| Show Q a Bow fj r N He took her In his Ms arms and won was striving to kiss her when the door opened and Mrs Johnson stood on the threshold looking as scornful as might miff have Mrs Ms s i 4 Grundy herself So this is the way wa you ou abuse my hospitality is it she shrilled at the th girl S fi S J W lull II I j Mrs Alice Johnson one of the alleged ringleaders of the heart heart- heartless heartless heartless less conspiracy to fleece the inex inex- inexperienced inex- inex inexperienced inexperienced heiress and blacken her good name LONDON UNTIL her father died and tho U M solicitors opened his will pretty little Violet Swift considered herself a poor mans man's daughter and practiced practiced practiced the petty economies economics and self self- self denials denials befitting one in her station in life All that she knew of society was what she had learned from novels theaters and the movies With only money enough at her disposal to buy one good suit a year she purchased all ll her clothes for durability rather than for fineness of texture or beauty of line Her amuse amusements ments were few her companions her father her brother and the other humble people of the v village of St Helens Helen's where she was born and reared Her IIer father a dour manof man manof manof of the North and closemouthed closemouthed close- close mouthed conducted manI his modest little business put I away profits that no one saw but himself and said i 1 little beyond passing the f d time of day M On MOn ld n would s n n n bestow a rare benevolent ben and rather mysterious smile upon his daughter and make some vague remark about better days coming When he had been buried and the daughter and son sat in the modest little par parlor par par- parlor parlor lor listening to the solicitors strip the will of legal verbi- verbi verbiage verbi verbiage age they learned that they we were e rich The glum Northerner had been saving for years se- se secretly secretly se secretly gloatingly for his children and he left them many thousands of pounds It was a big moment inthe in Is inthe the life of the village girl girl who had been thinking she might have to go out to service with her father gone A few days ago in a Manchester court Violet Swift had another big mo- mo moment moment ment and of a very different kind Witness for the prosecution against George Johnson his wife and William McConnel Corson she told with th the courage of desperation how those smooth bullied swindlers first wheedled and then robbed her of most o of her how they her inheritance how they secured secured- an ai accomplice accomplice to i make love to her for pur- pur poses of revenue ana ox nl W 3 arrived at blackmail and that of the th most heartless kind It was a pathetic recital and one that might well have caused the close close- closemouthed closemouthed mouthed old villager who was her father to writhe in his grave The moral was plain The girl had no training for handling money even small sums When she learned she was rich she was temperamentally unable to pro and her young brother teat her fortune was of very little assistance They were e marks for th the first who en en- en encountered countered them and the Johnsons and arthe the dappe dapper Corset Cors m happened to be the tt first The plan by hy which they duped h her was not particularly subtle but it was thorough and it was well executed After a decent period of mourning fiher for her father the girl whose soul was starved for beauty amusement corn com pany of her own age and a more alluring social life than she had ever known mown be- be began began gan to make new friends Trustful and without guile she was wall thrilled by the 1 ease easo which with she formed new ac- ac acquaintances acquaintances among them Mr Ir and Mh George Johnson who were stopping in St Helens Helen's A girl only a little more worldly wise wl than Violet Swift Swit would have recognized the Johnsons for what they were at on once They told the girl they were just va- va vacationing vacationing but would go back up to Lon don soon They spoke familiarly of places she knew from books and news news- newspapers s papers Alice Johnson became lyrical in describing the tho gayeties of fashionable London and her own position there thereA therein in A famous name dropped into a con a remark by Johnson about an hS y f 7 S w 1 Crafty r Jr schemes of the Blackmailing r T Who pl r r tJ William M Corson on T as innocent Young charged with an im- im im important or at part in i the vie vie- VC- VC Violet Swift I ui of MIss SWIft I t Friends While They Robbed Her of the For For- Fortune Fortune Fortune tune S She lle H Had ad U edly Inherited exclusive club that he be had never entered a patronizing reference to some demi- demi demigod demigod god of th the stage or music halls such halls sue was the bait baitt And then Mrs Johnson decided that tha they were not getting ahead fast enough i and what the plot needed was a young man to make love to the simple village maiden and reach her fortune through her ber heart One Alex Smith was chosen for the role Provided with money bythe by the Johnsons Johnson Smith took the girl about to theaters and an dances and dinners in her in i i various parts of Manchester and Liver Liver Liver- Liverpool pool and hinted that they would live in London after they were wed Smith had been introduced to Violet Violetas t as a member of a fine old family tern tem tem- temporarily sed in a financial wa way and so when the tho time came for him to I o tell his sad story of false friends mil mi lions in the offing and a pressing demand deman for several hundred pounds on the spot she was ready with a generous offer of i assistance There were other such appeals ap- ap appeals a peals by the needy Mr Smith and other othet i such generous responses by the tho unsophisticated unsophisticated village girl There Thero was a division of spoils among g the conspirators after each transaction Also after each loan Smith would woul be particularly affectionate and and atten atten- i- i five tive and he ho and the girl would engage In perfect orgies of teas luncheons balls and theater parties About that time there appeared upon the scene Mr William Corson a race racetrack racetrack