h me. In separating these people here from
their money and their jewels, it is not the money and the jewels that I
care for so much as the delicious risks I incur in getting them. What
the high fence is to the hunter, the barriers separating me from Mrs.
Gaster's jewel-case are to me; what the watchful farmer armed with a
shot-gun for the protection of his crops is to the master of the hounds,
the police are to me. The game of circumventing the latter and
surmounting the former are the joy of my life, and while my eyes flash
and sparkle with appetite every time I see a necklace or a tiara or a
roll of hundred-dollar bills in the course of my social duties, it is
not avarice that makes them glitter, but the call to action which they
sound."

I felt like saying that if that were the case I should esteem it a
privilege to be made permanent custodian of the balance in hand, but it
was quite evident from Henriette's manner that she was in no mood for
badinage, so I held my peace.

"To prove to you that I am not out for the money, Bunny, I'll give you
a check this morning for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to pay
you for those steel bonds you picked up on the train when you came up
here from New York. That's two-and-a-half times what they are worth,"
said Henriette. "Is it a bargain?"

"Certainly, ma'am," I replied, delighted with the proposition. "But what
are you going to do with the bonds?"

"Borrow a million and a half on 'em," said Henriette.

"What!" I cried. "A million and a half on a hundred thousand security?"

"Certainly," replied Henriette, "only it will require a little
manipulation. For the past six months I have been depositing the moneys
I have received in seventeen national banks in Ohio, each account being
opened in a different name. The balances in each bank have averaged
about three hundred thousand dollars, thanks to a circular system of
checks in an endless chain that I have devised. Naturally the size of
these accounts has hugely interested the bank officials, and they all
regard me as a most desirable customer, and I think I can manage matters
so that two or three of them, anyhow, will lend me all the money I want
on those bonds and this certificate of trust which I shall ask you to
sign."

"Me?" I laughed. "Surely you are joking. What value will my signature
have?"

"It will be good as gold after you have deposited that check for two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars in your New York