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diff --git a/old/wnlaw10.txt b/old/wnlaw10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..477c6ce --- /dev/null +++ b/old/wnlaw10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11017 @@ +**The Project Gutenberg Etext of Within the Law by Marvin Dana** + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association/Carnegie-Mellon + University" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Carnegie-Mellon University". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This etext was prepared by Charles Keller. + + + + + +WITHIN THE LAW +BY +MARVIN DANA + +FROM THE PLAY OF +BAYARD VEILLER + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER +I. The Panel of Light +II. A Cheerful Prodigal +III. Only Three Years +IV. Kisses and Kleptomania +V. The Victim of the Law +VI. Inferno +VII. Within the Law +VIII. A Tip from Headquarters +X. A Legal Document +X. Marked Money +XI. The Thief +XII. A Bridegroom Spurned +XIII. The Advent of Griggs +XIV. A Wedding Announcement +XV. Aftermath of Tragedy +XVI. Burke Plots +XVII. Outside the Law +XVIII. The Noiseless Death +XIX. Within the Toils +XX. Who Shot Griggs? +XXI. Aggie at Bay +XXII. The Trap That Failed +XXIII. The Confession +XXIV. Anguish and Bliss + + + +CHAPTER I. THE PANEL OF LIGHT + +The lids of the girl's eyes lifted slowly, and she stared at the +panel of light in the wall. Just at the outset, the act of +seeing made not the least impression on her numbed brain. For a +long time she continued to regard the dim illumination in the +wall with the same passive fixity of gaze. Apathy still lay upon +her crushed spirit. In a vague way, she realized her own +inertness, and rested in it gratefully, subtly fearful lest she +again arouse to the full horror of her plight. In a curious +subconscious fashion, she was striving to hold on to this +deadness of sensation, thus to win a little respite from the +torture that had exhausted her soul. + +Of a sudden, her eyes noted the black lines that lay across the +panel of light. And, in that instant, her spirit was quickened +once again. The clouds lifted from her brain. Vision was clear +now. Understanding seized the full import of this hideous thing +on which she looked.... For the panel of light was a window, set +high within a wall of stone. The rigid lines of black that +crossed it were bars--prison bars. It was still true, then: She +was in a cell of the Tombs. + +The girl, crouching miserably on the narrow bed, maintained her +fixed watching of the window--that window which was a symbol of +her utter despair. Again, agony wrenched within her. She did +not weep: long ago she had exhausted the relief of tears. She +did not pace to and fro in the comfort of physical movement with +which the caged beast finds a mocking imitation of liberty: long +ago, her physical vigors had been drained under stress of +anguish. Now, she was well-nigh incapable of any bodily +activity. There came not even so much as the feeblest moan from +her lips. The torment was far too racking for such futile +fashion of lamentation. She merely sat there in a posture of +collapse. To all outward seeming, nerveless, emotionless, an +abject creature. Even the eyes, which held so fixedly their gaze +on the window, were quite expressionless. Over them lay a film, +like that which veils the eyes of some dead thing. Only an +occasional languid motion of the lids revealed the life that +remained. + +So still the body. Within the soul, fury raged uncontrolled. +For all the desolate calm of outer seeming, the tragedy of her +fate was being acted with frightful vividness there in memory. +In that dreadful remembrance, her spirit was rent asunder anew by +realization of that which had become her portion.... It was then, +as once again the horrible injustice of her fate racked +consciousness with its tortures, that the seeds of revolt were +implanted in her heart. The thought of revenge gave to her the +first meager gleam of comfort that had lightened her moods +through many miserable days and nights. Those seeds of revolt +were to be nourished well, were to grow into their flower--a +poison flower, developed through the three years of convict life +to which the judge had sentenced her. + +The girl was appalled by the mercilessness of a destiny that had +so outraged right. She was wholly innocent of having done any +wrong. She had struggled through years of privation to keep +herself clean and wholesome, worthy of those gentlefolk from whom +she drew her blood. And earnest effort had ended at last under +an overwhelming accusation--false, yet none the less fatal to +her. This accusation, after soul-wearying delays, had culminated +to-day in conviction. The sentence of the court had been imposed +upon her: that for three years she should be imprisoned.... This, +despite her innocence. She had endured much--miserably +much!--for honesty's sake. There wrought the irony of fate. She +had endured bravely for honesty's sake. And the end of it all +was shame unutterable. There was nought left her save a wild +dream of revenge against the world that had martyrized her. +"Vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord."... The +admonition could not touch her now. Why should she care for the +decrees of a God who had abandoned her! + +There had been nothing in the life of Mary Turner, before the +catastrophe came, to distinguish it from many another. Its most +significant details were of a sordid kind, familiar to poverty. +Her father had been an unsuccessful man, as success is esteemed +by this generation of Mammon-worshipers. He was a gentleman, but +the trivial fact is of small avail to-day. He was of good birth, +and he was the possessor of an inherited competence. He had, as +well, intelligence, but it was not of a financial sort. + +So, little by little, his fortune became shrunken toward +nothingness, by reason of injudicious investments. He married a +charming woman, who, after a brief period of wedded happiness, +gave her life to the birth of the single child of the union, +Mary. Afterward, in his distress over this loss, Ray Turner +seemed even more incompetent for the management of business +affairs. As the years passed, the daughter grew toward maturity +in an experience of ever-increasing penury. Nevertheless, there +was no actual want of the necessities of life, though always a +woful lack of its elegancies. The girl was in the high-school, +when her father finally gave over his rather feeble effort of +living. Between parent and child, the intimacy had been unusually +close. At his death, the father left her a character well +instructed in the excellent principles that had been his own. +That was his sole legacy to her. Of worldly goods, not the value +of a pin. + +Yet, measured according to the stern standards of adversity, Mary +was fortunate. Almost at once, she procured a humble employment +in the Emporium, the great department store owned by Edward +Gilder. To be sure, the wage was infinitesimal, while the toil +was body-breaking soul-breaking. Still, the pittance could be +made to sustain life, and Mary was blessed with both soul and +body to sustain much. So she merged herself in the army of +workers--in the vast battalion of those that give their entire +selves to a labor most stern and unremitting, and most ill +rewarded. + +Mary, nevertheless, avoided the worst perils of her lot. She did +not flinch under privation, but went her way through it, if not +serenely, at least without ever a thought of yielding to those +temptations that beset a girl who is at once poor and charming. +Fortunately for her, those in closest authority over her were not +so deeply smitten as to make obligatory on her a choice between +complaisance and loss of position. She knew of situations like +that, the cul-de-sac of chastity, worse than any devised by a +Javert. In the store, such things were matters of course. There +is little innocence for the girl in the modern city. There can +be none for the worker thrown into the storm-center of a great +commercial activity, humming with vicious gossip, all alive with +quips from the worldly wise. At the very outset of her +employment, the sixteen-year-old girl learned that she might eke +out the six dollars weekly by trading on her personal +attractiveness to those of the opposite sex. The idea was +repugnant to her; not only from the maidenly instinct of purity, +but also from the moral principles woven into her character by +the teachings of a father wise in most things, though a fool in +finance. Thus, she remained unsmirched, though well informed as +to the verities of life. She preferred purity and penury, rather +than a slight pampering of the body to be bought by its +degradation. Among her fellows were some like herself; others, +unlike. Of her own sort, in this single particular, were the two +girls with whom she shared a cheap room. Their common decency in +attitude toward the other sex was the unique bond of union. In +their association, she found no real companionship. Nevertheless, +they were wholesome enough. Otherwise they were illiterate, +altogether uncongenial. + +In such wise, through five dreary years, Mary Turner lived. Nine +hours daily, she stood behind a counter. She spent her other +waking hours in obligatory menial labors: cooking her own scant +meals over the gas; washing and ironing, for the sake of that +neat appearance which was required of her by those in authority +at the Emporium--yet, more especially, necessary for her own +self-respect. With a mind keen and earnest, she contrived some +solace from reading and studying, since the free library gave her +this opportunity. So, though engaged in stultifying occupation +through most of her hours, she was able to find food for mental +growth. Even, in the last year, she had reached a point of +development whereat she began to study seriously her own position +in the world's economy, to meditate on a method of bettering it. +Under this impulse, hope mounted high in her heart. Ambition was +born. By candid comparison of herself with others about her, she +realized the fact that she possessed an intelligence beyond the +average. The training by her father, too, had been of a superior +kind. There was as well, at the back vaguely, the feeling of +particular self-respect that belongs inevitably to the possessor +of good blood. Finally, she demurely enjoyed a modest +appreciation of her own physical advantages. In short, she had +beauty, brains and breeding. Three things of chief importance to +any woman--though there be many minds as to which may be chief +among the three. + +I have said nothing specific thus far as to the outer being of +Mary Turner--except as to filmed eyes and a huddled form. But, +in a happier situation, the girl were winning enough. Indeed, +more! She was one of those that possess an harmonious beauty, +with, too, the penetrant charm that springs from the mind, with +the added graces born of the spirit. Just now, as she sat, a +figure of desolation, there on the bed in the Tombs cell, it +would have required a most analytical observer to determine the +actualities of her loveliness. Her form was disguised by the +droop of exhaustion. Her complexion showed the pallor of +sorrowful vigils. Her face was no more than a mask of misery. +Yet, the shrewd observer, if a lover of beauty, might have found +much for delight, even despite the concealment imposed by her +present condition. Thus, the stormy glory of her dark hair, +great masses that ran a riot of shining ripples and waves. And +the straight line of the nose, not too thin, yet fine enough for +the rapture of a Praxiteles. And the pink daintiness of the +ear-tips, which peered warmly from beneath the pall of tresses. +One could know nothing accurately of the complexion now. But it +were easy to guess that in happier places it would show of a +purity to entice, with a gentle blooming of roses in the cheeks. +Even in this hour of unmitigated evil, the lips revealed a +curving beauty of red--not quite crimson, though near enough for +the word; not quite scarlet either; only, a red gently +enchanting, which turned one's thoughts toward tenderness--with a +hint of desire. It was, too, a generous mouth, not too large; +still, happily, not so small as those modeled by Watteau. It was +altogether winsome--more, it was generous and true, desirable for +kisses--yes!--more desirable for strength and for faith. + +Like every intelligent woman, Mary had taken the trouble to +reinforce the worth of her physical attractiveness. The instinct +of sex was strong in her, as it must be in every normal woman, +since that appeal is nature's law. She kept herself supple and +svelte by many exercises, at which her companions in the chamber +scoffed, with the prudent warning that more work must mean more +appetite. With arms still aching from the lifting of heavy bolts +of cloth to and fro from the shelves, she nevertheless was at +pains nightly to brush with the appointed two hundred strokes the +thick masses of her hair. Even here, in the sordid desolation of +the cell, the lustrous sheen witnessed the fidelity of her care. +So, in each detail of her, the keen observer might have found +adequate reason for admiration. There was the delicacy of the +hands, with fingers tapering, with nails perfectly shaped, +neither too dull nor too shining. And there were, too, finally, +the trimly shod feet, set rather primly on the floor, small, and +arched like those of a Spanish Infanta. In truth, Mary Turner +showed the possibilities at least, if not just now the realities, +of a very beautiful woman. + +Naturally, in this period of grief, the girl's mind had no +concern with such external merits over which once she had +modestly exulted. All her present energies were set to precise +recollection of the ghastly experience into which she had been +thrust. + +In its outline, the event had been tragically simple. + +There had been thefts in the store. They had been traced +eventually to a certain department, that in which Mary worked. +The detective was alert. Some valuable silks were missed. +Search followed immediately. The goods were found in Mary's +locker. That was enough. She was charged with the theft. She +protested innocence--only to be laughed at in derision by her +accusers. Every thief declares innocence. Mr. Gilder himself was +emphatic against her. The thieving had been long continued. An +example must be made. The girl was arrested. + +The crowded condition of the court calendar kept her for three +months in the Tombs, awaiting trial. She was quite friendless. +To the world, she was only a thief in duress. At the last, the +trial was very short. Her lawyer was merely an unfledged +practitioner assigned to her defense as a formality of the court. +This novice in his profession was so grateful for the first +recognition ever afforded him that he rather assisted than +otherwise the District Attorney in the prosecution of the case. + +At the end, twelve good men and true rendered a verdict of guilty +against the shuddering girl in the prisoner's dock. + +So simple the history of Mary Turner's trial.... The sentence of +the judge was lenient--only three years! + + + +CHAPTER II. A CHEERFUL PRODIGAL. + +That which was the supreme tragedy to the broken girl in the cell +merely afforded rather agreeable entertainment to her former +fellows of the department store. Mary Turner throughout her term +of service there had been without real intimates, so that now +none was ready to mourn over her fate. Even the two room-mates +had felt some slight offense, since they sensed the superiority +of her, though vaguely. Now, they found a smug satisfaction in +the fact of her disaster as emphasizing very pleasurably their +own continuance in respectability. + +As many a philosopher has observed, we secretly enjoy the +misfortunes of others, particularly of our friends, since they +are closest to us. Most persons hasten to deny this truth in its +application to themselves. They do so either because from lack of +clear understanding they are not quite honest with themselves, +from lack of clear introspection, or because, as may be more +easily believed, they are not quite honest in the assertion. As a +matter of fact, we do find a singular satisfaction in the +troubles of others. Contemplation of such suffering renders more +striking the contrasted well-being of our own lot. We need the +pains of others to serve as background for our joys--just as sin +is essential as the background for any appreciation of virtue, +even any knowledge of its existence.... So now, on the day of +Mary Turner's trial, there was a subtle gaiety of gossipings to +and fro through the store. The girl's plight was like a +shuttlecock driven hither and yon by the battledores of many +tongues. It was the first time in many years that one of the +employees had been thus accused of theft. Shoplifters were so +common as to be a stale topic. There was a refreshing novelty in +this case, where one of themselves was the culprit. Her fellow +workers chatted desultorily of her as they had opportunity, and +complacently thanked their gods that they were not as she--with +reason. Perhaps, a very few were kindly hearted enough to feel a +touch of sympathy for this ruin of a life. + +Of such was Smithson, a member of the executive staff, who did +not hesitate to speak his mind, though none too forcibly. As for +that, Smithson, while the possessor of a dignity nourished by +years