect cahnness. I want you to take a note this instant to Mr. Forfar, the jeweler, and have him send you back with my diamond necklace and ear-drops, which I left there for repairs several days ago. Bring them with you, no matter if f ully repaired or not. They are by twenty-f old the most valuable articles of jewelry that I possess, and I do not wish to pass another niglit without ha ving them in my bureau drawer." The note was at once written and dispatched, but instead of being in the tenor that she had signilied, it was a hasty note to the jeweler, an intímate friend, in which she stated her terrible position, and urged him to hasten to her relief, with the requisite pólice assistance, iinmediately 011 receipt of the missive. The agonies which that woman underwent when left alone in the house with that desperate robber crouched under the very table upon which she leaned can only be left to the readers imagination ; but her iron nerve sustained her through the ordeal. She yawned, hummed an operatic air, turned over the leaves of a novel, and in other ways lulled the lurker into a sense of perfect security and expectaney, and waited, her eyes fastened upon the hands of the little ormolu clock with a feverish gaze. At last carne the ring at the door-bell, and she strolled carelessly into the hall and down stairs and opened it. The ruse had been a success. She not only admitted Bridget, but also Mr. Forfar and three stalwart policemen. The latter passed stealthily vip stairs and into the chamber, where they suddenly pounced upon the concealed burglar so unex]ectedly as to secure him with hardly a struggle. The prisoner proved to be ■i negro criminal named Clapman, but mostly known as "Two-Fingered Jeiï." He was in great request about that time for several robberies, and is now servinga twenty-years' sentence in the Alabama State Prison.