The evening world. Newspaper, October 8, 1921, Page 16

om ’ ox eee. € ¥ *) 4 ' | 4 THE EVENING WORLD'S FICTION SECTION, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, ioe. fice. Achtson was too busy to see him tomary grace of utterance. It was ing. Forty thousand dollars they name “I know!*~—with a wave of his hand at the time, and he was told to come back again at 3 in the afternoon. Do you begin to see now that your mutual appearance there at the same bour was probably less of a coincidence than you have imagined? “What passed between Thorne and Achison at their interview 1 am, of eourse, unable to say. I only know that Thorne submitted a list of con- tributors to a defense fund—the same memorandum slip probably tha’ was shown to you—and that the offer was refused. Then on the following day Thorne submitted an amended list with every one of the original subscriptions more than trebled, although not one of the contributors had been asked for a@n additional cent, or was*ip uny posi- tion to give it. One of Thorne's closest pals told me this. They are discussing nothing else, he says, but Harry’s haul and where he got it, and the size of Achison’s fee.” Betty’s eyes had dilated. “Oh, if it is true!” Her voice was harsh with anger. “If Achison has done only half that you accuse him of, Wallace Ramsey, I tell you I'l) make him suffer for it” “I only wish I could be as sure that he will suffer as that I'm right.” Ram- sey shook his head. “But to be per- fectly frank with you, Mrs. Ames, we are sti not much farther along than we were at the beginning. You and I can make out a pretty convicting in- dictment against him to our own minds, but we can't act on it. I might go to his office, and.Jaying the conclu- sions we have reached before him. charge him with being a receiver of stolen property and demand the re- turn of your bonds. He wouii, if I judge him correctly, simply order me out of the place, and be quite safe in doing so. “hen there is nothing we can do?” she cried despairingly. “I shall have to teh Phitip what a dreadful fool I have been.” “No!” He spoke vigorously. “Were not through yet. I’ve got a plan that may work. But it aH depends on you ~-whether or not you've got the nerve to put It through.” AMSEXY unfolded his scheme, we She took it up eagerly, and to- ® gether they went over it in de- tail and elaWorated it. Then on the following morning, as soon as he might reasonably be expected at his office, she called up Achison and asked when she.could see him. In reply he told her that he could mot come to her house until late in ihe afternoon, as he was engaged in court that day; but If she could ar- range to come down to his office at once, he would make time to see her. It ts doubtful if Betty Ames ever hefore put on a hat and snatched up hee furs with so little thought for her appearance, In an incredibly short fie, considering the traffic regula- fioms, she was shown into his presence He rose hastily from tls desk at the eitht of her and bent over her han,d ¢s pressing his solicitude with his cus- tmtensely annoying to him, he assured her, that he had made 60 little head- way in the affair of the bonds since he had last seen her. “I have cross-examined that villain Thorne,” he went on, his brow darken- ing, “and I threatened to throw up his brother's case unless he immedi- ately returned your property. He swears, of course, that he took noth- ing except the single $1,000 bond you promised him, and that you are now distorting the facta for purposes of your own. Pure invention, we know; but with that signed agreement of yours in his possession, what can we dao?” “Are you going to refuse the broth- er’s cage, then?” she asked. He shrugged his shoulders, “I érted as the figure—which would be the orig- ina) ten thousand tilted by just the amount that was taken from Philip’s eafe.” The veins on <Achison's forehead swelled. Mf “Ridiculous!” he exclaimed, his deep voice hoarse with anger. “My dear lady, you seem to have an infinite ca- pacity for mixing yourself ap with ras- cals of every description. This de- tective is, of course, a Ddiackmailer, who, knowing that you are a rich woman, is simply playing you for more money. Bring him to me, and I will choke the lie out of him “No.” he leaned forward in her chair, and looked at him steadily. “My confidence has been #0: shaken that I no longer know whom to trust; and A TURN OR SO OF THE KNOB AND THE IRON DOOR SWUNG OPEN. to frighten Thorne by saying so, but he was too clever for me. You see, the arrangement for conducting the case, including the payment of my re- tainer, had all been completed before the robbery