of floor-walking, was not given to the holding of vigorous +opinions. Yet, his comment, meager as it was, stood wholly in +Mary's favor. And he spoke with a certain authority, since he +had given official attention to the girl. + +Smithson stopped Sarah Edwards, Mr. Gilder's private secretary, +as she was passing through one of the departments that morning, +to ask her if the owner had yet reached his office. + +"Been and gone," was the secretary's answer, with the terseness +characteristic of her. + +"Gone!" Smithson repeated, evidently somewhat disturbed by the +information. "I particularly wanted to see him." + +"He'll be back, all right," Sarah vouchsafed, amiably. "He went +down-town, to the Court of General Sessions. The judge sent for +him about the Mary Turner case." + +"Oh, yes, I remember now," Smithson exclaimed. Then he added, +with a trace of genuine feeling, "I hope the poor girl gets off. +She was a nice girl--quite the lady, you know, Miss Edwards." + +"No, I don't know," Sarah rejoined, a bit tartly. Truth to tell, +the secretary was haunted by a grim suspicion that she herself +was not quite the lady of her dreams, and never would be able to +acquire the graces of the Vere De Vere. For Sarah, while a most +efficient secretary, was not in her person of that slender +elegance which always characterized her favorite heroines in the +novels she affected. On the contrary, she was of a sort to have +gratified Byron, who declared that a woman in her maturity should +be plump. Now, she recalled with a twinge of envy that the +accused girl had been of an aristocratic slimness of form. "Oh, +did you know her?" she questioned, without any real interest. + +Smithson answered with that bland stateliness of manner which was +the fruit of floor-walking politeness. + +"Well, I couldn't exactly say I knew her, and yet I might say, +after a manner of speaking, that I did--to a certain extent. You +see, they put her in my department when she first came here to +work. She was a good saleswoman, as saleswomen go. For the +matter of that," he added with a sudden access of energy, "she +was the last girl in the world I'd take for a thief." He +displayed some evidences of embarrassment over the honest feeling +into which he had been betrayed, and made haste to recover his +usual business manner, as he continued formally. "Will you +please let me know when Mr. Gilder arrives? There are one or two +little matters I wish to discuss with him." + +"All right!" Sarah agreed briskly, and she hurried on toward the +private office. + +The secretary was barely seated at her desk when the violent +opening of the door startled her, and, as she looked up, a cheery +voice cried out: + +"Hello, Dad!" + +At the same moment, a young man entered, with an air of care-free +assurance, his face radiant. But, as his glance went to the +empty arm-chair at the desk, he halted abruptly, and his +expression changed to one of disappointment. + +"Not here!" he grumbled. Then, once again the smile was on his +lips as his eyes fell on the secretary, who had now risen to her +feet in a flutter of excitement. + +"Why, Mr. Dick!" Sarah gasped. + +"Hello, Sadie!" came the genial salutation. The young man +advanced and shook hands with her warmly. "I'm home again. +Where's Dad?" + +Even as he asked the question, the quick sobering of his face +bore witness to his disappointment over not finding his father in +the office. For such was the relationship of the owner of the +department store to this new arrival on the scene. And in the +patent chagrin under which the son now labored was to be found a +certain indication of character not to be disregarded. Unlike +many a child, he really loved his father. The death of the +mother years before had left him without other opportunity for +affection in the home, since he had neither brother nor sister. +He loved his father with a depth of feeling that made between the +two a real camaraderie, despite great differences in temperament. +In that simple and sincere regard which he bore for his father, +the boy revealed a heart ready for love, willing to give of +itself its best for the one beloved. Beyond that, as yet, there +was little to be said of him with exactness. He was a spoiled +child of fortune, if you wish to have it so. Certainly, he was +only a drone in the world's hive. Thus far, he had enjoyed the +good things of life, without ever doing aught to deserve them by +contributing in return--save by his smiles and his genial air of +happiness. + +In the twenty-three years of his life, every gift that money +could lavish had been his. If the sum total of benefit was +small, at least there remained the consoling fact that the harm +was even less. Luxury had not sapped the strength of him. He +had not grown vicious, as have so many of his fellows among the +sons of the rich. Some instinct held him aloof from the grosser +vices. His were the trifling faults that had their origin +chiefly in the joy of life, which manifest occasionally in +riotous extravagancies, of a sort actually to harm none, however +absurd and useless they may be. + +So much one might see by a glance into the face. He was well +groomed, of course; healthy, all a-tingle with vitality. And in +the clear eyes, which avoided no man's gaze, nor sought any +woman's unseemly, there showed a soul untainted, not yet +developed, not yet debased. Through all his days, Dick Gilder had +walked gladly, in the content that springs to the call of one +possessed of a capacity for enjoyment; possessed, too, of every +means for the gratification of desire. As yet, the man of him +was unrevealed in its integrity. No test had been put upon him. +The fires of suffering had not tried the dross of him. What real +worth might lie under this sunny surface the future must +determine. There showed now only this one significant fact: +that, in the first moment of his return from journeyings abroad, +he sought his father with all eagerness, and was sorely grieved +because the meeting must still be delayed. It was a little +thing, perhaps. Yet, it was capable of meaning much concerning +the nature of the lad. It revealed surely a tender heart, one +responsive to a pure love. And to one of his class, there are +many forces ever present to atrophy such simple, wholesome power +of loving. The ability to love cleanly and absolutely is the +supreme virtue. + +Sarah explained that Mr. Gilder had been called to the Court of +General Sessions by the judge. + +Dick interrupted her with a gust of laughter. + +"What's Dad been doing now?" he demanded, his eyes twinkling. +Then, a reminiscent grin shaped itself on his lips. "Remember +the time that fresh cop arrested him for speeding? Wasn't he +wild? I thought he would have the whole police force +discharged." He smiled again. "The trouble is," he declared +sedately, "that sort of thing requires practice. Now, when I'm +arrested for speeding, I'm not in the least flustered--oh, not a +little bit! But poor Dad! That one experience of his almost +soured his whole life. It was near the death of him--also, of +the city's finest." + +By this time, the secretary had regained her usual poise, which +had been somewhat disturbed by the irruption of the young man. +Her round face shone delightedly as she regarded him. There was +a maternal note of rebuke in her voice as she spoke: + +"Why, we didn't expect you back for two or three months yet." + +Once again, Dick laughed, with an infectious gaiety that brought +a smile of response to the secretary's lips. + +"Sadie," he explained confidentially, "don't you dare ever to let +the old man know. He would be all swollen up. It's bad to let a +parent swell up. But the truth is, Sadie, I got kind of homesick +for Dad--yes, just that!" He spoke the words with a sort of +shamefaced wonder. It is not easy for an Anglo-Saxon to confess +the realities of affection in vital intimacies. He repeated the +phrase in a curiously appreciative hesitation, as one astounded +by his own emotion. "Yes, homesick for Dad!" + +Then, to cover an excess of sincere feeling, he continued, with a +burst of laughter: + +"Besides, Sadie, I was broke." + +The secretary sniffed. + +"The cable would have handled that end of it, I guess," she said, +succinctly. + +There was no word of contradiction from Dick, who, from ample +experience, knew that any demand for funds would have received +answer from the father. + +"But what is Dad doing in court?" he demanded. + +Sarah explained the matter with her usual conciseness: + +"One of the girls was arrested for stealing." + +The nature of the son was shown then clearly in one of its best +aspects. At once, he exhibited his instinct toward the quality +of mercy, and, too, his trust in the father whom he loved, by his +eager comment. + +"And Dad went to court to get her out of the scrape. That's just +like the old man!" + +Sarah, however, showed no hint of enthusiasm. Her mind was ever +of the prosaic sort, little prone to flights. In that prosaic +quality, was to be found the explanation of her dependability as +a private secretary. So, now, she merely made a terse statement. + +"She was tried to-day, and convicted. The judge sent for Mr. +Gilder to come down this morning and have a talk with him about +the sentence." + +There was no lessening of the expression of certainty on the +young man's face. He loved his father, and he trusted where he +loved. + +"It will be all right," he declared, in a tone of entire +conviction. "Dad's heart is as big as a barrel. He'll get her +off." + +Then, of a sudden, Dick gave a violent start. He added a +convincing groan. + +"Oh, Lord!" he exclaimed, dismally. There was shame in his +voice. "I forgot all about it!" + +The secretary regarded him with an expression of amazement. + +"All about what?" she questioned. + +Dick assumed an air vastly more confidential than at any time +hitherto. He leaned toward the secretary's desk, and spoke with +a new seriousness of manner: + +"Sadie, have you any money? I'm broker My taxi' has been waiting +outside all this time." + +"Why, yes," the secretary said, cheerfully. "If you will----" + +Dick was discreet enough to turn his attention to a picture on +the wall opposite while Sarah went through those acrobatic +performances obligatory on women who take no chances of losing +money by carrying it in purses. + +"There!" she called after a few panting seconds, and exhibited a +flushed face. + +Dick turned eagerly and seized the banknote offered him. + +"Mighty much obliged, Sadie," he said, enthusiastically. "But I +must run. Otherwise, this wouldn't be enough for the fare!" And, +so saying, he darted out of the room. + + + +CHAPTER III. ONLY THREE YEARS. + +When, at last, the owner of the store entered the office, his +face showed extreme irritation. He did not vouchsafe any +greeting to the secretary, who regarded him with an accurate +perception of his mood. With a diplomacy born of long +experience, in her first speech Sarah afforded an agreeable +diversion to her employer's line of thought. + +"Mr. Hastings, of the Empire store, called you up, Mr. Gilder, +and asked me to let him know when you returned. Shall I get him +on the wire?" + +The man's face lightened instantly, and there was even the +beginning of a smile on his lips as he seated himself at the +great mahogany desk. + +"Yes, yes!" he exclaimed, with evident enthusiasm. The smile grew +in the short interval before the connection was made. When, +finally, he addressed his friend over the telephone, his tones +were of the cheerfulest. + +"Oh, good morning. Yes, certainly. Four will suit me +admirably.... Sunday? Yes, if you like. We can go out after +church, and have luncheon at the country club." After listening +a moment, he laughed in a pleased fashion that had in it a +suggestion of conscious superiority. "My dear fellow," he +declared briskly, "you couldn't beat me in a thousand years. +Why, I made the eighteen holes in ninety-two only last week." He +laughed again at the answer over the wire, then hung up the +receiver and pushed the telephone aside, as he turned his +attention to the papers neatly arranged on the desk ready to his +hand. + +The curiosity of the secretary could not be longer delayed. + +"What did they do with the Turner girl?" she inquired in an +elaborately casual manner. + +Gilder did not look up from the heap of papers, but answered +rather harshly, while once again his expression grew forbidding. + +"I don't know--I couldn't wait," he said. He made a petulant +gesture as he went on: "I don't see why Judge Lawlor bothered me +about the matter. He is the one to impose sentence, not I. I am +hours behind with my work now." + +For a few minutes he gave himself up to the routine of business, +distributing the correspondence and other various papers for the +action of subordinates, and speaking his orders occasionally to +the attentive secretary with a quickness and precision that +proclaimed the capable executive. The observer would have +realized at once that here was a man obviously fitted to the +control of large affairs. The ability that marches inevitably to +success showed unmistakably in the face and form, and in the +fashion of speech. Edward Gilder was a big man physically, +plainly the possessor of that abundant vital energy which is a +prime requisite for achievement in the ordering of modern +business concerns. Force was, indeed, the dominant quality of +the man. His tall figure was proportionately broad, and he was +heavily fleshed. In fact, the body was too ponderous. Perhaps, +in that characteristic might be found a clue to the chief fault +in his nature. For he was ponderous, spiritually and mentally, +as well as materially. The fact was displayed suggestively in +the face, which was too heavy with its prominent jowls and +aggressive chin and rather bulbous nose. But there was nothing +flabby anywhere. The ample features showed no trace of weakness, +only a rude, abounding strength. There was no lighter touch +anywhere. Evidently a just man according to his own ideas, yet +never one to temper justice with mercy. He appeared, and was, a +very practical and most prosaic business man. He was not given +to a humorous outlook on life. He took it and himself with the +utmost seriousness. He was almost entirely lacking in +imagination, that faculty which is essential to sympathy. + +"Take this," he directed presently, when he had disposed of the +matters before him. Forthwith, he dictated the following letter, +and now his voice took on a more unctuous note, as of one who is +appreciative of his own excellent generosity. + +"THE EDITOR, + +"The New York Herald. + +"DEAR SIR: Inclosed please find my check for a thousand dollars +for your free-ice fund. It is going to be a very hard summer for +the poor, and I hope by thus starting the contributions for your +fine charity at this early day that you will be able to +accomplish even more good than usually. +"Very truly yours." + +He turned an inquiring glance toward Sarah. + +"That's what I usually give, isn't it?" + +The secretary nodded energetically. + +"Yes," she agreed in her brisk manner, "that's what you have +given every year for the last ten years." + +The statement impressed Gilder pleasantly. His voice was more +mellow as he made comment. His heavy face was radiant, and he +smiled complacently. + +"Ten thousand dollars to this one charity alone!" he exclaimed. +"Well, it is pleasant to be able to help those less fortunate +than ourselves." He paused, evidently expectant of laudatory +corroboration from the secretary. + +But Sarah, though she could be tactful enough on occasion, did +not choose to meet her employer's anticipations just now. For +that matter, her intimate services permitted on her part some +degree of familiarity with the august head of the establishment. +Besides, she did not stand in awe of Gilder, as did the others in +his service. No man is a hero to his valet, or to his secretary. +Intimate association is hostile to hero-worship. So, now, Sarah +spoke nonchalantly, to the indignation of the philanthropist: + +"Oh, yes, sir. Specially when you make so much that you don't +miss it." + +Gilder's thick gray brows drew down in a frown of displeasure, +while his eyes opened slightly in sheer surprise over the +secretary's unexpected remark. He hesitated for only an instant +before replying with an air of great dignity, in which was a +distinct note of rebuke for the girl's presumption. + +"The profits from my store are large, I admit, Sarah. But I +neither smuggle my goods, take rebates from railroads, conspire +against small competitors, nor do any of the dishonest acts that +disgrace other lines of business. So long as I make my profits +honestly, I am honestly entitled to them, no matter how big they +are." + +The secretary, being quite content with the havoc she had wrought +in her employer's complacency over his charitableness, nodded, +and contented herself with a demure assent to his outburst. + +"Yes, sir," she agreed, very meekly. + +Gilder stared at her for a few seconds, somewhat indignantly. +Then, he bethought himself of a subtle form of rebuke by +emphasizing his generosity. + +"Have the cashier send my usual five hundred to the Charities +Organization Society," he ordered. With this new evidence of his +generous virtue, the frown passed from his brows. If, for a +fleeting moment, doubt had assailed him under the spur of the +secretary's words, that doubt had now vanished under his habitual +conviction as to his sterling worth to