{"product_id":"2940013740518","title":"A Self-Made Thief","description":"In the little card-room upstairs at the staid old Chronos Club on\u003cbr\u003eGramercy Park a heated argument was going on. It was late on a night\u003cbr\u003esomething like two years ago, and a long succession of refreshments from\u003cbr\u003ethe bar downstairs was, without doubt, contributing to the heat.\u003cbr\u003eHeberdon, Spurway, Hanwell and Nedham, excellent fellows all, and good\u003cbr\u003efriends, had become involved in a discussion which had nothing to do with\u003cbr\u003ethe game of bridge, and the cards were now lying unheeded on the table,\u003cbr\u003ewhile the players scowled and shook their fingers at each other, and\u003cbr\u003eotherwise went through the absurd pantomime of gentlemen annoyed with\u003cbr\u003eeach other.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You don't know what you're talking about!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Oh, I don't, don't I? Do you?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You talk as if you were the fount of all wisdom, and we were humble\u003cbr\u003eworshippers at the shrine.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Your metaphors are mixed.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Give us credit for some sense, Frank.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I will, when you show any.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd so on. It appeared not to be a battle royal, but a case of three\u003cbr\u003eagainst one, Heberdon being the one. He was making certain asseverations\u003cbr\u003eon the subject of crime and criminals which the others violently and\u003cbr\u003escornfully combated. Heberdon was a lawyer in his early thirties, a\u003cbr\u003egood-looking man of a pale, correct and regular cast of features, and of\u003cbr\u003ea demeanour exact and punctilious to match. He appeared to be the calmest\u003cbr\u003eof the quartet, but it was a calmness more apparent than real; he had his\u003cbr\u003efeatures under better control, that was all.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLike most men of his type, his cold and inscrutable exterior concealed an\u003cbr\u003eunbounded egoism and a mule like obstinacy. Opposition put him in a cold\u003cbr\u003efury contradict him often enough, and he would go to any lengths to\u003cbr\u003ejustify himself. This weakness of character was well known to his\u003cbr\u003efriends, and in the beginning they had had no object, save to amuse\u003cbr\u003ethemselves by baiting him, but in doing so, as is not infrequently the\u003cbr\u003ecase, they had lost their own tempers--all about nothing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt had started innocently enough. Heberdon, shuffling the cards, had\u003cbr\u003eremarked in accents of scorn, \"I see the police have got Corby.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Who's Corby?\" Spurway had asked. Spurway was a pink and portly\u003cbr\u003estockbroker. His ideas were few, but he repeated them often. He was the\u003cbr\u003enoisiest of Heberdon's opponents.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The hold-up man who got six thousand from a customer of the Eastern\u003cbr\u003eTrust Company three days ago.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHeberdon's ideas on the subject of crime were a source of diversion to\u003cbr\u003ehis friends. Spurway had winked at the others. \"What do you care?\" he\u003cbr\u003easked.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Nothing,\" was the indifferent reply. \"Only, one hates to see such a\u003cbr\u003edisplay of foolishness. Why, he got clean away with his six thousand\u003cbr\u003ewithout leaving a clue. Six thousand for, maybe, three minutes' work! How\u003cbr\u003elong do we have to sweat for six thousand, working honestly?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Oh, well, I guess honest work's easiest in the end,\" Spurway had\u003cbr\u003eremarked virtuously.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It is, if you're a born fool,\" said Heberdon tartly.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"If he left no clue, how did they land him?\" asked Nedham idly. Nedham\u003cbr\u003ewas also a lawyer, but of a very different type from Heberdon, a large,\u003cbr\u003eblond, slow and reliable sort of fellow, with eyes set wide apart in his\u003cbr\u003ehead and a benignant cast in one of them; in short, a man cut out by\u003cbr\u003enature to be the trusted repository of wills and family skeletons.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The conceited fool wrote a letter to the newspapers, bragging of his\u003cbr\u003ecrime.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Corby a friend of yours?\" Hanwell had asked dryly. He was an advertising\u003cbr\u003eman, dark, slender and quick. He dealt mostly in personalities, and he\u003cbr\u003eknew best how to get under Heberdon's thin skin.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Don't be an ass, Han.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Well, you seem to take it to heart, his getting pinched.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It's nothing, of course, but one hates to see a neat bit of work spoiled\u003cbr\u003eby stupid conceit.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Why don't you set up a correspondence course in crime, Frank?\" Hanwell\u003cbr\u003ehad asked at this juncture.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHeberdon ignored the flippant query. The laughter of the others annoyed\u003cbr\u003ehim excessively.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47070245650672,"sku":"2940013740518","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013740518_p0.jpg?v=1763589622","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013740518","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}