took place. I am convinced, too, that Willetts is innocent, and I fee] it 4 matter of public duty to clear him if possible.” “I ece.” Her voice was noncommit- tal, but the smile lingered. “But it was impossible for me to sit idly wait- ing, Mr. Achison; and so, although I did not take your first suggestion and go to the police, I did put a private detective on the case.” HE paper cutter which he was turning over in his hands clat- tered slightly against the desla “Yes; and naturally you are | disappointed at the result?” His suave tone was tinged with acerbity. “Not wholly so,” she corrected. “The detective, in fact, has discovered quite a Dumber of things which have sur- prised me enormously. He tells me, for instance, that not one of Thorne'’s friends has actually increased his sub- scription to the Willetts defense fund, but that Thorne himself has ‘tilted’— Is'nt that the word?—the amount con- tributed by each so as to quadruple the original total. He says that crooks generally are talking of nothing else but the seize of the fee you are receiv- since I don’t feel as if | could bear the thing all alone, I have resolved, fully acknowledging my own folly and recklessness, to lay the whole chain of circumstances before” “Philip?” He could not conceal the sneer, “Well, thank heaven, I shall bave little difficulty in convincing him that this infamous complicity on my part at which you are hinting is mere- ly a figment of your own disturbed imagination, I have every sympathy for you, Mrs. Ames, but"—— Her eyes flashed, but she kept her- self well in hand. ‘I. did not mean Philip,” she said gently. “I mean my uncle, Judge Hampton, Chairman of the Grievance Committee of the Bar Association.” There was not a sound in the room. Achison gat motionless. “Your uncle?” he repeated in polite surprise, The color had left his f but there was not a tremor io ae voice. Achison thoughtfully jighted a cigar- ette, and then turned toward her with Ms persuasive, delightful smile. “I wouldn't, my dear Mrs. Ames; I really wouldn't, if I were you. Why should you bring:a pain of worry to those who love you, and humiliation upon yourself? Chance has made me the ole repository of this secret of yours; let it remain so.” “But?” she began. “I know fust what you are going to eay: that doesn't give back your bonds. But just a moment! It may be that im the very tenseness of my thought on this matter I have overlooked some very ample solution. “I bave it!” he exclaimed. “What is the one thing that will bring Thorne to book? Publicity. I wil tel him that you have determined to give the whole story to the newspapers, and show him how much notoriety would seriously militate against his brother's chances. He will understand. Thank the Lord, the suggestion came to me fm time. “I will have him here in ten min- utes." He rose briskly. And suppos, while I put the screws on him, you wait in the smal) outer office?” “Certainly.” She turned toward the door with alacrity. OR nearly half an hour she waited in the little room, now walking up and down the floor, and now drumming absently on the window-pane, and gazing over the roof-tops at the bay. Then Achison appeared. He was waving 4n envelope in his hand, his expression jubilant, “Here they are, safe and sound! The threat of publicity, presented as I was able to put it to him, threw the fear of God into him just as we hoped.” He clapped his hand to his forehead. “What a relief!" “What a relief!" she echoed as she clasped the package to her heart. “Back they go where they belong, and Phii wil] never know what I have done.” “That is wise.” He was benevolently approving. “And now, my dear child, don't you think you owe me an apology. Your unjustifiable suspicions of me were only natural, in your state of mind, I suppose, but they wounded me deeply. Why, even were I the deep. dyed villain that you thought me”—he gave a mellow laugh—‘give me credit at least for respécting the convenances, Don't you know that in the best crook circles they never practise their nefarte ous wiles upon their friends? It simply isn't done.” Half yielding to his compelling mag- netism, half resisting it, almost per- suaded but not quite, she gave him an enigmatic smile, "T never apologize, Mr. Achison; 1 simply ignore. Goodby.” THE END. Copyright, 1921, by The Consolidacd Magasing Corporation. Printed by arrangement with Metropolitan News paper Bervice, New York, Next Saturday’s Complete Story FRAMED FOR BROADWAY A Tite of the Vaudeville World—Humor, Action and a Surmounting Love Order Your Evening World in Advance By WALTER JONES Illustrated by Irma Deremeaux and Will B. Johnstone enna. ——~, .