the world at large. + +It was, therefore, with his accustomed blandness of manner that +he presently acknowledged the greeting of George Demarest, the +chief of the legal staff that looked after the firm's affairs. +He was aware without being told that the lawyer had called to +acquaint him with the issue in the trial of Mary Turner. + +"Well, Demarest?" he inquired, as the dapper attorney advanced +into the room at a rapid pace, and came to a halt facing the +desk, after a lively nod in the direction of the secretary. + +The lawyer's face sobered, and his tone as he answered was tinged +with constraint. + +"Judge Lawlor gave her three years," he replied, gravely. It was +plain from his manner that he did not altogether approve. + +But Gilder was unaffected by the attorney's lack of satisfaction +over the result. On the contrary, he smiled exultantly. His +oritund voice took on a deeper note, as he turned toward the +secretary. + +"Good!" he exclaimed. "Take this, Sarah." And he continued, as +the girl opened her notebook and poised the pencil: "Be sure to +have Smithson post a copy of it conspicuously in all the girls' +dressing-rooms, and in the reading-room, and in the lunch-rooms, +and in the assembly-room." He cleared his throat ostentatiously +and proceeded to the dictation of the notice: + +"Mary Turner, formerly employed in this store, was to-day +sentenced to prison for three years, having been convicted for +the theft of goods valued at over four hundred dollars. The +management wishes again to draw attention on the part of its +employees to the fact that honesty is always the best policy.... +Got that?" + +"Yes, sir." The secretary's voice was mechanical, without any +trace of feeling. She was not minded to disturb her employer a +second time this morning by injudicious comment. + +"Take it to Smithson," Gilder continued, "and tell him that I +wish him to attend to its being posted according to my directions +at once." + +Again, the girl made her formal response in the affirmative, then +left the room. + +Gilder brought forth a box of cigars from a drawer of the desk, +opened it and thrust it toward the waiting lawyer, who, however, +shook his head in refusal, and continued to move about the room +rather restlessly. Demarest paid no attention to the other's +invitation to a seat, but the courtesy was perfunctory on +Gilder's part, and he hardly perceived the perturbation of his +caller, for he was occupied in selecting and lighting a cigar +with the care of a connoisseur. Finally, he spoke again, and now +there was an infinite contentment in the rich voice. + +"Three years--three years! That ought to be a warning to the rest +of the girls." He looked toward Demarest for acquiescence. + +The lawyer's brows were knit as he faced the proprietor of the +store. + +"Funny thing, this case!" he ejaculated. "In some features, one +of the most unusual I have seen since I have been practicing +law." + +The smug contentment abode still on Gilder's face as he puffed in +leisurely ease on his cigar and uttered a trite condolence. + +"Very sad!--quite so! Very sad case, I call it." Demarest went +on speaking, with a show of feeling: "Most unusual case, in my +estimation. You see, the girl keeps on declaring her innocence. +That, of course, is common enough in a way. But here, it's +different. The point is, somehow, she makes her protestations +more convincing than they usually do. They ring true, as it +seems to me." + +Gilder smiled tolerantly. + +"They didn't ring very true to the jury, it would seem," he +retorted. And his voice was tart as he added: "Nor to the judge, +since he deemed it his duty to give her three years." + +"Some persons are not very sensitive to impressions in such +cases, I admit," Demarest returned, coolly. If he meant any +subtlety of allusion to his hearer, it failed wholly to pierce +the armor of complacency. + +"The stolen goods were found in her locker," Gilder declared in a +tone of finality. "Some of them, I have been given to +understand, were actually in the pocket of her coat." + +"Well," the attorney said with a smile, "that sort of thing makes +good-enough circumstantial evidence, and without circumstantial +evidence there would be few convictions for crime. Yet, as a +lawyer, I'm free to admit that circumstantial evidence alone is +never quite safe as proof of guilt. Naturally, she says some one +else must have put the stolen goods there. As a matter of exact +reasoning, that is quite within the measure of possibility. That +sort of thing has been done countless times." + +Gilder sniffed indignantly. + +"And for what reason?" he demanded. "It's too absurd to think +about." + +"In similar cases," the lawyer answered, "those actually guilty +of the thefts have thus sought to throw suspicion on the innocent +in order to avoid it on themselves when the pursuit got too hot +on their trail. Sometimes, too, such evidence has been +manufactured merely to satisfy a spite against the one unjustly +accused." + +"It's too absurd to think about," Gilder repeated, impatiently. +"The judge and the jury found no fault with the evidence." + +Demarest realized that this advocacy in behalf of the girl was +hardly fitting on the part of the legal representative of the +store she was supposed to have robbed, so he abruptly changed his +line of argument. + +"She says that her record of five years in your employ ought to +count something in her favor." + +Gilder, however, was not disposed to be sympathetic as to a +matter so flagrantly opposed to his interests. + +"A court of justice has decreed her guilty," he asserted once +again, in his ponderous manner. His emphasis indicated that +there the affair ended. + +Demarest smiled cynically as he strode to and fro. + +"Nowadays," he shot out, "we don't call them courts of justice: +we call them courts of law." + +Gilder yielded only a rather dubious smile over the quip. This +much he felt that he could afford, since those same courts served +his personal purposes well in deed. + +"Anyway," he declared, becoming genial again, "it's out of our +hands. There's nothing we can do, now." + +"Why, as to that," the lawyer replied, with a hint of hesitation, +"I am not so sure. You see, the fact of the matter is that, +though I helped to prosecute the case, I am not a little bit +proud of the verdict." + +Gilder raised his eyebrows in unfeigned astonishment. Even yet, +he was quite without appreciation of the attorney's feeling in +reference to the conduct of the case. + +"Why?" he questioned, sharply. + +"Because," the lawyer said, again halting directly before the +desk, "in spite of all the evidence against her, I am not sure +that Mary Turner is guilty--far from it, in fact!" + +Gilder uttered an ejaculation of contempt, but Demarest went on +resolutely. + +"Anyhow," he explained, "the girl wants to see you, and I wish to +urge you to grant her an interview." + +Gilder flared at this suggestion, and scowled wrathfully on the +lawyer, who, perhaps with professional prudence, had turned away +in his rapid pacing of the room. + +"What's the use?" Gilder stormed. A latent hardness revealed +itself at the prospect of such a visitation. And along with this +hardness came another singular revelation of the nature of the +man. For there was consternation in his voice, as he continued +in vehement expostulation against the idea. If there was +harshness in his attitude there was, too, a fugitive suggestion +of tenderness alarmed over the prospect of undergoing such an +interview with a woman. + +"I can't have her crying all over the office and begging for +mercy," he protested, truculently. But a note of fear lay under +the petulance. + +Demarest's answer was given with assurance" + +"You are mistaken about that. The girl doesn't beg for mercy. +In fact, that's the whole point of the matter. She demands +justice--strange as that may seem, in a court of law!--and +nothing else. The truth is, she's a very unusual girl, a long +way beyond the ordinary sales-girl, both in brains and in +education." + +"The less reason, then, for her being a thief," Gilder grumbled +in his heaviest voice. + +"And perhaps the less reason for believing her to be a thief," +the lawyer retorted, suavely. He paused for a moment, then went +on. There was a tone of sincere determination in his voice. +"Just before the judge imposed sentence, he asked her if she had +anything to say. You know, it's just a usual form--a thing that +rarely means much of anything. But this case was different, let +me tell you. She surprised us all by answering at once that she +had. It's really a pity, Gilder, that you didn't wait. Why, +that poor girl made a--damn--fine speech!" + +The lawyer's forensic aspirations showed in his honest +appreciation of the effectiveness of such oratory from the heart +as he had heard in the courtroom that day. + +"Pooh! pooh!" came the querulous objection. "She seems to have +hypnotized you." Then, as a new thought came to the magnate, he +spoke with a trace of anxiety. There were always the reporters, +looking for space to fill with foolish vaporings. + +"Did she say anything against me, or the store?" + +"Not a word," the lawyer replied, gravely. His smile of +appreciation was discreetly secret. "She merely told us how her +father died when she was sixteen years old. She was compelled +after that to earn her own living. Then she told how she had +worked for you for five years steadily, without there ever being +a single thing against her. She said, too, that she had never +seen the things found in her locker. And she said more than +that! She asked the judge if he himself understood what it means +for a girl to be sentenced to prison for something she hadn't +done. Somehow, Gilder, the way she talked had its effect on +everybody in the courtroom. I know! It's my business to +understand things like that. And what she said rang true. What +she said, and the way she said it, take brains and courage. The +ordinary crook has neither. So, I had a suspicion that she might +be speaking the truth. You see, Gilder, it all rang true! And +it's my business to know how things ring in that way." There was +a little pause, while the lawyer moved back and forth nervously. +Then, he added: "I believe Lawlor would have suspended sentence +if it hadn't been for your talk with him." + +There were not wanting signs that Gilder was impressed. But the +gentler fibers of the man were atrophied by the habits of a +lifetime. What heart he had once possessed had been buried in +the grave of his young wife, to be resurrected only for his son. +In most things, he was consistently a hard man. Since he had no +imagination, he could have no real sympathy. + +He whirled about in his swivel chair, and blew a cloud of smoke +from his mouth. When he spoke, his voice was deeply resonant. + +"I simply did my duty," he said. "You are aware that I did not +seek any consultation with Judge Lawlor. He sent for me, and +asked me what I thought about the case--whether I thought it +would be right to let the girl go on a suspended sentence. I +told him frankly that I believed that an example should be made +of her, for the sake of others who might be tempted to steal. +Property has some rights, Demarest, although it seems to be +getting nowadays so that anybody is likely to deny it." Then the +fretful, half-alarmed note sounded in his voice again, as he +continued: "I can't understand why the girl wants to see me." + +The lawyer smiled dryly, since he had his back turned at the +moment. + +"Why," he vouchsafed, "she just said that, if you would see her +for ten minutes, she would tell you how to stop the thefts in +this store." + +Gilder displayed signs of triumph. He brought his chair to a +level and pounded the desk with a weighty fist. + +"There!" he cried. "I knew it. The girl wants to confess. +Well, it's the first sign of decent feeling she's shown. I +suppose it ought to be encouraged. Probably there have been +others mixed up in this." + +Demarest attempted no denial. + +"Perhaps," he admitted, though he spoke altogether without +conviction. "But," he continued insinuatingly, "at least it can +do no harm if you see her. I thought you would be willing, so I +spoke to the District Attorney, and he has given orders to bring +her here for a few minutes on the way to the Grand Central +Station. They're taking her up to Burnsing, you know. I wish, +Gilder, you would have a little talk with her. No harm in that!" +With the saying, the lawyer abruptly went out of the office, +leaving the owner of the store fuming. + + + +CHAPTER IV. KISSES AND KLEPTOMANIA. + +"Hello, Dad!" + +After the attorney's departure, Gilder had been rather fussily +going over some of the papers on his desk. He was experiencing a +vague feeling of injury on account of the lawyer's ill-veiled +efforts to arouse his sympathy in behalf of the accused girl. In +the instinct of strengthening himself against the possibility of +yielding to what he deemed weakness, the magnate rehearsed the +facts that justified his intolerance, and, indeed, soon came to +gloating over the admirable manner in which righteousness thrives +in the world. And it was then that an interruption came in the +utterance of two words, words of affection, of love, cried out in +the one voice he most longed to hear--for the voice was that of +his son. Yet, he did not look up. The thing was altogether +impossible! The boy was philandering, junketing, somewhere on the +Riviera. His first intimation as to the exact place would come +in the form of a cable asking for money. Somehow, his feelings +had been unduly stirred that morning; he had grown sentimental, +dreaming of pleasant things.... All this in a second. Then, he +looked up. Why, it was true! It was Dick's face there, smiling +in the doorway. Yes, it was Dick, it was Dick himself! Gilder +sprang to his feet, his face suddenly grown younger, radiant. + +"Dick!" The big voice was softened to exquisite tenderness. + +As the eyes of the two met, the boy rushed forward, and in the +next moment the hands of father and son clasped firmly. They +were silent in the first emotion of their greeting. Presently, +Gilder spoke, with an effort toward harshness in his voice to +mask how much he was shaken. But the tones rang more kindly than +any he had used for many a day, tremulous with affection. + +"What brought you back?" he demanded. + +Dick, too, had felt the tension of an emotion far beyond that of +the usual things. He was forced to clear his throat before he +answered with that assumption of nonchalance which he regarded as +befitting the occasion. + +"Why, I just wanted to come back home," he said; lightly. A +sudden recollection came to give him poise in this time of +emotional disturbance, and he added hastily: "And, for the love +of heaven, give Sadie five dollars. I borrowed it from her to pay +the taxi'. You see, Dad, I'm broke." + +"Of course!" With the saying, Edward Gilder roared Gargantuan +laughter. In the burst of merriment, his pent feelings found +their vent. He was still chuckling when he spoke, sage from much +experience of ocean travel. "Poker on the ship, I suppose." + +The young man, too, smiled reminiscently as he answered: + +"No, not that, though I did have a little run in at Monte Carlo. +But it was the ship that finished me, at that. You see, Dad, +they hired Captain Kidd and a bunch of pirates as stewards, and +what they did to little Richard was something fierce. And yet, +that wasn't the real trouble, either. The fact is, I just +naturally went broke. Not a hard thing to do on the other side." + +"Nor on this," the father interjected, dryly. + +"Anyhow, it doesn't matter much," Dick replied, quite unabashed. +"Tell me, Dad, how goes it?" + +Gilder settled himself again in his chair, and gazed benignantly +on his son. + +"Pretty well," he said contentedly; "pretty well, son. I'm glad +to see you home again, my boy." There was a great tenderness in +the usually rather cold gray eyes. + +The young man answered promptly, with delight in his manner of +speech, and a sincerity that revealed the underlying merit of his +nature. + +"And I'm glad to be home, Dad, to be"--there was again that +clearing of the throat, but he finished bravely--"with you." + +The father avoided a threatening display of emotion by an abrupt +change of subject to the trite. + +"Have a good time?" he inquired casually, while fumbling with +the papers on the desk. + +Dick's face broke in a smile of reminiscent happiness. + +"The time of my young life!" He paused, and the smile broadened. +There was a mighty enthusiasm in his voice as he continued: "I +tell you, Dad, it's a fact that I did almost break the bank at +Monte Carlo. I'd have done it sure, if only my money had held +out." + +"It seems to me that I've heard something of the sort before," +was Gilder's caustic comment. But his smile was still wholly +sympathetic. He took a curious vicarious delight in the +escapades of his son, probably because he himself had committed +no follies in his callow days. "Why didn't you cable me?" he +asked, puzzled at such restraint on the part of his son. + +Dick answered with simple sincerity. + +"Because it gave me a capital excuse for coming home." + +It was Sarah who afforded a diversion. She had known Dick while +he was yet a child, had bought him candy, had felt toward him a +maternal liking that increased rather than diminished as he grew +to manhood. Now, her face lighted at sight of him, and she smiled +a welcome. + +"I see you have found