out you I'd do it.
But I can't play a waiting game. You've got to introduce me and stand by
until I tip you off to go!"

Cooper squirmed in his seat. He might revolt at the other's assumption
of authority over him, but he was aware that in the end he would
surrender. He was not in a position to incur the displeasure of the
police.

Thomas Taylor Cooper was one of those men-about-town, without visible
means of support, who always manage to maintain an outward show of
wealth. No club is so exclusive that it does not contain one or more
members of the Cooper type. Their pedigrees are without blemish. Their
social position is secure through a long line of honorable ancestors.
But their means of livelihood are precarious. Friends and fellow club
members may wonder where they obtain the money for their dues, but
somehow their curiosity seldom inspires them to investigate.

The Coopers of society and club life have many invisible means of
support. There are the climbers, who are easy prey. Then the tailors and
haberdashers are glad to furnish free wearing apparel in return for the
custom which these men are able to recommend. Caterers, decorators,
florists do not balk at paying commissions on contracts. The society
papers pay liberally for society scandal. And occasionally, as in every
other station of life, there is to be found in the upper circles of
society, an idle and discontented woman with more money than prudence.

Cooper had attached himself to one of these women; and, as their
relations grew more intimate, he succeeded in attaching himself to some
of her rings. Subsequently he met more promising prey and began to
neglect the woman whose confidence he had betrayed. At first her jealous
rage expended itself in futile appeals to his manhood, his honor, his
sense of obligation. Then it occupied itself with plans for revenge. She
demanded the return of the jewelry which he had borrowed on one pretense
or another. But it had passed long ago to the pawnshops and could not be
reclaimed. Seeing an opportunity to humiliate and punish the man, she
discarded discretion, and appealed to the police.

As invariably happens in such cases, the woman came to her senses
eventually. Cooper found the climate elsewhere more inviting and
remained away until the woman realized that she was plunging into a
colossal scandal and withdrew her complaint.

But Cooper had placed himself in the power of the police, and now
Fanwell did not he