Evening star., 1925-05-31

| that he had once been described as
"a malefactor of great wealth." and
| just the other day she had seen him
| referred to in an editorial as lone of
! the predatory group which domiris ted
our finances in the immoral nineties. -
| She had had the courage to take the
matter up with him; and though his
/ answer had not satisfied her that the
| editorial writer was wrong, ii had
| satisfied her that he himself believed
that he had been perfectly right in all
his business ethics; there was nothing
in his conduct of which he was
misunderstanding he thought wrong.
X x
THE burglar had laid his packets in
row-neat little piles of papers
labeled and tied up with red string.
Il never come to the wrong house"
he said. Il never make a mistake "
He took up one packet and waggled it
at her. Your grandfather would give
me something for that, 1 can tell
you-several thousand dollars"
My grandfather would never let
himself be blackmailed." she said,
even if-which l know isn't true
but even if he had done something
wrong-something he was ashamed
Of"
"Ah.' said the burglar, "but 1t isn't
the wrong things people do that
they're ashamed of-it's the silly ones.
I've heard men boast of their crimes
ones they had never committed, some
times-but. gee. how they hate to be
ridiculous
"Ridiculous"' exclaimed Diana She
could not imagine Mr.. Broughton be
ing ridiculous.
In my profession you've gotta have
a sense of humor." said the burglar
Il found a society dame who married
an English lord the other day-well
she began life pretty low down and
wrote an etiquette book-aIl wrong
they say it is. She gave me some
thing, l can tell yer, for the corre-
spondence that showed she wrote that
book. And there's a critic here in this
town-one of those sarcastic fellows
he's down on all the sloppy stuff, but
I founNout that when he began life
he wrote sentimental songs.
When Mummie TuckS Me in My
Beddie-Bye was worth some
thing, believe me-
Diana could not help smiling at
these two instances. but almost at
once her mind returned to her own
situation MY grandfather never did
anything like that" she said.
''Oh, didn't he justv' said the bur-
glar. How about this?" He with
drew a paper from one of the pack
cts, and opened it. Poetry" he said.
Wouldn't that make swell front
page story" He slapped his leg.
s'Listen to this:
Violet, sweet fragrant violet,
How you stir my heart,
/ know mortal maiden sweet
And modest as thou art.
bank, would you like to see that in
print with your name to it?' He
snickered.
Il don't believe he wrote it." said
Diana, but she had a sinking remem-
brance that his tas&e in poetry was.
according to her standards, beneath
contempt. He liked The Lost Chord"
and Lady Clara We're De Vere"-he
really liked them, so that he was an
noyed with her because she did not
she, who had such important reasons
for keeping her taste good and rig
orous as far as poetry was concerned.
Its Signed-and all in his hand
corrected, too" said the burglar
There's heaps. Listen to this:
THE lights of the ballroom are gleam.
ing
On satin and diamonds and pearls
But l am alone. thinking
OF the fairest and brightest of
girls
That's rather pretty"
Il shall warn my grandfather lust
what You mean to do" said Diana
proudly.
Swell, kid, go to it," said the man,
with warm, kindly intonation. I'm
going to warn him myself I'm 60
ing TO leave letter for him telling
him where to meet me and how much
money to bring-and everything"
and he sat down at the desk and
squared his elbows.
HE won't come said the girl.
"and If he does, he'll bring a police
man"
I'm glad you said that" answered
the man, waving his hand with the
pen in it round and round like a
baseball pitcher warming up. III
put it in the letter that any funny
business like that will mean front
page stuff the next morning" His
pen began to move slowly. Compo-
sition was evidently not so easy to
him as speech. He kept drawing in
his head and shooting it out again,
like a turtle, and once Diana thought
she saw the tip of an agonized tongue.
X X
FOR a few minutes she stood
watching him. Beside him on the
desk lay the fatal packet He had
put back the others in the drawer:
but now Diana saw that one of them
had dropped unnoticed under the
chair, pushed off by his elbow as he
settled to writing. She stopped quiet
ly and picked it up. The idea occur
red to her that she might outwit him
by substituting this packet-a harm
less collection of receipted bills-for
the other. Her heart began TO pound
yet there really wasn't much risk.
Even If he caught her doing it, what
could he do?
-.