him," she said, with a ripple of laughter. + +Dick welcomed this interruption of the graver mood. + +"Sadie," he said, with a manner of the utmost seriousness, "you +are looking finer than ever. And how thin you have grown!" + +The girl, eager with fond fancies toward the slender ideal, +accepted the compliment literally. + +"Oh, Mr. Dick!" she exclaimed, rapturously. "How much do you +think I have lost?" + +The whimsical heir of the house of Gilder surveyed his victim +critically, then spoke with judicial solemnity. + +"About two ounces, Sadie." + +There came a look of deep hurt on Sadie's face at the flippant +jest, which Dick himself was quick to note. + +He had not guessed she was thus acutely sensitive concerning her +plumpness. Instantly, he was all contrition over his unwitting +offense inflicted on her womanly vanity. + +"Oh, I'm sorry, Sadie," he exclaimed penitently. "Please don't be +really angry with me. Of course, I didn't mean----" + +"To twit on facts!" the secretary interrupted, bitterly. + +"Pooh!" Dick cried, craftily. "You aren't plump enough to be +sensitive about it. Why, you're just right." There was +something very boyish about his manner, as he caught at the +girl's arm. A memory of the days when she had cuddled him caused +him to speak warmly, forgetting the presence of his father. +"Now, don't be angry, Sadie. Just give me a little kiss, as you +used to do." He swept her into his arms, and his lips met hers +in a hearty caress. "There!" he cried. "Just to show there's no +ill feeling." + +The girl was completely mollified, though in much embarrassment. + +"Why, Mr. Dick!" she stammered, in confusion. "Why, Mr. Dick!" + +Gilder, who had watched the scene in great astonishment, now +interposed to end it. + +"Stop, Dick!" he commanded, crisply. "You are actually making +Sarah blush. I think that's about enough, son." + +But a sudden unaccustomed gust of affection swirled in the breast +of the lad. Plain Anglo-Saxon as he was, with all that implies +as to the avoidance of displays of emotion, nevertheless he had +been for a long time in lands far from home, where the habits of +impulsive and affectionate peoples were radically unlike our own +austerer forms. So now, under the spur of an impulse suggested +by the dalliance with the buxom secretary, he grinned widely and +went to his father. + +"A little kiss never hurts any one," he declared, blithely. Then +he added vivaciously: "Here, I'll show you!" + +With the words, he clasped his arms around his father's neck, +and, before that amazed gentleman could understand his purpose, +he had kissed soundly first the one cheek and then the other, +each with a hearty, wholesome smack of filial piety. This done, +he stood back, still beaming happily, while the astounded Sarah +tittered bewilderedly. For his own part, Dick was quite +unashamed. He loved his father. For once, he had expressed that +fondness in a primitive fashion, and he was glad. + +The older man withdrew a step, and there rested motionless, under +the sway of an emotion akin to dismay. He stood staring intently +at his son with a perplexity in his expression that was almost +ludicrous. When, at last, he spoke, his voice was a rumble of +strangely shy pleasure. + +"God bless my soul!" he exclaimed, violently. Then he raised a +hand, and rubbed first one cheek, and after it its fellow, with a +gentleness that was significant. The feeling provoked by the +embrace showed plainly in his next words. "Why, that's the first +time you have kissed me, Dick, since you were a little boy. God +bless my soul!" he repeated. And now there was a note of +jubilation. + +The son, somewhat disturbed by this emotion he had aroused, +nevertheless answered frankly with the expression of his own +feeling, as he advanced and laid a hand on his father's shoulder. + +"The fact is, Dad," he said quietly, with a smile that was good +to see, "I am awfully glad to see you again." + +"Are you, son?" the father cried happily. Then, abruptly his +manner changed, for he felt himself perilously close to the +maudlin in this new yielding to sentimentality. Such kisses of +tenderness, however agreeable in themselves, were hardly fitting +to one of his dignity. "You clear out of here, boy," he +commanded, brusquely. "I'm a working man. But here, wait a +minute," he added. He brought forth from a pocket a neat sheaf +of banknotes, which he held out. "There's carfare for you," he +said with a chuckle. "And now clear out. I'll see you at +dinner." + +Dick bestowed the money in his pocket, and again turned toward +the door. + +"You can always get rid of me on the same terms," he remarked +slyly. And then the young man gave evidence that he, too, had +some of his father's ability in things financial. For, in the +doorway he turned with a final speech, which was uttered in +splendid disregard for the packet of money he had just +received--perhaps, rather, in a splendid regard for it. "Oh, +Dad, please don't forget to give Sadie that five dollars I +borrowed from her for the taxi'." And with that impertinent +reminder he was gone. + +The owner of the store returned to his labors with a new zest, +for the meeting with his son had put him in high spirits. +Perhaps it might have been better for Mary Turner had she come to +him just then, while he was yet in this softened mood. But fate +had ordained that other events should restore him to his usual +harder self before their interview. The effect was, indeed, +presently accomplished by the advent of Smithson into the office. +He entered with an expression of discomfiture on his rather +vacuous countenance. He walked almost nimbly to the desk and +spoke with evident distress, as his employer looked up +interrogatively. + +"McCracken has detained--er--a--lady, sir," he said, feebly. +"She has been searched, and we have found about a hundred dollars +worth of laces on her." + +"Well?" Gilder demanded, impatiently. Such affairs were too +common in the store to make necessary this intrusion of the +matter on him. "Why did you come to me about it?" His staff +knew just what to do with shoplifters. + +At once, Smithson became apologetic, while refusing to retreat. + +"I'm very sorry, sir," he said haltingly, "but I thought it +wiser, sir, to--er--to bring the matter to your personal +attention." + +"Quite unnecessary, Smithson," Gilder returned, with asperity. +"You know my views on the subject of property. Tell McCracken to +have the thief arrested." + +Smithson cleared his throat doubtfully, and in his stress of +feeling he even relaxed a trifle that majestical erectness of +carriage that had made him so valuable as a floor-walker. + +"She's not exactly a--er--a thief," he ventured. + +"You are trifling, Smithson," the owner of the store exclaimed, +in high exasperation. "Not a thief! And you caught her with a +hundred dollars worth of laces that she hadn't bought. Not a +thief! What in heaven's name do you call her, then?" + +"A kleptomaniac," Smithson explained, retaining his manner of +mild insistence. "You see, sir, it's this way. The lady happens +to be the wife of J. W. Gaskell, the banker, you know." + +Yes, Gilder did know. The mention of the name was like a spell +in the effect it wrought on the attitude of the irritated owner +of the store. Instantly, his expression changed. While before +his features had been set grimly, while his eyes had flashed +wrathfully, there was now only annoyance over an event markedly +unfortunate. + +"How extremely awkward!" he cried; and there was a very real +concern in his voice. He regarded Smithson kindly, whereat that +rather puling gentleman once again assumed his martial bearing. +"You were quite right in coming to me." For a moment he was +silent, plunged in thought. Finally he spoke with the +decisiveness characteristic of him. "Of course, there's nothing +we can do. Just put the stuff back on the counter, and let her +go." + +But Smithson had not yet wholly unburdened himself. Instead of +immediately leaving the room in pursuance of the succinct +instructions given him, he again cleared his throat nervously, +and made known a further aggravating factor in the situation. + +"She's very angry, Mr. Gilder," he announced, timidly. +"She--er--she demands an--er--an apology." + +The owner of the store half-rose from his chair, then threw +himself back with an exclamation of disgust. He again ejaculated +the words with which he had greeted his son's unexpected kisses, +but now there was a vast difference in the intonation. + +"God bless my soul!" he cried. From his expression, it was clear +that a pious aspiration was farthest from his thought. On the +contrary! Again, he fell silent, considering the situation which +Smithson had presented, and, as he reflected, his frown betrayed +the emotion natural enough under the circumstances. At last, +however, he mastered his irritation to some degree, and spoke his +command briefly. "Well, Smithson, apologize to her. It can't be +helped." Then his face lighted with a sardonic amusement. "And, +Smithson," he went on with a sort of elephantine playfulness, "I +shall take it as a personal favor if you will tactfully advise +the lady that the goods at Altman and Stern's are really even +finer than ours." + +When Smithson had left the office, Gilder turned to his +secretary. + +"Take this," he directed, and he forthwith dictated the following +letter to the husband of the lady who was not a thief, as +Smithson had so painstakingly pointed out: + +"J. W. GASKELL, ESQ., "Central National Bank, New York. + +"MY DEAR Mr. GASKELL: I feel that I should be doing less than my +duty as a man if I did not let you know at once that Mrs. Gaskell +is in urgent need of medical attention. She came into our store +to-day, and----" + +He paused for a moment. "No, put it this way," he said finally: + +"We found her wandering about our store to-day in a very nervous +condition. In her excitement, she carried away about one hundred +dollars' worth of rare laces. Not recognizing her, our store +detective detained her for a short time. Fortunately for us all, +Mrs. Gaskell was able to explain who she was, and she has just +gone to her home. Hoping for Mrs. Gaskell's speedy recovery, and +with all good wishes, I am, "Yours very +truly." + +Yet, though he had completed the letter, Gilder did not at once +take up another detail of his business. Instead, he remained +plunged in thought, and now his frown was one of simple +bewilderment. A number of minutes passed before he spoke, and +then his words revealed distinctly what had been his train of +meditation. + +"Sadie," he said in a voice of entire sincerity, "I can't +understand theft. It's a thing absolutely beyond my +comprehension." + +On the heels of this ingenuous declaration, Smithson entered the +office, and that excellent gentleman appeared even more perturbed +than before. + +"What on earth is the matter now?" Gilder spluttered, +suspiciously. + +"It's Mrs. Gaskell still," Smithson replied in great trepidation. +"She wants you personally, Mr. Gilder, to apologize to her. She +says that the action taken against her is an outrage, and she is +not satisfied with the apologies of all the rest of us. She says +you must make one, too, and that the store detective must be +discharged for intolerable insolence." + +Gilder bounced up from his chair angrily. + +"I'll be damned if I'll discharge McCracken," he vociferated, +glaring on Smithson, who shrank visibly. + +But that mild and meek man had a certain strength of pertinacity. +Besides, in this case, he had been having multitudinous troubles +of his own, which could be ended only by his employer's placating +of the offended kleptomaniac. + +"But about the apology, Mr. Gilder," he reminded, speaking very +deferentially, yet with insistence. + +Business instinct triumphed over the magnate's irritation, and +his face cleared. + +"Oh, I'll apologize," he said with a wry smile of discomfiture. +"I'll make things even up a bit when I get an apology from +Gaskell. I shrewdly suspect that that estimable gentleman is +going to eat humble pie, of my baking, from his wife's recipe. +And his will be an honest apology--which mine won't, not by a +damned sight!" With the words, he left the room, in his wake a +hugely relieved Smithson. + +Alone in the office, Sarah neglected her work for a few minutes +to brood over the startling contrast of events that had just +forced itself on her attention. She was not a girl given to the +analysis of either persons or things, but in this instance the +movement of affairs had come close to her, and she was compelled +to some depth of feeling by the two aspects of life on which +to-day she looked. In the one case, as she knew it, a girl under +the urge of poverty had stolen. That thief had been promptly +arrested, finally she had been tried, had been convicted, had +been sentenced to three years in prison. In the other case, a +woman of wealth had stolen. There had been no punishment. A +euphemism of kleptomania had been offered and accepted as +sufficient excuse for her crime. A polite lie had been written +to her husband, a banker of power in the city. To her, the +proprietor of the store was even now apologizing in courteous +phrases of regret.... And Mary Turner had been sentenced to three +years in prison. Sadie shook her head in dolorous doubt, as she +again bent over the keys of her typewriter. Certainly, some +happenings in this world of ours did not seem quite fair. + + + +CHAPTER V. THE VICTIM OF THE LAW. + +It was on this same day that Sarah, on one of her numerous trips +through the store in behalf of Gilder, was accosted by a +salesgirl, whose name, Helen Morris, she chanced to know. It was +in a spot somewhere out of the crowd, so that for the moment the +two were practically alone. The salesgirl showed signs of +embarrassment as she ventured to lay a detaining hand on Sarah's +arm, but she maintained her position, despite the secretary's +manner of disapproval. + +"What on earth do you want?" Sarah inquired, snappishly. + +The salesgirl put her question at once. + +"What did they do to Mary Turner?" + +"Oh, that!" the secretary exclaimed, with increased impatience +over the delay, for she was very busy, as always. "You will all +know soon enough." + +"Tell me now." The voice of the girl was singularly compelling; +there was something vividly impressive about her just now, though +her pallid, prematurely mature face and the thin figure in the +regulation black dress and white apron showed ordinarily only +insignificant. "Tell me now," she repeated, with a monotonous +emphasis that somehow moved Sarah to obedience against her will, +greatly to her own surprise. + +"They sent her to prison for three years," she answered, sharply. + +"Three years?" The salesgirl had repeated the words in a tone +that was indefinable, yet a tone vehement in its incredulous +questioning. "Three years?" she said again, as one refusing to +believe. + +"Yes," Sarah said, impressed by the girl's earnestness; "three +years." + +"Good God!" There was no irreverence in the exclamation that +broke from the girl's lips. Instead, only a tense horror that +touched to the roots of emotion. + +Sarah regarded this display of feeling on the part of the young +woman before her with an increasing astonishment. It was not in +her own nature to be demonstrative, and such strong expression of +emotion as this she deemed rather suspicious. She recalled, in +addition, the fact that his was not the first time that Helen +Morris had shown a particular interest in the fate of Mary +Turner. Sarah wondered why. + +"Say," she demanded, with the directness habitual to her, "why +are you so anxious about it? This is the third time you have +asked me about Mary Turner. What's it to you, I'd like to know?" + +The salesgirl started violently, and a deep flush drove the +accustomed pallor from her cheeks. She was obviously much +disturbed by the question. + +"What is it to me?" she repeated in an effort to gain time. +"Why, nothing--nothing at all!" Her expression of distress +lightened a little as she hit on an excuse that might serve to +justify her interest. "Nothing at all, only--she's a friend of +mine, a great friend of mine. Oh, yes!" Then, in an instant, the +look of relief vanished, as once again the terrible reality +hammered on her consciousness, and an overwhelming dejection +showed in the dull eyes and in the drooping curves of the white +lips. There was a monotone of desolation as she went on speaking +in a whisper meant for the ears of no other. "It's awful--three +years! Oh, I didn't understand! It's awful!