Evening star., 1922-07-06
The Tango Thief
By Arthur 3. Reeve.
IN Y husband has such 5eal-
M Gus disposition. He will
v never believe the truth
One Of The Stars Weekend Fiction Series.
Each story complete in three installments.

4 L. !
M Gus disposition. He will
never believe the truth
neverr
Agatha Seabury moved nervously
in the deep easy chair beside Ken
nedy's desk, leaning forward, un-
comfortably, the tense lines marrtng
the beauty of her fine features.
Kennedy tilted hts desk chair back
in order to study her face.
"You say you have never written
line to the fellow nor he to you?" he
asked.
Not line, not a scrap-untii
received that typewriter letter about
which I just told you." she repeated
vehemently. meeting his penetrating
gaze without finching. why, Prof.
Kennedy. as heaven is my witness,
have never done a wrong thing-ex-
cept to meet him now and then at
afternoon dances"
felt that the nerve-racked society
woman before us must be either tell
ing the truth or else that she was
one of the cleverest actresses l hao
ever seen.
Craig, quickly.
Mrs. Seabury reached into her neat
leather party case and pulled out
carefully folded sheet of note paper.
1t was all typewriter down to the
very signature itself Evidently the
blackmailer had taken every precau.
ton to protect himself. for even II
the typcwriting could be studied and
i'd entitled, 1t would be next to fmpos-
sible to get at the writer through II
and locate the machine on which 1t
was written among the thousands In
the city.
Kennedy studied the letter carefully.
then. with a low exclamation. handed
it over to me. nodding to Mrs. Sea
bury that it ~ts all right for me to
mo ordinary fellow, I'm afraid" he
commented. musingly. adding, this
thief of regulations"
I read. beginning with the insolen'
familiarity Of Dear Agatha"
II hope you will pardon me for
writing to you" the letter continued
but find that am in rather diff
know, in the present disorganized
state of the stock market. invest
ments which in normal times are gOoc
are now almost valueless. Still.
must protect those I already have
without sacrificing them.
~
raise fifty thousand dollars before
the end Of the week. and I know OF
no one to appeal to but you-who
have shared SO many pleasant stolen
hours with me.
"Of course, 1 understand all tina,
you have told me about Mr.. Seabury
and his violent nature. Still, l feel
sure that one of your wealth and
standing in the community can find
way to avoid all trouble from that
quarter. Naturally. should prefer
to take every precaution to prevent
the fact of our intimacy from com
ing to Mr.. Seabury's knowledge. But
l am really desperate and feel that
you alone can help me.
Hoping to hear from you soon, ]
am,
your old tango friend.
III. MORGAN SHERBURNE."
I fairly gasped at the thinly veiled
threat of exposure at the end OF the
note from this artistic blackmailer.
She was watching our faces anx-
iously as we read.
"Oh," sh. cried wildly. glancing
from one to the other of US. strangers
to whom in her despair she had been
forced to bare the secrets of her
proud heart. hes So clever about 1t,
too. IL didn't know what to do.
had only my jewels. I thought of
all the schemes I had ever read, of
pawning them. of having paste re-
plicas made. of trying to collect the
burglary insurance. Of
mo, no." she cried. II thought If
I did. then it wouldn't be long before
this Sherburne would be back again
for more. Oh she almost walled.
her dainty lace handkerchief. while
her shoulders trembled with a re-
pressed convulsive sob. II am
utterly wretched-crushed."
THE scoundrel!" I muttered.
Kennedy shook his head at me
matters now" he remarked tersely.
Then in an encouraging tone he
added. You have done just the right
thing. Mrs. Seabury. in not starting
to pay the blackmail. The secret Of
the success of these fellows is that
their victims prefer losing jewelry
and money to going to the police
and having lot of unpleasant noto-
riety."
yes. know that" she agreed
hears, he will believe the worst.
and-I-I really love and respect
Judson-though." she added. "he
might have seen that I liked dancing
and-innocent amusements Of the
sort still. am not an old woman"
I could not help wondering if the
whole truth were told in her rather
plaintive remark, or whether she
was overplaying what was really a
minor complaint. Judson Seabury,
knew from hearsay. was man of
middle age, to whom. as to SO many,
business and the making Of money
had loomed as large as life itself.
Competitors had even accused him
of being ruthless when he was con-
vinced that he was right. and 1 could
well imagine that Mrs. Seabury was
right in her judgment of the nature
of the man if he became convinced
for any reason that some one had
crossed his path in his relations with
his wife.
where did you usually-er-meet
Sherburne?" asked Craig, casually
guiding the conversation.
"Why-at the Vanderveer-always,
she replied.
would you mind meeting him there
again this afternoon so that I could
see him?" asked Kennedy. Perhaps
it would be best. anyhow, to let him
think that you are going to do as he
demands, so that we can gain little
time"
She looked up. startled. ''Yes-I can
do that-but don't you think it is
risky. Do you think there is any way
1 can get free from him? Suppose he
makes a new demand. What shall
do? Oh, Prof. Kennedy. you do not.
T.