Johnston McCulley

“ I wouldn’t steal from a regular crook, of course, Nifty. But take a man like Razelus, who pretends to be an honest citizen and is not—I certainly do love to sting a man like that. And Roger Belcher, with his fortune and his big house, pretending to be one of the big men of the city, yet as crooked as you can find them—I certainly do love to sting that sort of man, too. An honest crook comes out in the open—admits he is a crook and sticks to it. ”

“ A certain Chinese vase, for instance——”
“The vase!” Burlington gasped. “Surely you would not take my vase? I will give you money—much money.”
“I came for the Chinese vase, and I want nothing else,” Joe Carden declared.
“Do not take it, man!” Burlington begged. “I have been trying for several years to get it, and finally succeeded. A hundred men were after it. It isn’t only its value. Perhaps you would not understand. But I love that vase. I look at it by the hour. To me it is one of the greatest works of art in the world.” ”

“ Burlington shuffled back to his desk and got a key from a drawer there. He unlocked the cabinet and took out the vase, and carried it carefully to the table in the middle of the room.
He sat down, the vase in his hands, and gloated over it. There were tears in his eyes as he looked up at Joe Carden again.
“I don’t suppose you understand what it means for a man to love things like that,” he said. “Let me ask you again to take something else, and leave me this vase. I can get you money, or jewels——”
“No use in arguing with me,” Carden said. “I came for the vase, and that’s all. ”