--awful!" With the +final word, she hurried off, her head bowed. She was still +murmuring brokenly, incoherently. Her whole attitude was of +wondering grief. + +Sarah stared after the girl in complete mystification. She could +not at first guess any possible cause for an emotion so poignant. +Presently, however, her shrewd, though very prosaic, commonsense +suggested a simple explanation of the girl's extraordinary +distress. + +"I'll bet that girl has been tempted to steal. But she didn't, +because she was afraid." With this satisfactory conclusion of +her wonderment, the secretary hurried on her way, quite content. +It never occurred to her that the girl might have been tempted to +steal--and had not resisted the temptation. + +It was on account of this brief conversation with the salesgirl +that Sarah was thinking intently of Mary Turner, after her return +to the office, from which Gilder himself happened to be absent +for the moment. As the secretary glanced up at the opening of +the door, she did not at first recognize the figure outlined +there. She remembered Mary Turner as a tall, slender girl, who +showed an underlying vitality in every movement, a girl with a +face of regular features, in which was a complexion of blended +milk and roses, with a radiant joy of life shining through all +her arduous and vulgar conditions. Instead of this, now, she saw +a frail form that stood swaying in the opening of the doorway, +that bent in a sinister fashion which told of bodily impotence, +while the face was quite bloodless. And, too, there was over all +else a pall of helplessness--helplessness that had endured much, +and must still endure infinitely more. + +As a reinforcement of the dread import of that figure of wo, a +man stood beside it, and one of his hands was clasped around the +girl's wrist, a man who wore his derby hat somewhat far back on +his bullet-shaped head, whose feet were conspicuous in shoes with +very heavy soles and very square toes. + +It was the man who now took charge of the situation. Cassidy, +from Headquarters, spoke in a rough, indifferent voice, well +suited to his appearance of stolid strength. + +"The District Attorney told me to bring this girl here on my way +to the Grand Central Station with her." + +Sarah got to her feet mechanically. Somehow, from the raucous +notes of the policeman's voice, she understood in a flash of +illumination that the pitiful figure there in the doorway was +that of Mary Turner, whom she had remembered so different, so +frightfully different. She spoke with a miserable effort toward +her usual liveliness. + +"Mr. Gilder will be right back. Come in and wait." She wished +to say something more, something of welcome or of mourning, to +the girl there, but she found herself incapable of a single word +for the moment, and could only stand dumb while the man stepped +forward, with his charge following helplessly in his clutch. + +The two went forward very slowly, the officer, carelessly +conscious of his duty, walking with awkward steps to suit the +feeble movements of the girl, the girl letting herself be dragged +onward, aware of the futility of any resistance to the inexorable +power that now had her in its grip, of which the man was the +present agent. As the pair came thus falteringly into the center +of the room, Sarah at last found her voice for an expression of +sympathy. + +"I'm sorry, Mary," she said, hesitatingly. "I'm terribly sorry, +terribly sorry!" + +The girl, who had halted when the officer halted, as a matter of +course, did not look up. She stood still, swaying a little as if +from weakness. Her voice was lifeless. + +"Are you?" she said. "I did not know. Nobody has been near me +the whole time I have been in the Tombs." There was infinite +pathos in the tones as she repeated the words so fraught with +dreadfulness. "Nobody has been near me!" + +The secretary felt a sudden glow of shame. She realized the +justice of that unconscious accusation, for, till to-day, she had +had no thought of the suffering girl there in the prison. To +assuage remorse, she sought to give evidence as to a prevalent +sympathy. + +"Why," she exclaimed, "there was Helen Morris to-day! She has +been asking about you again and again. She's all broken up over +your trouble." + +But the effort on the secretary's part was wholly without +success. + +"Who is Helen Morris?" the lifeless voice demanded. There was no +interest in the question. + +Sarah experienced a momentary astonishment, for she was still +remembering the feverish excitement displayed by the salesgirl, +who had declared herself to be a most intimate friend of the +convict. But the mystery was to remain unsolved, since Gilder +now entered the office. He walked with the quick, bustling +activity that was ordinarily expressed in his every movement. He +paused for an instant, as he beheld the two visitors in the +center of the room, then he spoke curtly to the secretary, while +crossing to his chair at the desk. + +"You may go, Sarah. I will ring when I wish you again." + +There followed an interval of silence, while the secretary was +leaving the office and the girl with her warder stood waiting on +his pleasure. Gilder cleared his throat twice in an +embarrassment foreign to him, before finally he spoke to the +girl. At last, the proprietor of the store expressed himself in +a voice of genuine sympathy, for the spectacle of wo presented +there before his very eyes moved him to a real distress, since it +was indeed actual, something that did not depend on an +appreciation to be developed out of imagination. + +"My girl," Gilder said gently--his hard voice was softened by an +honest regret--"my girl, I am sorry about this." + +"You should be!" came the instant answer. Yet, the words were +uttered with a total lack of emotion. It seemed from their +intonation that the speaker voiced merely a statement concerning +a recondite matter of truth, with which sentiment had nothing +whatever to do. But the effect on the employer was unfortunate. +It aroused at once his antagonism against the girl. His instinct +of sympathy with which he had greeted her at the outset was +repelled, and made of no avail. Worse, it was transformed into +an emotion hostile to the one who thus offended him by rejection +of the well-meant kindliness of his address + +"Come, come!" he exclaimed, testily. "That's no tone to take +with me." + +"Why? What sort of tone do you expect me to take?" was the +retort in the listless voice. Yet, now, in the dullness ran a +faint suggestion of something sinister. + +"I expected a decent amount of humility from one in your +position," was the tart rejoinder of the magnate. + +Life quickened swiftly in the drooping form of the girl. Her +muscles tensed. She stood suddenly erect, in the vigor of her +youth again. Her face lost in the same second its bleakness of +pallor. The eyes opened widely, with startling abruptness, and +looked straight into those of the man who had employed her. + +"Would you be humble," she demanded, and now her voice was become +softly musical, yet forbidding, too, with a note of passion, +"would you be humble if you were going to prison for three +years--for something you didn't do?" + +There was anguish in the cry torn from the girl's throat in the +sudden access of despair. The words thrilled Gilder beyond +anything that he had supposed possible in such case. He found +himself in this emergency totally at a loss, and moved in his +chair doubtfully, wishing to say something, and quite unable. He +was still seeking some question, some criticism, some rebuke, +when he was unfeignedly relieved to hear the policeman's harsh +voice. + +"Don't mind her, sir," Cassidy said. He meant to make his manner +very reassuring. "They all say that. They are innocent, of +course! Yep--they all say it. It don't do 'em any good, but just +the same they all swear they're innocent. They keep it up to the +very last, no matter how right they've been got." + +The voice of the girl rang clear. There was a note of insistence +that carried a curious dignity of its own. The very simplicity +of her statement might have had a power to convince one who +listened without prejudice, although the words themselves were of +the trite sort that any protesting criminal might utter. + +"I tell you, I didn't do it!" + +Gilder himself felt the surge of emotion that swung through these +moments, but he would not yield to it. With his lack of +imagination, he could not interpret what this time must mean to +the girl before him. Rather, he merely deemed it his duty to +carry through this unfortunate affair with a scrupulous attention +to detail, in the fashion that had always been characteristic of +him during the years in which he had steadily mounted from the +bottom to the top. + +"What's the use of all this pretense?" he demanded, sharply. +"You were given a fair trial, and there's an end of it." + +The girl, standing there so feebly, seeming indeed to cling for +support to the man who always held her thus closely by the wrist, +spoke again with an astonishing clearness, even with a sort of +vivacity, as if she explained easily something otherwise in +doubt. + +"Oh, no, I wasn't!" she contradicted bluntly, with a singular +confidence of assertion. "Why, if the trial had been fair, I +shouldn't be here." + +The harsh voice of Cassidy again broke in on the passion of the +girl with a professional sneer. + +"That's another thing they all say." + +But the girl went on speaking fiercely, impervious to the man's +coarse sarcasm, her eyes, which had deepened almost to purple, +still fixed piercingly on Gilder, who, for some reason wholly +inexplicable to him, felt himself strangely disturbed under that +regard. + +"Do you call it fair when the lawyer I had was only a boy--one +whom the court told me to take, a boy trying his first case--my +case, that meant the ruin of my life? My lawyer! Why, he was +just getting experience--getting it at my expense!" The girl +paused as if exhausted by the vehemence of her emotion, and at +last the sparkling eyes drooped and the heavy lids closed over +them. She swayed a little, so that the officer tightened his +clasp on her wrist. + +There followed a few seconds of silence. Then Gilder made an +effort to shake off the feeling that had so possessed him, and to +a certain degree he succeeded. + +"The jury found you guilty," he asserted, with an attempt to make +his voice magisterial in its severity. + +Instantly, Mary was aroused to a new outburst of protest. Once +again, her eyes shot their fires at the man seated behind the +desk, and she went forward a step imperiously, dragging the +officer in her wake. + +"Yes, the jury found me guilty," she agreed, with fine scorn in +the musical cadences of her voice. "Do you know why? I can tell +you, Mr. Gilder. It was because they had been out for three +hours without reaching a decision. The evidence didn't seem to +be quite enough for some of them, after all. Well, the judge +threatened to lock them up all night. The men wanted to get +home. The easy thing to do was to find me guilty, and let it go +at that. Was that fair, do you think? And that's not all, +either. Was it fair of you, Mr. Gilder? Was it fair of you to +come to the court this morning, and tell the judge that I should +be sent to prison as a warning to others?" + +A quick flush burned on the massive face of the man whom she thus +accused, and his eyes refused to meet her steady gaze of +reproach. + +"You know!" he exclaimed, in momentary consternation. Again, her +mood had affected his own, so that through a few hurrying seconds +he felt himself somehow guilty of wrong against this girl, so +frank and so rebuking. + +"I heard you in the courtroom," she said. "The dock isn't very +far from the bench where you spoke to the judge about my case. +Yes, I heard you. It wasn't: Did I do it? Or, didn't I do it? +No; it was only that I must be made a warning to others." + +Again, silence fell for a tense interval. Then, finally, the +girl spoke in a different tone. Where before her voice had been +vibrant with the instinct of complaint against the mockery of +justice under which she suffered, now there was a deeper note, +that of most solemn truth. + +"Mr. Gilder," she said simply, "as God is my judge, I am going to +prison for three years for something I didn't do." + +But the sincerity of her broken cry fell on unheeding ears. The +coarse nature of the officer had long ago lost whatever elements +of softness there might have been to develop in a gentler +occupation. As for the owner of the store, he was not +sufficiently sensitive to feel the verity in the accents of the +speaker. Moreover, he was a man who followed the conventional, +with never a distraction due to imagination and sympathy. Just +now, too, he was experiencing a keen irritation against himself +because of the manner in which he had been sensible to the +influence of her protestation, despite his will to the contrary. +That irritation against himself only reacted against the girl, +and caused him to steel his heart to resist any tendency toward +commiseration. So, this declaration of innocence was made quite +in vain--indeed, served rather to strengthen his disfavor toward +the complainant, and to make his manner harsher when she voiced +the pitiful question over which she had wondered and grieved. + +"Why did you ask the judge to send me to prison?" + +"The thieving that has been going on in this store for over a +year has got to stop," Gilder answered emphatically, with all his +usual energy of manner restored. As he spoke, he raised his eyes +and met the girl's glance fairly. Thought of the robberies was +quite enough to make him pitiless toward the offender. + +"Sending me to prison won't stop it," Mary Turner said, drearily. + +"Perhaps not," Gilder sternly retorted. "But the discovery and +punishment of the other guilty ones will." His manner changed to +a business-like alertness. "You sent word to me that you could +tell me how to stop the thefts in the store. Well, my girl, do +this, and, while I can make no definite promise, I'll see what +can be done about getting you out of your present difficulty." +He picked up a pencil, pulled a pad of blank paper convenient to +his hand, and looked at the girl expectantly, with aggressive +inquiry in his gaze. "Tell me now," he concluded, "who were your +pals?" + +The matter-of-fact manner of this man who had unwittingly wronged +her so frightfully was the last straw on the girl's burden of +suffering. Under it, her patient endurance broke, and she cried +out in a voice of utter despair that caused Gilder to start +nervously, and even impelled the stolid officer to a frown of +remonstrance. + +"I have no pals!" she ejaculated, furiously. "I never stole +anything in my life. Must I go on telling you over and over +again?" Her voice rose in a wail of misery. "Oh, why won't any +one believe me?" + +Gilder was much offended by this display of an hysterical grief, +which seemed to his phlegmatic temperament altogether unwarranted +by the circumstances. He spoke decisively. + +"Unless you can control yourself, you must go." He pushed away +the pad of paper, and tossed the pencil aside in physical +expression of his displeasure. "Why did you send that message, +if you have nothing to say?" he demanded, with increasing +choler. + +But now the girl had regained her former poise. She stood a +little drooping and shaken, where for a moment she had been erect +and tensed. There was a vast weariness in her words as she +answered. + +"I have something to tell you, Mr. Gilder," she said, quietly. +"Only, I--I sort of lost my grip on the way here, with this man +by my side." + +"Most of 'em do, the first time," the officer commented, with a +certain grim appreciation. + +"Well?" Gilder insisted querulously, as the girl hesitated. + +At once, Mary went on speaking, and now a little increase of +vigor trembled in her tones. + +"When you sit in a cell for three months waiting for your trial, +as I did, you think a lot. And, so, I got the idea that if I +could talk to you, I might be able to make you understand what's +really wrong. And if I could do that, and so help out the other +girls, what has happened to me would not, after all, be quite so +awful--so useless, somehow." Her voice lowered to a quick +pleading, and she bent toward the man at the desk. "Mr. Gilder," +she questioned, "do you really want to stop the girls from +stealing?" + +"Most certainly I do," came the forcible reply. + +The girl spoke with a great earnestness, deliberately. + +"Then, give them a fair chance." + +The magnate stared in sincere astonishment over this absurd, this +futile suggestion for his guidance. + +"What do you mean?" he vociferated, with rising indignation. +There was an added hostility in his demeanor, for it seemed to +him that this thief of his goods whom he had brought to justice +was daring to trifle with him. He grew wrathful over the +suspicion, but a secret curiosity still held his temper within +bounds "What do you mean?" he repeated; and now the full force +of his strong voice set the room trembling. + +The tones of the girl came softly musical, made more delicately +resonant to the ear by contrast with the man's roaring. + +"Why," she said, very gently, "I mean just this: Give them a +living chance to be honest." + +"A living chance!" The two words were exploded with dynamic +violence. The preposterousness of the advice fired Gilder with +resentment so pervasive that through many seconds he found +himself unable to express the rage that flamed within him. + +The girl showed herself undismayed by his anger. + +"Yes," she went on, quietly; "that's all there is to it. Give +them a living chance to get enough food to eat, and a decent room +to sleep in, and shoes that will keep their feet off the pavement +winter mornings. Do you think that any girl wants to steal? Do +you think that any girl wants to risk----?" + +By this time, however, Gilder had regained his powers of speech, +and he interrupted stormily. + +"And is this what you have taken up my time for? You want to +make a maudlin plea for guilty, dishonest girls, when I thought +you really meant to bring me facts." + +Nevertheless, Mary went on with her arraignment uncompromisingly. +There was a strange, compelling energy in her inflections that +penetrated even the pachydermatous officer, so that, though he +thought her raving, he let her rave on, which was not at all his +habit of conduct, and did indeed surprise him mightily. As for +Gilder, he felt helpless in some puzzling fashion that was +totally foreign to his ordinary self. He was still glowing with +wrath over the method by which he had been victimized into giving +the girl a hearing. Yet, despite his chagrin, he realized that +he could not send her from him forthwith. By some inexplicable +spell she bound him impotent. + +"We work nine hours a day," the quiet voice went on, a curious +pathos in the rich timbre of it; "nine hours a day, for six days +in the week. That's a fact, isn't it? And the trouble is, an +honest girl can't live on six dollars a week. She can't do it, +and buy food and clothes, and pay room-rent and carfare. That's +another fact, isn't it?" + +Mary regarded the owner of the store with grave questioning in +her violet eyes. Under the urgency of emotion, color crept into +the pallid cheeks, and now her face was very beautiful--so +beautiful, indeed, that for a little the charm of its loveliness +caught the man's gaze, and he watched her with a new respect, +born of appreciation for her feminine delightfulness. The +impression was far too brief. Gilder was not given to esthetic +raptures over women. Always, the business instinct was the +dominant. So, after the short period of amazed admiration over +such unexpected winsomeness, his thoughts flew back angrily to +the matters whereof she spoke so ridiculously. + +"I don't care to discuss these things," he declared peremptorily, +as the girl remained silent for a moment. + +"And I have no wish to discuss anything," Mary returned evenly. +"I only want to give you what you asked for--facts." A faint +smile of reminiscence curved the girl's lips. "When they first +locked me up," she explained, without any particular evidence of +emotion, "I used to sit and hate you." + +"Oh, of course!" came the caustic exclamation from Gilder. + +"And then, I thought that perhaps you did not understand," Mary +continued; "that, if I were to tell you how things really are, it +might be you would change them somehow." + +At this ingenuous statement, the owner of the store gave forth a +gasp of sheer stupefaction. + +"I!" he cried, incredulously. "I change my business policy +because you ask me to!" + +There was something imperturbable in the quality of the voice as +the girl went resolutely forward with her explanation. It was as +if she were discharging a duty not to be gainsaid, not to be +thwarted by any difficulty, not even the realization that all the +effort must be ultimately in vain. + +"Do you know how we girls live?