Evening star., 1924-08-17
FIBER
Bv RICHARD WASHBURN CHILD
Illustrated BIZ .ZF .3o,zo,z~xoz,

famed for her shoulders; they
were said to be the most beau
tiful shoulders in America.
Justinia married Simms- -Fane.
whose name will always stand for
vast fortune In merchandising. He
died over 90 years ago.
To her John Simms-Eane was the
world and she never recovered from
the shock of his death. For nearly
two decades she has been a hopeless
paralytic.
"As one bends over her to listen to
her voice. seldom more than whis-
per, one can smell the faint perfume
of withered rose" said one Of her
attendants. She is inert-like a
faded flower
Miller the Hawk began to take an
interest in Mrs. SimmS-Eane from
the rainy evening when Thomas
Ford, discharged worker at the
Fifth Avenue branch Of Downing ct
Gle. jewelers.. of Amsterdam and Lon
don. was tolled into the rathskeller
on Fourteenth Street. known as The
Grotto"
"Rut the Simms-V Vane necklace is
as interesting Il piece as one would
wish to See said Ford. trying to
focus his eyes upon The Hawk. Its
only once in a year or TWO We set
call il. The old dame is paralyzed SO
stiff that they say she is as brittle
as blown glass. but she still has her
whims and one of them is TO keep a
forty y-thousand-d dollar trinket where
she can see il every day. She has it
in a box right in her own room all
the time. The story goes that her
husband gave it to her on her
SD birthday. and it alternates blue
white and canary stones in setting
done by Boitard. There's piece of
sentiment for You. Thirty-threc
stones like them around an invalids s
room as if they were a string of
horse chestnuts. Cad; What a
comedy"
II took The Hawk five months to
plant Lucille Galliene in the Simms-
Fane household. The process re-
quired that he give up his laborS as
a dancer at one of New York's gilded
cafes and that he slide down the lad
der of social distinction to the posi-
tion of chauffeur. So did he make
the acquaintance and gain the good
will Of that particular employment
agency which furnished the servants
10 the Eane establishment. He had
had too high a regard for his own
liberty to risk taking the inside of
job" himself. Therefore he intro
duced to the employment agency the
pretty young Lucille. who, by her de-
mure manner. her clear-blue eyes
and pointed. well-kept fingers, was
a bic to make a favorable impression.
In fact. the impression was so good
that Lucille had difficulty in avoiding
the places offered to her during the
delay which preceded the marriage
and retirement from service of the
parlor maid at the Simms-Eane man
sion.
Lucille Galliene. an orphan. had
been the accomplice of a fashionable
milliner. The Hawk said to her:
ANY girl who has been used to sell
two dollars worth of junk in the
form of glue, straw and dressmakers'
scraps for IS iron men has a record.
already" This was a year after The
Hawks careless. easy. affectionate
ways and Lucille's spirit, courage
and eternal openingf1ower fresh
ness of appearance had made the two
seem indispensable to each other.
The Hawk was over 80 and appeared
as 20. Lucille was over 25 and ap-
peared as II. Furthermore, when The
Hawk had said as he had often said
to others: You are the most beau
tiful toy in the world" the Galliene
girl had shifted at him and said: Il
am no toy, mon cher. It's to be pals
and an honest-to-g goodness wedding
or you can fade" This was a new
experience to Miller: he liked it. He
was a bit tired of his own vanity.
WHEN the 25th day of September
w had dawned. Lucille had acted as
parlor maid at the Simms-Vane house
for more than two weeks. She had
had no meetings with Miller, her re-
ho 70 h hy-
he considered them mastery even
though the news they transmitted in
a rough code was disappointing. Lu-
cille described the interior of the
house. the tfmid character Of the "old
dodo" who, as butter and factotum,
had served for a quarter Of a GEN.
tury; the personality of Miss Jones,
of poetry and stupid, who was the
companion and attendant of Mrs.
Simms-Vane; the servants below
stairs; the complete absence of any
small yapping dogs. and. finally, her
own failure to find any trace of the
famous Thirty-three.
Miller had hoped that Lucille could
get. the Thirty-three and thus save
him from all risks to himself He
cover for her in Chicago until after
the robbery had grown cold" and
he was certain that his hold upon
her affections was such that when
the time came he could go to her
and find that the thirtythree stones
were still in her possession. That she
had failed even to gather a single
clue as to the place where old Mrs.
Simms-Vane kept the necklace was
unfortunate indeed.
The Hawk sighed and in a scrawling
hand wrote in the back of a souvenir
post card, Mother is worse. I'm
going to a matinee this week. Low
ing the Galliene girl met The Hawk
this message perfectly. The follow
ing afternoon during the hour when
her new mistress was taking her air.
ing the Galliene girl met the Hawk
at the hairdressing shop of Edenese
girl of two lone virtues-that of hav-
ing no disclosed curiosity and that
of infinite silence.
The first question Lucille pro-
pounded did not concern in any way
the matter at hand. She said sui
lenly: Have you had Minnie to lunch
or dinner?"
Not in a thousand years." replied
The Hawk
You had somebody out?"
mo, I'm going on the level. I
haven't even looked at anybody. 1t
takes fiber to go straight. Have I
got fiber or haven't I? 1 ask you"
You got it, Jack-what did you
say?'
''Fiber-the stuff a man or woman
is made of. What's the matter
jealous againT'
why wouldn't I be?" she said,
clenching her little pink hands. i've
got everything 1 got on you, haven't
II"
'eWell, you can play 1t for all it's
WORTH he said. ITS fate. You are
my destiny This job is going to
take the both of us; I'll have to
come to the scene myself. Thursday,
the bulter-Hines you call him-is of.
Well, then-listen."