where I met him that I never saw him at all. I had looked around the house
down-stairs, and actually hadn't seen a thing worth carrying off. It was
the poorest house I ever was in, and it wasn't a bad-looking house on the
outside, either. I got up-stairs and groped around a little, and finally
turned into a room that was darker than Egypt. I had not gone more than
three steps in this room when I heard a man say:

"'Hello, there.'

"'Hello,' says I.

"'Who are you?' says the man; 'burglar?'

"And I said yes; I did do something in that line occasionally.

"'Miserable business to be in, ain't it?' said the man. His voice came from
a bed over in the corner of the room, and I knew he hadn't even sat up.

"And I said, 'Well, I dunno. I got to support my family some way.'

"'Well, you've just wasted a night here,' says the man. 'Did you see
anything down-stairs worth stealing?'

"And I said no, I hadn't.

"'Well, there's less up-stairs,' says the man; and then I heard him turn
over and settle down to go to sleep again. I'd like to have gone over there
and kicked him, but I didn't. It was getting late, and I thought, all
things considered, that I might just as well let him have his sleep out."