--but, of course, you don't. +Three of us in one room, doing our own cooking over the +two-burner gas-stove, and our own washing and ironing evenings, +after being on our feet for nine hours." + +The enumeration of the sordid details left the employer +absolutely unmoved, since he lacked the imagination necessary to +sympathize actually with the straining evil of a life such as the +girl had known. Indeed, he spoke with an air of just +remonstrance, as if the girl's charges were mischievously faulty. + +"I have provided chairs behind the counters," he stated. + +There was no especial change in the girl's voice as she answered +his defense. It continued musically low, but there was in it the +insistent note of sincerity. + +"But have you ever seen a girl sitting in one of them?" she +questioned, coldly. "Please answer me. Have you? Of course +not," she said, after a little pause during which the owner had +remained silent. She shook her head in emphatic negation. "And +do you understand why? It's simply because every girl knows that +the manager of her department would think he could get along +without her, if he were to see her sitting down ----loafing, you +know! So, she would be discharged. All it amounts to is that, +after being on her feet for nine hours, the girl usually walks +home, in order to save carfare. Yes, she walks, whether sick or +well. Anyhow, you are generally so tired, it don't make much +difference which you are." + +Gilder was fuming under these strictures, which seemed to him +altogether baseless attacks on himself. His exasperation steadily +waxed against the girl, a convicted felon, who thus had the +audacity to beard him. + +"What has all this to do with the question of theft in the +store?" he rumbled, huffily. "That was the excuse for your +coming here. And, instead of telling me something, you rant +about gas-stoves and carfare." + +The inexorable voice went on in its monotone, as if he had not +spoken. + +"And, when you are really sick, and have to stop work, what are +you going to do then? Do you know, Mr. Gilder, that the first +time a straight girl steals, it's often because she had to have a +doctor--or some luxury like that? And some of them do worse than +steal. Yes, they do--girls that started straight, and wanted to +stay that way. But, of course, some of them get so tired of the +whole grind that--that----" + +The man who was the employer of hundreds concerning whom these +grim truths were uttered, stirred uneasily in his chair, and +there came a touch of color into the healthy brown of his cheeks +as he spoke his protest. + +"I'm not their guardian. I can't watch over them after they +leave the store. They are paid the current rate of wages--as +much as any other store pays." As he spoke, the anger provoked +by this unexpected assault on him out of the mouth of a convict +flamed high in virtuous repudiation. "Why," he went on +vehemently, "no man living does more for his employees than I do. +Who gave the girls their fine rest-rooms upstairs? I did! Who +gave them the cheap lunch-rooms? I did!" + +"But you won't pay them enough to live on!" The very fact that +the words were spoken without any trace of rancor merely made +this statement of indisputable truth obnoxious to the man, who +was stung to more savage resentment in asserting his impugned +self-righteousness. + +"I pay them the same as the other stores do," he repeated, +sullenly. + +Yet once again, the gently cadenced voice gave answer, an answer +informed with that repulsive insistence to the man who sought to +resist her indictment of him. + +"But you won't pay them enough to live on." The simple lucidity +of the charge forbade direct reply. + +Gilder betook himself to evasion by harking back to the +established ground of complaint. + +"And, so, you claim that you were forced to steal. That's the +plea you make for yourself and your friends." + +"I wasn't forced to steal," came the answer, spoken in the +monotone that had marked her utterance throughout most of the +interview. "I wasn't forced to steal, and I didn't steal. But, +all the same, that's the plea, as you call it, that I'm making +for the other girls. There are hundreds of them who steal +because they don't get enough to eat. I said I would tell you +how to stop the stealing. Well, I have done it. Give the girls +a fair chance to be honest. You asked me for the names, Mr. +Gilder. There's only one name on which to put the blame for the +whole business--and that name is Edward Gilder!... Now, won't you +do something about it?" + +At that naked question, the owner of the store jumped up from his +chair, and stood glowering at the girl who risked a request so +full of vituperation against himself. + +"How dare you speak to me like this?" he thundered. + +There was no disconcertion exhibited by the one thus challenged. +On the contrary, she repeated her question with a simple dignity +that still further outraged the man. + +"Won't you, please, do something about it?" + +"How dare you?" he shouted again. Now, there was stark wonder +in his eyes as he put the question. + +"Why, I dared," Mary Turner explained, "because you have done all +the harm you can to me. And, now, I'm trying to give you the +chance to do better by the others. You ask me why I dare. I +have a right to dare! I have been straight all my life. I have +wanted decent food and warm clothes, and--a little happiness, all +the time I have worked for you, and I have gone without those +things, just to stay straight.... The end of it all is: You are +sending me to prison for something I didn't do. That's why I +dare!" + +Cassidy, the officer in charge of Mary Turner, had stood +patiently beside her all this while, always holding her by the +wrist. He had been mildly interested in the verbal duel between +the big man of the department store and this convict in his own +keeping. Vaguely, he had marveled at the success of the frail +girl in declaiming of her injuries before the magnate. He had +felt no particular interest beyond that, merely looking on as one +might at any entertaining spectacle. The question at issue was +no concern of his. His sole business was to take the girl away +when the interview should be ended. It occurred to him now that +this might, in fact, be the time to depart. It seemed, indeed, +that the insistent reiteration of the girl had at last left he +owner of the store quite powerless to answer. It was possible, +then, that it were wiser the girl should be removed. With the +idea in mind, he stared inquiringly at Gilder until he caught +that flustered gentleman's eye. A nod from the magnate sufficed +him. Gilder, in truth, could not trust himself just then to an +audible command. He was seriously disturbed by the gently spoken +truths that had issued from the girl's lips. He was not prepared +with any answer, though he hotly resented every word of her +accusation. So, when he caught the question in the glance of the +officer, he felt a guilty sensation of relief as he signified an +affirmative by his gesture. + +Cassidy faced about, and in his movement there was a tug at the +wrist of the girl that set her moving toward the door. Her +realization of what this meant was shown in her final speech. + +"Oh, he can take me now," she said, bitterly. Then her voice +rose above the monotone that had contented her hitherto. Into +the music of her tones beat something sinister, evilly +vindictive, as she faced about at the doorway to which Cassidy +had led her. Her face, as she scrutinized once again the man at +the desk, was coldly malignant. + +"Three years isn't forever," she said, in a level voice. "When I +come out, you are going to pay for every minute of them, Mr. +Gilder. There won't be a day or an hour that I won't remember +that at the last it was your word sent me to prison. And you are +going to pay me for that. You are going to pay me for the five +years I have starved making money for you--that, too! You are +going to pay me for all the things I am losing today, and----" + +The girl thrust forth her left hand, on that side where stood the +officer. So vigorous was her movement that Cassidy's clasp was +thrown off the wrist. But the bond between the two was not +broken, for from wrist to wrist showed taut the steel chain of +the manacles. The girl shook the links of the handcuffs in a +gesture stronger than words. In her final utterance to the +agitated man at the desk, there was a cold threat, a prophecy of +disaster. From the symbol of her degradation, she looked to the +man whose action had placed it there. In the clashing of their +glances, hers won the victory, so that his eyes fell before the +menace in hers. + +"You are going to pay me for this!" she said. Her voice was +little more than a whisper, but it was loud in the listener's +heart. "Yes, you are going to pay--for this!" + + + +CHAPTER VI. INFERNO. + +They were grim years, those three during which Mary Turner served +her sentence in Burnsing. There was no time off for good +behavior. The girl learned soon that the favor of those set in +authority over her could only be won at a cost against which her +every maidenly instinct revolted. So, she went through the +inferno of days and nights in a dreariness of suffering that was +deadly. Naturally, the life there was altogether an evil thing. +There was the material ill ever present in the round of wearisome +physical toil, the coarse, distasteful food, the hard, narrow +couch, the constant, gnawing irksomeness of imprisonment, away +from light and air, away from all that makes life worth while. + +Yet, these afflictions were not the worst injuries to mar the +girl convict's life. That which bore upon her most weightily and +incessantly was the degradation of this environment from which +there was never any respite, the viciousness of this spot wherein +she had been cast through no fault of her own. Vileness was +everywhere, visibly in the faces of many, and it was brimming +from the souls of more, subtly hideous. The girl held herself +rigidly from any personal intimacy with her fellows. To some +extent, at least, she could separate herself from their +corruption in the matter of personal association. But, ever +present, there was a secret energy of vice that could not be +escaped so simply--nor, indeed, by any device; that breathed in +the spiritual atmosphere itself of the place. Always, this +mysterious, invisible, yet horribly potent, power of sin was like +a miasma throughout the prison. Always, it was striving to reach +her soul, to make her of its own. She fought the insidious, +fetid force as best she might. She was not evil by nature. She +had been well grounded in principles of righteousness. +Nevertheless, though she maintained the integrity of her +character, that character suffered from the taint. There +developed over the girl's original sensibility a shell of +hardness, which in time would surely come to make her less +scrupulous in her reckoning of right and wrong. + +Yet, as a rule, character remains the same throughout life as to +its prime essentials, and, in this case, Mary Turner at the end +of her term was vitally almost as wholesome as on the day when +she began the serving of the sentence. The change wrought in her +was chiefly of an external sort. The kindliness of her heart and +her desire for the seemly joys of life were unweakened. But over +the better qualities of her nature was now spread a crust of +worldly hardness, a denial of appeal to her sensibilities. It was +this that would eventually bring her perilously close to +contented companioning with crime. + +The best evidence of the fact that Mary Turner's soul was not +fatally soiled must be found in the fact that still, at the +expiration of her sentence, she was fully resolved to live +straight, as the saying is which she had quoted to Gilder. This, +too, in the face of sure knowledge as to the difficulties that +would beset the effort, and in the face of the temptations +offered to follow an easier path. + +There was, for example, Aggie Lynch, a fellow convict, with whom +she had a slight degree of acquaintance, nothing more. This +young woman, a criminal by training, offered allurements of +illegitimate employment in the outer world when they should be +free. Mary endured the companionship with this prisoner because +a sixth sense proclaimed the fact that here was one unmoral, +rather than immoral--and the difference is mighty. For that +reason, Aggie Lynch was not actively offensive, as were most of +the others. She was a dainty little blonde, with a baby face, in +which were set two light-blue eyes, of a sort to widen often in +demure wonder over most things in a surprising and naughty world. +She had been convicted of blackmail, and she made no pretense +even of innocence. Instead, she was inclined to boast over her +ability to bamboozle men at her will. She was a natural actress +of the ingenue role, and in that pose she could unfailingly +beguile the heart of the wisest of worldly men. + +Perhaps, the very keen student of physiognomy might have +discovered grounds for suspecting her demureness by reason of the +thick, level brows that cast a shadow on the bland innocence of +her face. For the rest, she possessed a knack of rather harmless +perversity, a fair smattering of grammar and spelling, and a +lively sense of humor within her own limitations, with a +particularly small intelligence in other directions. Her one art +was histrionics of the kind that made an individual appeal. In +such, she was inimitable. She had been reared in a criminal +family, which must excuse much. Long ago, she had lost track of +her father; her mother she had never known. Her one relation was +a brother of high standing as a pickpocket. One principal reason +of her success in leading on men to make fools of themselves over +her, to their everlasting regret afterward, lay in the fact that, +in spite of all the gross irregularities of her life, she +remained chaste. She deserved no credit for such restraint, +since it was a matter purely of temperament, not of resolve. + +The girl saw in Mary Turner the possibilities of a ladylike +personality that might mean much financial profit in the devious +ways of which she was a mistress. With the frankness +characteristic of her, she proceeded to paint glowing pictures of +a future shared to the undoing of ardent and fatuous swains. +Mary Turner listened with curiosity, but she was in no wise moved +to follow such a life, even though it did not necessitate +anything worse than a fraudulent playing at love, without +physical degradation. So, she steadfastly continued her +refusals, to the great astonishment of Aggie, who actually could +not understand in the least, even while she believed the other's +declaration of innocence of the crime for which she was serving a +sentence. But, for her own part, such innocence had nothing to +do with the matter. Where, indeed, could