Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-05-06
[.OH, I'LL give it, fast enough =

" Ford's harsh. dry laughter rang
., and then was as quickly suppressed
tI don't know whether it will help you
,ot. for / haven't the slightest idea
mo killed Crevelins, but In give you all
10 information you want about the
h.,o rotten bunch of them ] kept
ruoutb shut yesterday because ! had
',ayt of forlorn hope that they'd be
.si,o enough TO tide me over even after
~anss,ipq himself had WEIGHED, but
nan Cltter threw me Gown cold
,oSs M nv mind that I'd show them
III Nd and l will!
.OTbey got the money-my own, NOT
cnstomers'. but IL I'd had il vet
aar,d have weathered the storm.
sronldn't kick IL the game had been
.,rsiUht; I'm not q poor loser. but I'm
Donvlnced II was crooked and I've been
,sad. tbe sucker. God Even a tin horn
cord sharp will stake you to cigarette
r,oney after he's stripped you of your
roD T. , u.,,
bostnning to gllmmer through his con =
sciouHeSs.
being n rlcn nun oFen III '"eoo ohy
rocketing days, but it's all gone over
him ~ Ford stopped abruptly and the
na.s r'sn IN his face gave way to a look OF
rSv ~ dsrision, "You fellows at head
CHARTERS are mighty smart, but you
Ein't know that the biggest games in
tss s city are pulled of and have been for
.ssrs in that respectable looking house
~ bis down on the avenue. He ID
unthine more nor less than a profes :
vonnl gambler. only he does things on
2 sale that's never been known before
even in the Big Town"
gnmbler. The connecting link at
last ~ .,.
NJ Dennis on the previous evening re-
trrned 70 make his chagrin complete.
When he told his friend what he had
,,arned from Miss Frost about the Kip
woman and how she had been broke one
Soy and flush the next, Dennis re-
marked Like gambler! Even
then he had not tumbled to the truth
n all seemed 30 obvious now in the
usbt Of this revelation Those two
Jissipated FOUNDERS, Waverly and
Creveling, seeking TO stimulate their
,ded senses with the excitement OF the
game: this money mad Ford, to whom
ali OF life had been gamble; John
Csyanaugh O'Rourke, with the hot
reckless, sport loving blood Of his fore
hssrs in his veins, and Gutter sitting
eoid and inscrutable In the midst OF
tbem But what OF the women Where
Jd ther fyure In this scheme OF things!
"Tm not yellow" Ford went on.
T wouldn't cry crooked" " just be-
cause I'd been stung, but looking back
now can see how | WAS played. Ike
front in a stream, and they're doing
Tho same thing to 0'Rourke. They'l
Glenn him and his wife, too. before
tb,y're through-Cutter and Waverly,
and CrevelinS was helping it along
when he got his! He stood in, and l
WAS inst beginning to see it that's why
/ went TO him first when i saw what
was coming. I wasn't beggar, only
wanted q loan Of some of my own back
and Creveling had got most OF 1t. lie
understood. he knew / was on to the
geme and he told me he'd see me
through; made an appointment with
me for Thursday md then ct the last
minute took back his word, WEIGHED
he thought be could blum me, but Ia
have gone back yesterday and gotten II
from him somehow, only somebody else
got 10 him first, with q "A
McCarty was scarcely listening:
THEY'LL clean him and his wife, too ~
were the last words which had pounded
themselves into his brain.
DO you mean that Lady Mar-that
Mrs. O'Rourke plays, too? That Mrs.
Ford and Mrs. Creveling and Mrs.
Wsverly have been going up against a
game like that
atRth
'They re worse than we are! Not
that nv wife IL an inveterate gambler:
as q matter Of fact the poor kid hasn't
any card sense at all and doesn't even
eare for IL. She only piked along be-
cause II compelled her to.
"You?"
N Ford nodded
VI Oh. admit I've been fool IN
more ways than one, but I'm coming
clean 10 you now for | want You to
understand the situation and fix Cutter
and his outht!" he declared frankly.
II was making money and we were
happy enough few years ago with our
own jolly little crowd, but when i
bought my seat on the exchange Mrs.
Ford got ambitious socially. She met
Mrs. Creveling at some charity affair
and got in with her, and Creveling in
troduced me to Gutter. That was the
beginning OF il. and don't mind tell
ing you that encouraged Mrs. Ford
70 travel with that bunch: thought
I'd get in myself through them with
big monsycd interests and didn't rea-
we | was practically using my own
wife as capper, the way Cutter is
using Mrs Baillie Kip. She's just
KIND OF grown-up little girl. my wife. is;
sne loves TO spend money and be taken
Np by the swell people and she never
can realize that there might be another
motive behind the fattery of other men,
fotters Ike Cutter. He made sort
q play for her q year or 80 Hgo and
soc came TO me like a big kid and told
me | let him know where he got Off
Ind after that she wasn't bothered, but
tney had " in for me. You see the
nme now, don't you. McCarty?"
MGCarty nodded slowly in his turn
and his expression was very grim, but
m waited without speaking.
Mrs, Creveling and Mrs. Waverly
are different; they belong by right OF
oltth and their old, withered family
rees' They don't have to struggle to
s.. anywhere and in another way they
iHet as faded AZ their husba nds.
n%y We exhausted every allowable
. ussns OF amusing themselves and they
@ urnea 10 the game for what excite.
%soC ~, meJ could get out OF 1t, and it
w. tuem-the fascination, mean.
-" I've ye seen them. of course;"
H., ihey're both beauties; Mrs. Creye.
Wrss 10 M cold aloof sort Of way and
Va WaVerly is a devilish, sfiaky
MmR Both mighty attractive and each
.Herent Hent type; get me?"
NJ, LOU mean that Gutter is using them
"st tn as steerers, too?" McCarty's hon.
am, lones were filed with shocked
"S;tasement' "os;tsa Ladies like Them. with
S'tOn %nno IN the highest society ana more
i 'uVutV IhAn fhRn L