rai track gambler Corson after closely observing ng Smith Smiths Smith's method decided to use it himself at the tl ie start Realizing the girl was fond of f Alex Smith who has confes confessed e Smith he said he be was the friend and that he helped the plot along by partner of that young man and he too along pretending to be to in inlove love Iove with had encountered financial reverses and Violet Swift and winning nova her herit could use a little cash The girl giri loaned promise to him marry it to him for the sake of the man she regarded as her fiance The gambler Corson Corgon became anxious to risk allon all on one bold stroke make abig abig a big up clean-up and get away He lIe scoffed at the idea that the way to the girls girl's pocketbook was through her impression impression- impressionable impressionable able heart and argued for more drastic methods Blackmail was his his suggestion One night the girl was invited to the Johnson cottage and found Smith and Corson there too After dinner and an ld music and pleasant conversation Mr Mrs Johnson prevailed upon her to stay the tt night A little later the matron asked Miss Smith to run up to her bedroom and bring away a certain shawl sha While Violet was searching for the shawl Smith entered and closed dosed the thedoor thedoor door Advancing upon her he took her herin herin in his hia arms and was striving to kiss her h when the door opened and Mrs Johnson Johnso stood on the threshold looking as J out out- outraged outraged ou raged as might have bare Mrs Grundy her her- herself herself be self So this Is the way you abuse my hospitality hos- hos hospitality is it she shrilled at the girl irl When the village lass tried to explain i her hostess lashed herself Into a mock frenzy and ordered her from tho the house e In words that burned and left marks she l told her guest the construction she put upon the episode and the construction others would put upon it when they the beard heard And she left let no doubt that she intended they the should hear It was not a pleasant night for the tt girl from St St Helens Helen's and before she left Ie ft II N the Johnsons she was completely in their power It appeared from their conversation that there was one way she could pro pro- protect protect pro her good name and that was b by bythe bythe the payment of money From then on or she did pay hundreds pay hundreds of pounds at a time knowing she was vas being bein victimized but not su suspecting the tho extent of the th duplicity of her friends It was Smith who weakened and told tol the girl who thought herself his sweet sweet- sweetheart sweetheart sweet heart that the whole thing was a fraud and to use an Americanism a frame up He lIe confessed that he could no not t marry her if he would because he had hada i a wife already With most of her money gone he her dreams wrecked her love affair at nt an ni end the strength of desperation de dc upon the tha Iamb like lamb like victim of the th swindlers and she appealed to the police and to her brother John A trap was wa laid for Corson and the Johnsons Johnson By B this time they had learned that Smith had and were anxious to make mak one big killing ng and be gone Corson and the Johnsons were al all there at the meeting with their aroused victim weeping and acting a part in ii front of them while hile a police sergeant hidden behind a piano took notes Realizing that they had not much t m ne they were particularly merciless in their threats that night and particularly u ex in their thou demands I am an innocent girl poor iolet In I- I P n 1 f r 4 f ii ii I K Kr r f i F 4 it A N If Swift pleaded I have been duped and robbed Cant Can't you let me keep a little of my inheritance 1 But they only laughed at at her until the police sergeant and his clerk emerged from hiding and confronted them In court they were not so brazen and even condescended to ask mercy of the law v How could a man have the heart to swindle this defenseless girl not only of money but of everything that makes life worth the living asked the prosecutor while Corson hun hung his head Friends of the young woman w t thronged h r 0 n g e d the court room and if it e ei i lynching were not altogether for for- j Ys ign ign to to the British BritY British Brit- Brit British Y ish i temperament there might have w y ety been some anxiety ety concerning x T the defendants safety of the tha V defendants As it A Awas was the been preached about the folly of Violet Violt t Swift S but the tha people who remember her he from happier if it humbler days are in- in inclined inclined ir dined to take her part and blame her r father for tor it all His course toward her heris heris he heis is tn typical ical of the attitude of ot many a n self self- centered father toward a child whom h he be bedocs docs does not take into his bia confidence or o mabe maybe have confidence In Swift was determined tc tr leave hisson hi his son lion and daughter a fortune Still he did not tell them The boy got a o little training in the handling of money The girl none at all he never stopped to think of the dangers of sud a girl of very ordinary edu- edu education education education cation and no expectations at all to the pinnacle of an heiress or that such a a change might be as bad as rearing a tr v vt t 1 pile I I Irah v rah contented themselves them- them selves with mut- mut Violet Swift the unhappy victim of blackmail and robbery that left her almost penniless Sermons have child in the of expectation inheriting a fortune and then leaving her to face poverty The fate of Violet Swift deserves wide publicity because girls in some somewhat hat similar circumstances always have been and probably always will be marks for swindlers and anything that warns a few of them is not without its ita value Violet Swift however is rather young to get any real satisfaction out of 01 hav- hav having ing ing been made an example of by piti less fate Money gone house mort- mort mortgaged mortgaged trends friends pitying name at least slightly smudged S1 St Helens Helen's can be pu- pu puritanical puritanical pu puritanical at times she is a pitiful figure She never got even the tho trip to London that was promised her by her false and blackmailing friends I |