be the harm in making +some old sinner pay a round price for his folly? And always, in +response to every argument, Mary shook her head in negation. She +would live straight. + +Then, the heavy brows of Aggie would draw down a little, and the +baby face would harden. + +"You will find that you are up against a hell of a frost," she +would declare, brutally. + +Mary found the profane prophecy true. Back in New York, she +experienced a poverty more ravaging than any she had known in +those five lean years of her working in the store. She had been +absolutely penniless for two days, and without food through the +gnawing hours, when she at last found employment of the humblest +in a milliner's shop. Followed a blessed interval in which she +worked contentedly, happy over the meager stipend, since it +served to give her shelter and food honestly earned. + +But the ways of the police are not always those of ordinary +decency. In due time, an officer informed Mary's employer +concerning the fact of her record as a convict, and thereupon she +was at once discharged. The unfortunate victim of the law came +perilously close to despair then. Yet, her spirit triumphed, and +again she persevered in that resolve to live straight. Finally, +for the second time, she secured a cheap position in a cheap +shop--only to be again persecuted by the police, so that she +speedily lost the place. + +Nevertheless, indomitable in her purpose, she maintained the +struggle. A third time she obtained work, and there, after a +little, she told her employer, a candy manufacturer in a small +way, the truth as to her having been in prison. The man had a +kindly heart, and, in addition, he ran little risk in the matter, +so he allowed her to remain. When, presently, the police called +his attention to the girl's criminal record, he paid no heed to +their advice against retaining her services. But such action on +his part offended the greatness of the law's dignity. The police +brought pressure to bear on the man. They even called in the +assistance of Edward Gilder himself, who obligingly wrote a very +severe letter to the girl's employer. In the end, such tactics +alarmed the man. For the sake of his own interests, though +unwillingly enough, he dismissed Mary from his service. + +It was then that despair did come upon the girl. She had tried +with all the strength of her to live straight. Yet, despite her +innocence, the world would not let her live according to her own +conscience. It demanded that she be the criminal it had branded +her--if she were to live at all. So, it was despair! For she +would not turn to evil, and without such turning she could not +live. She still walked the streets falteringly, seeking some +place; but her heart was gone from the quest. Now, she was +sunken in an apathy that saved her from the worst pangs of +misery. She had suffered so much, so poignantly, that at last +her emotions had grown sluggish. She did not mind much even when +her tiny hoard of money was quite gone, and she roamed the city, +starving.... Came an hour when she thought of the river, and was +glad! + +Mary remembered, with a wan smile, how, long ago, she had thought +with amazed horror of suicide, unable to imagine any trouble +sufficient to drive one to death as the only relief. Now, +however, the thing was simple to her. Since there was nothing +else, she must turn to that--to death. Indeed, it was so very +simple, so final, and so easy, after the agonies she had endured, +that she marveled over her own folly in not having sought such +escape before.... Even with the first wild fancy, she had +unconsciously bent her steps westward toward the North River. +Now, she quickened her pace, anxious for the plunge that should +set the term to sorrow. In her numbed brain was no flicker of +thought as to whatever might come to her afterward. Her sole +guide was that compelling passion of desire to be done with this +unbearable present. Nothing else mattered--not in the least! + +So, she came through the long stretch of ill-lighted streets, +crossed some railroad tracks to a pier, over which she hurried to +the far end, where it projected out to the fiercer currents of +the Hudson. There, without giving herself a moment's pause for +reflection or hesitation, she leaped out as far as her strength +permitted into the coil of waters.... But, in that final second, +natural terror in the face of death overcame the lethargy of +despair--a shriek burst from her lips. + +But for that scream of fear, the story of Mary Turner had ended +there and then. Only one person was anywhere near to catch the +sound. And that single person heard. On the south side of the +pier a man had just tied up a motor-boat. He stood up in alarm +at the cry, and was just in time to gain a glimpse of a white +face under the dim moonlight as it swept down with the tide, two +rods beyond him. On the instant, he threw off his coat and +sprang far out after the drifting body. He came to it in a few +furious strokes, caught it. Then began the savage struggle to +save her and himself. The currents tore at him wrathfully, but he +fought against them with all the fierceness of his nature. He +had strength a-plenty, but it needed all of it, and more, to win +out of the river's hungry clutch. What saved the two of them was +the violent temper of the man. Always, it had been the demon to +set him aflame. To-night, there in the faint light, within the +grip of the waters, he was moved to insensate fury against the +element that menaced. His rage mounted, and gave him new power +in the battle. Maniacal strength grew out of supreme wrath. +Under the urge of it, he conquered--at last brought himself and +his charge to the shore. + +When, finally, the rescuer was able to do something more than +gasp chokingly, he gave anxious attention to the woman whom he +had brought out from the river. Yet, at the outset, he could not +be sure that she still lived. She had shown no sign of life at +any time since he had first seized her. That fact had been of +incalculable advantage to him in his efforts to reach the shore +with her. Now, however, it alarmed him mightily, though it +hardly seemed possible that she could have drowned. So far as he +could determine, she: had not even sunk once beneath the surface. +Nevertheless, she displayed no evidence of vitality, though he +chafed her hands for a long time. The shore here was very +lonely; it would take precious time to summon aid. It seemed, +notwithstanding, that this must be the only course. Then just as +the man was about to leave her, the girl sighed, very faintly, +with an infinite weariness, and opened her eyes. The man echoed +the sigh, but his was of joy, since now he knew that his strife +in the girl's behalf had not been in vain. + +Afterward, the rescuer experienced no great difficulty in +carrying out his work to a satisfactory conclusion. Mary revived +to clear consciousness, which was at first inclined toward +hysteria, but this phase yielded soon under the sympathetic +ministrations of the man. His rather low voice was soothing to +her tired soul, and his whole air was at once masterful and +gently tender. Moreover, there was an inexpressible balm to her +spirit in the very fact that some one was thus ministering to +her. It was the first time for many dreadful years that any one +had taken thought for her welfare. The effect of it was like a +draught of rarest wine to warm her heart. So, she rested +obediently as he busied himself with her complete restoration, +and, when finally she was able to stand, and to walk with the +support of his arm, she went forward slowly at his side without +so much even as a question of whither. + +And, curiously, the man himself shared the gladness that touched +the mood of the girl, for he experienced a sudden pride in his +accomplishment of the night, a pride that delighted a starved +part of his nature. Somewhere in him were the seeds of +self-sacrifice, the seeds of a generous devotion to others. But +those seeds had been left undeveloped in a life that had been +lived since early boyhood outside the pale of respectability. +To-night, Joe Garson had performed, perhaps, his first action +with no thought of self at the back of it. He had risked his +life to save that of a stranger. The fact astonished him, while +it pleased him hugely. The sensation was at once novel and +thrilling. Since it was so agreeable, he meant to prolong the +glow of self-satisfaction by continuing to care for this waif of +the river. He must make his rescue complete. It did not occur to +him to question his fitness for the work. His introspection did +not reach to a point of suspecting that he, an habitual criminal, +was necessarily of a sort to be most objectionable as the +protector of a young girl. Indeed, had any one suggested the +thought to him, he would have met it with a sneer, to the effect +that a wretch thus tired of life could hardly object to any one +who constituted himself her savior. + +In this manner, Joe Garson, the notorious forger, led the +dripping girl eastward through the squalid streets, until at last +they came to an adequately lighted avenue, and there a taxicab +was found. It carried them farther north, and to the east still, +until at last it came to a halt before an apartment house that +was rather imposing, set in a street of humbler dwellings. Here, +Garson paid the fare, and then helped the girl to alight, and on +into the hallway. Mary went with him quite unafraid, though now +with a growing curiosity. Strange as it all was, she felt that +she could trust this man who had plucked her from death, who had +worked over her with so much of tender kindliness. So, she +waited patiently; only, watched with intentness as he pressed the +button of a flat number. She observed with interest the thick, +wavy gray of his hair, which contradicted pleasantly the +youthfulness of his clean-shaven, resolute face, and the spare, +yet well-muscled form. + +The clicking of the door-latch sounded soon, and the two entered, +and went slowly up three flights of stairs. On the landing beyond +the third flight, the door of a rear flat stood open, and in the +doorway appeared the figure of a woman. + +"Well, Joe, who's the skirt?" this person demanded, as the man +and his charge halted before her. Then, abruptly, the round, +baby-like face of the woman puckered in amazement. Her voice +rose shrill. "My Gawd, if it ain't Mary Turner!" + +At that, the newcomer's eyes opened swiftly to their widest, and +she stared astounded in her turn. + +"Aggie!" she cried. + + + +CHAPTER VII. WITHIN THE LAW. + +In the time that followed, Mary lived in the flat which Aggie +Lynch occupied along with her brother, Jim, a pickpocket much +esteemed among his fellow craftsmen. The period wrought +transformations of radical and bewildering sort in both the +appearance and the character of the girl. Joe Garson, the +forger, had long been acquainted with Aggie and her brother, +though he considered them far beneath him in the social scale, +since their criminal work was not of that high kind on which he +prided himself. But, as he cast about for some woman to whom he +might take the hapless girl he had rescued, his thoughts fell on +Aggie, and forthwith his determination was made, since he knew +that she was respectable, viewed according to his own peculiar +lights. He was relieved rather than otherwise to learn that +there was already an acquaintance between the two women, and the +fact that his charge had served time in prison did not influence +him one jot against her. On the contrary, it increased in some +measure his respect for her as one of his own kind. By the time +he had learned as well of her innocence, he had grown so +interested that even her folly, as he was inclined to deem it, +did not cause any wavering in his regard. + +Now, at last, Mary Turner let herself drift. It seemed to her +that she had abandoned herself to fate in that hour when she +threw herself into the river. Afterward, without any volition on +her part, she had been restored to life, and set within an +environment new and strange to her, in which soon, to her +surprise, she discovered a vivid pleasure. So, she fought no +more, but left destiny to work its will unhampered by her futile +strivings. For the first time in her life, thanks to the +hospitality of Aggie Lynch, secretly reinforced from the funds of +Joe Garson, Mary found herself living in luxurious idleness, +while her every wish could be gratified by the merest mention of +it. She was fed on the daintiest of fare, for Aggie was a +sybarite in all sensuous pleasures that were apart from sex. She +was clothed with the most delicate richness for the first time as +to those more mysterious garments which women love, and she soon +had a variety of frocks as charming as her graceful form +demanded. In addition, there were as many of books and magazines +as she could wish. Her mind, long starved like her body, seized +avidly on the nourishment thus afforded. In this interest, Aggie +had no share--was perhaps a little envious over Mary's absorption +in printed pages. But for her consolation were the matters of +food and dress, and of countless junketings. In such directions, +Aggie was the leader, an eager, joyous one always. She took a +vast pride in her guest, with the unmistakable air of elegance, +and she dared to dream of great triumphs to come, though as yet +she carefully avoided any suggestion to Mary of wrong-doing. + +In the end, the suggestion came from Mary Turner herself, to the +great surprise of Aggie, and, truth to tell, of herself. + +There were two factors that chiefly influenced her decision. The +first was due to the feeling that, since the world had rejected +her, she need no longer concern herself with the world's opinion, +or retain any scruples over it. Back of this lay her bitter +sentiment toward the man who had been the direct cause of her +imprisonment, Edward Gilder. It seemed to her that the general +warfare against the world might well be made an initial step in +the warfare she meant to wage, somehow, some time, against that +man personally, in accordance with the hysterical threat she had +uttered to his face. + +The factor that was the immediate cause of her decision on an +irregular mode of life was an editorial in one of the daily +newspapers. This was a scathing arraignment of a master in high +finance. The point of the writer's attack was the grim sarcasm +for such methods of thievery as are kept within the law. That +phrase held the girl's fancy, and she read the article again with +a quickened interest. Then, she began to meditate. She herself +was in a curious, indeterminate attitude as far as concerned the +law. It was the law that had worked the ruin of her life, which +she had striven to make wholesome. In consequence, she felt for +the law no genuine respect, only detestation as for the epitome +of injustice. Yet, she gave it a superficial respect, born of +those three years of suffering which had been the result of the +penalty inflicted on her. It was as an effect of this latter +feeling that she was determined on one thing of vital importance: +that never would she be guilty of anything to pit her against the +law's decrees. She had known too many hours of anguish in the +doom set on her life because she had been deemed a violator of +the law. No, never would she let herself take any position in +which the law could accuse her.... But there remained the fact +that the actual cause of her long misery was this same law, +manipulated by the man she hated. It had punished her, though +she had been without fault. For that reason, she must always +regard it as her enemy, must, indeed, hate it with an intensity +beyond words--with an intensity equal to that she bore the man, +Gilder. Now, in the paragraph she had just read she found a clue +to suggestive thought, a hint as to a means by which she might +satisfy her rancor against the law that had outraged her--and +this in safety since she would attempt nought save that within +the law. + +Mary's heart leaped at the possibility back of those three words, +"within the law." She might do anything, seek any revenge, work +any evil, enjoy any mastery, as long as she should keep within +the law. There could be no punishment then. That was the lesson +taught by the captain in high finance. He was at pains always in +his stupendous robberies to keep within the law. To that end, he +employed lawyers of mighty cunning and learning to guide his +steps aright in such tortuous paths. + +There, then, was the secret. Why should she not use the like +means? Why, indeed? She had brains enough to devise, surely. +Beyond that, she needed only to keep her course most carefully +within those limits of wrong-doing permitted by the statutes. +For that, the sole requirement would be a lawyer equally +unscrupulous and astute. At once, Mary's mind was made up. +After all, the thing was absurdly simple. It was merely a matter +for ingenuity and for prudence in alliance.... Moreover, there +would come eventually some adequate device against her +arch-enemy, Edward Gilder. + +Mary meditated on the idea for many days, and ever it seemed +increasingly good to her. Finally, it developed to a point where +she believed it altogether feasible, and then she took Joe Garson +into her confidence. He was vastly astonished at the outset and +not quite pleased. To his view, this plan offered merely a +fashion of setting difficulties in the way of