Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 166: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

By ROLAND KREBS looking for a victim, accompanied by seven trunkfuls of talkative clothes, enough jewelry to outfit three ra- jahs, and a mess of money that resembled the public debt. Celeste was a broadminded sort of lady thief who believed that the best results were obtained by spreading it on thick—or, if you prefer your words cold starched, af- fecting wealth and position. Never hold out a closed hand was her motto. For that reason this St. Cyr person always managed to pack a pretty well bloated roll of cur- rency around with her. There were many valuable attributes about Celeste, but that which was worth the first three millions was her innocent air and infant stare. To look at her you would think she would find the June picnic of the township grade school a thing filled with pitfalls and chance. In a word or two, Celeste was the kind to whom one might CC ivoking ST. CYR blew into the city 156 say: ‘“‘ Girly, this hundred thousand is all I have. Keep it for me until I come out of the ether.” That pose of innocence was of pro- nounced good use to Celeste St. Cyr in both of the “ gags ” she used as a means of livelihood. One of these was purely green- shoes work—confidence games, if that’s any plainer. She would loaf around some expensive hotel and lead a rich dumb-bell along until she could alienate the affections of most of his bankroll. And the other gag—ah, the other. Celeste had invented it herself, and had used it for years with great success. It had proved more reliable than the confi- dence game, because year by year the hick towns grow up and their residents get on to the mysteries of tapped wires and fixed races. Her trick was simply this, that she would get herself a position as a maid in one of the best of homes, let her innocent air festoon the place, and when the right Commicoooks (S@)