"Editha's Burglar" by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Editha’s Burglar is a charming children’s story, an unduly forgotten little gem that comes from the pen of Frances Hodgson Burnett, the author of such beloved classics like The Secret Garden and A Little Princess.

Editha is a tiny seven-year-old girl living with her wealthy parents in London. Her papa is an editor very busy with work, and her mama is a beauty very busy socializing and partying. Editha has no siblings and therefore spends most of her time alone, reading books and her papa’s newspapers. In the newspapers, she reads that there are people called burglars who break into the homes and steal things. This troubles Editha. She is not so much scared of burglars as she is concerned for them. She thinks they are what they are because they nobody taught them any better, and they cannot be all bad.

When the house next door is broken into, Editha’s mama is worried. She is worried even more when papa says he must urgently leave to Scotland. Despite having three servants in the house, Editha’s mother is frightened, she is convinced that they’ll do nothing but scream if the burglars break in. Her husband jokingly says that even though the servants might be useless, she is certainly safe in Editha’s care. The girl, however, does not see these words as a joke and takes full responsibility for protecting her mama from burglars. When Editha hears the sound of someone filing iron that night, she immediately knows it’s a burglar: the house next door was broken into in the same manner, by filing through the bars of the shutters. She decides to go downstairs and ask the burglar to please be quiet and not make any noise, so that he doesn’t frighten her mama.