achievement. +Presently, however, the sincerity and persistence of the girl won +him over. The task of convincing him would have been easier had +he himself ever known the torment of serving a term in prison. +Thus far, however, the forger had always escaped the penalty for +his crimes, though often close to conviction. But Mary's +arguments were of a compelling sort as she set them forth in +detail, and they made their appeal to Garson, who was by no means +lacking in a shrewd native intelligence. He agreed that the +experiment should be made, notwithstanding the fact that he felt +no particular enthusiasm over the proposed scheme of working. It +is likely that his own strong feeling of attraction toward the +girl whom he had saved from death, who now appeared before him as +a radiantly beautiful young woman, was more persuasive than the +excellent ideas which she presented so emphatically, and with a +logic so impressive. + +An agreement was made by which Joe Garson and certain of his more +trusted intimates in the underworld were to put themselves under +the orders of Mary concerning the sphere of their activities. +Furthermore, they bound themselves not to engage in any devious +business without her consent. Aggie, too, was one of the company +thus constituted, but she figured little in the preliminary +discussions, since neither Mary nor the forger had much respect +for the intellectual capabilities of the adventuress, though they +appreciated to the full her remarkable powers of influencing men +to her will. + +It was not difficult to find a lawyer suited to the necessities +of the undertaking. Mary bore in mind constantly the high +financier's reliance on the legal adviser competent to invent a +method whereby to baffle the law at any desired point, and after +judicious investigation she selected an ambitious and experienced +Jew named Sigismund Harris, just in the prime of his mental +vigors, who possessed a knowledge of the law only to be equalled +by his disrespect for it. He seemed, indeed, precisely the man +to fit the situation for one desirous of outraging the law +remorselessly, while still retaining a place absolutely within +it. + +Forthwith, the scheme was set in operation. As a first step, +Mary Turner became a young lady of independent fortune, who had +living with her a cousin, Miss Agnes Lynch. The flat was +abandoned. In its stead was an apartment in the nineties on +Riverside Drive, in which the ladies lived alone with two maids +to serve them. Garson had rooms in the neighborhood, but Jim +Lynch, who persistently refused the conditions of such an +alliance, betook himself afar, to continue his reckless gathering +of other folk's money in such wise as to make him amenable to the +law the very first time he should be caught at it. + +A few tentative ventures resulted in profits so large that the +company grew mightily enthusiastic over the novel manner of +working. In each instance, Harris was consulted, and made his +confidential statement as to the legality of the thing proposed. +Mary gratified her eager mind by careful studies in this chosen +line of nefariousness. After a few perfectly legal +breach-of-promise suits, due to Aggie's winsome innocence of +demeanor, had been settled advantageously out of court, Mary +devised a scheme of greater elaborateness, with the legal acumen +of the lawyer to endorse it in the matter of safety. + +This netted thirty thousand dollars. It was planned as the +swindling of a swindler--which, in fact, had now become the +secret principle in Mary's morality. + +A gentleman possessed of some means, none too scrupulous himself, +but with high financial aspirations, advertised for a partner to +invest capital in a business sure to bring large returns. This +advertisement caught the eye of Mary Turner, and she answered it. +An introductory correspondence encouraged her to hope for the +victory in a game of cunning against cunning. She consulted with +the perspicacious Mr. Harris, and especially sought from him +detailed information as to partnership law. His statements gave +her such confidence that presently she entered into a partnership +with the advertiser. By the terms of their agreement, each +deposited thirty thousand dollars to the partnership account. +This sum of sixty thousand dollars was ostensibly to be devoted +to the purchase of a tract of land, which should afterward be +divided into lots, and resold to the public at enormous profit. +As a matter of fact, the advertiser planned to make a spurious +purchase of the tract in question, by means of forged deeds +granted by an accomplice, thus making through fraud a neat profit +of thirty thousand dollars. The issue was, however, +disappointing to him in the extreme. No sooner was the sixty +thousand dollars on deposit in the bank than Mary Turner drew out +the whole amount, as she had a perfect right to do legally. When +the advertiser learned of this, he was, naturally enough, full to +overflowing with wrath. But after an interview with Harris he +swallowed this wrath as best he might. He found that his +adversary knew a dangerous deal as to his various swindling +operations. In short, he could not go into court with clean +hands, which is a prime stipulation of the law--though often +honored in the breach. But the advertiser's hands were too +perilously filthy, so he let himself be mulcted in raging +silence. + +The event established Mary as the arbiter in her own coterie. +Here was, in truth, a new game, a game most entertaining, and +most profitable, and not in the least risky. Immediately after +the adventure with the advertiser, Mary decided that a certain +General Hastings would make an excellent sacrifice on the altar +of justice--and to her own financial profit. The old man was a +notorious roue, of most unsavory reputation as a destroyer of +innocence. It was probable that he would easily fall a victim to +the ingenuous charms of Aggie. As for that precocious damsel, she +would run no least risk of destruction by the satyr. So, +presently, there were elaborate plottings. General Hastings met +Aggie in the most casual way. He was captivated by her freshness +and beauty, her demureness, her ignorance of all things vicious. +Straightway, he set his snares, being himself already limed. He +showered every gallant attention on the naive bread-and-butter +miss, and succeeded gratifyingly soon in winning her heart--to +all appearance. But he gained nothing more, for the coy creature +abruptly developed most effective powers of resistance to every +blandishment that went beyond strictest propriety. His ardor +cooled suddenly when Harris filed the papers in a suit for ten +thousand dollars damages for breach of promise. + +Even while this affair was still in the course of execution, Mary +found herself engaged in a direction that offered at least the +hope of attaining her great desire, revenge against Edward +Gilder. This opportunity came in the person of his son, Dick. +After much contriving, she secured an introduction to that young +man. Forthwith, she showed herself so deliciously womanly, so +intelligent, so daintily feminine, so singularly beautiful, that +the young man was enamored almost at once. The fact thrilled +Mary to the depths of her heart, for in this son of the man whom +she hated she saw the instrument of vengeance for which she had +so longed. Yet, this one thing was so vital to her that she said +nothing of her purposes, not even to Aggie, though that observant +person may have possessed suspicions more or less near the truth. + +It was some such suspicion that lay behind her speech as, in +negligee, she sat cross-legged on the bed, smoking a cigarette in +a very knowing way, while watching Mary, who was adjusting her +hat before the mirror of her dressing-table, one pleasant spring +morning. + +"Dollin' up a whole lot, ain't you?" Aggie remarked, affably, +with that laxity of language which characterized her natural +moods. + +"I have a very important engagement with Dick Gilder," Mary +replied, tranquilly. She vouchsafed nothing more definite as to +her intentions. + +"Nice boy, ain't he?" Aggie ventured, insinuatingly. + +"Oh, I suppose so," came the indifferent answer from Mary, as she +tilted the picture hat to an angle a trifle more jaunty. + +The pseudo cousin sniffed. + +"You s'pose that, do you? Well, anyhow, he's here so much we +ought to be chargin' him for his meal-ticket. And yet I ain't +sure that you even know whether he's the real goods, or not." + +The fair face of Mary Turner hardened the least bit. There shone +an expression of inscrutable disdain in the violet eyes, as she +turned to regard Aggie with a level glance. + +"I know that he's the son--the only son!--of Edward Gilder. The +fact is enough for me." + +The adventuress of the demure face shook her head in token of +complete bafflement. Her rosy lips pouted in petulant +dissatisfaction. + +"I don't get you, Mary," she admitted, querulously. "You never +used to look at the men. The way you acted when you first run +round with me, I thought you sure was a suffragette. And then +you met this young Gilder --and--good-night, nurse!" + +The hardness remained in Mary's face, as she continued to regard +her friend. But, now, there was something quizzical in the +glance with which she accompanied the monosyllable: + +"Well?" + +Again, Aggie shook her head in perplexity. + +"His old man sends you up for a stretch for something you didn't +do--and you take up with his son like----" + +"And yet you don't understand!" There was scorn for such gross +stupidity in the musical voice. + +Aggie choked a little from the cigarette smoke, as she gave a +gasp when suspicion of the truth suddenly dawned on her slow +intelligence. + +"My Gawd!" Her voice came in a treble shriek of apprehension. +"I'm wise!" + +"But you must understand this," Mary went on, with an +authoritative note in her voice. "Whatever may be between young +Gilder and me is to be strictly my own affair. It has absolutely +nothing to do with the rest of you, or with our schemes for +money-making. And, what is more, Agnes, I don't want to talk +about it. But----" + +"Yes?" queried Aggie, encouragingly, as the other paused. She +hopefully awaited further confidences. + +"But I do want to know," Mary continued with some severity, "what +you meant by talking in the public street yesterday with a common +pickpocket." + +Aggie's childlike face changed swiftly its expression from a sly +eagerness to sullenness. + +"You know perfectly well, Mary Turner," she cried indignantly, +"that I only said a few words in passin' to my brother Jim. And +he ain't no common pickpocket. Hully Gee! He's the best dip in +the business." + +"But you must not be seen speaking with him," Mary directed, with +a certain air of command now become habitual to her among the +members of her clique. "My cousin, Miss Agnes Lynch, must be +very careful as to her associates." + +The volatile Agnes was restored to good humor by some subtle +quality in the utterance, and a family pride asserted itself. + +"He just stopped me to say it's been the best year he ever had," +she explained, with ostentatious vanity. + +Mary appeared sceptical. + +"How can that be," she demanded, "when the dead line now is John +Street?" + +"The dead line!" Aggie scoffed. A peal of laughter rang merrily +from her curving lips. + +"Why, Jim takes lunch every day in the Wall Street Delmonico's. +Yes," she went on with increasing animation, "and only yesterday +he went down to Police Headquarters, just for a little +excitement, 'cause Jim does sure hate a dull life. Say, he told +me they've got a mat at the door with 'Welcome' on it--in letters +three feet high. Now, what--do--you--think--of that!" Aggie +teetered joyously, the while she inhaled a shockingly large +mouthful of smoke. "And, oh, yes!" she continued happily, "Jim, +he lifted a leather from a bull who was standing in the hallway +there at Headquarters! Jim sure does love excitement." + +Mary lifted her dark eyebrows in half-amused inquiry. + +"It's no use, Agnes," she declared, though without entire +sincerity; "I can't quite keep up with your thieves' argot--your +slang, you know. Just what did this brother of yours do?" + +"Why, he copped the copper's kale," Aggie translated, glibly. + +Mary threw out her hands in a gesture of dismay. + +Thereupon, the adventuress instantly assumed a most ladylike and +mincing air which ill assorted with the cigarette that she held +between her lips. + +"He gently removed a leathern wallet," she said sedately, +"containing a large sum of money from the coat pocket of a member +of the detective force." The elegance of utterance was +inimitably done. But in the next instant, the ordinary vulgarity +of enunciation was in full play again. "Oh, Gee!" she cried +gaily. "He says Inspector Burke's got a gold watch that weighs a +ton, an' all set with diamon's!--which was give to 'im +by--admirin' friends!... We didn't contribute." + +"Given to him," Mary corrected, with a tolerant smile. + +Aggie sniffed once again. + +"What difference does it make?" she demanded, scornfully. "He's +got it, ain't he?" And then she added with avaricious intensity: +"Just as soon as I get time, I'm goin' after that watch--believe +me!" + +Mary shook her head in denial. + +"No, you are not," she said, calmly. "You are under my orders +now. And as long as you are working with us, you will break no +laws." + +"But I can't see----" Aggie began to argue with the petulance of +a spoiled child. + +Mary's voice came with a certainty of conviction born of fact. + +"When you were working alone," she said gravely, did you have a +home like this?" + +"No," was the answer, spoken a little rebelliously. + +"Or such clothes? Most of all, did you have safety from the +police?" + +"No," Aggie admitted, somewhat more responsively. "But, just the +same, I can't see----" + +Mary began putting on her gloves, and at the same time strove to +give this remarkable young woman some insight into her own point +of view, though she knew the task to be one well-nigh impossible. + +"Agnes," she said, didactically, "the richest men in this country +have made their fortunes, not because of the law, but in spite of +the law. They made up their minds what they wanted to do, and +then they engaged lawyers clever enough to show them how they +could do it, and still keep within the law. Any one with brains +can get rich in this country if he will engage the right lawyer. +Well, I have the brains--and Harris is showing me the law--the +wonderful twisted law that was made for the rich! Since we keep +inside the law, we are safe." + +Aggie, without much apprehension of the exact situation, was +moved to a dimpled mirth over the essential humor of the method +indicated. + +"Gee, that's funny," she cried happily. "You an' me an' Joe +Garson handin' it to 'em, an' the bulls can't touch us! Next +thing you know, Harris will be havin' us incorporated as the +American Legal Crime Society." + +"I shouldn't be in the least surprised," Mary assented, as she +finished buttoning her gloves. She smiled, but there was a hint +of grimness in the bending of her lips. That grimness remained, +as she glanced at the clock, then went toward the door of the +room, speaking over her shoulder. + +"And, now I must be off to a most important engagement with Mr. +Dick Gilder." + + + +CHAPTER VIII. A TIP FROM HEADQUARTERS. + +Presently, when she had finished the cigarette, Aggie proceeded +to her own chamber and there spent a considerable time in making +a toilette calculated to set off to its full advantage the +slender daintiness of her form. When at last she was gowned to +her satisfaction, she went into the drawing-room of the apartment +and gave herself over to more cigarettes, in an easy chair, +sprawled out in an attitude of comfort never taught in any +finishing school for young ladies. She at the same time indulged +her tastes in art and literature by reading the jokes and +studying the comic pictures in an evening paper, which the maid +brought in at her request. She had about exhausted this form of +amusement when the coming of Joe Garson, who was usually in and +out of the apartment a number of times daily, provided a welcome +diversion. After a casual greeting between the two, Aggie +explained, in response to his question, that Mary had gone out to +keep an engagement with Dick Gilder. + +There was a little period of silence while the man, with the +resolute face and the light gray eyes that shone so clearly +underneath the thick, waving silver hair, held his head bent +downward as if in intent thought. When, finally, he spoke, there +was a certain quality in his voice that caused Aggie to regard +him curiously. + +"Mary has been with him a good deal lately," he said, half +questioningly. + +"That's what," was the curt agreement. + +Garson brought out his next query with the brutal bluntness of +his kind; and yet there was a vague suggestion of tenderness in +his tones under the vulgar words. + +"Think she's stuck on him?" He had seated himself on a settee +opposite the girl, who did not trouble on his account to assume a +posture more decorous, and he surveyed her keenly as he waited +for a reply. + +"Why not?" Aggie retorted. "Bet your life I'd be, if I had a +chance. He's a swell boy. And his father's got the coin, too." + +At this the man moved impatiently, and his eyes wandered to the +window. Again, Aggie studied him with a swift glance of +interrogation. Not being the possessor of an over-nice +sensibility as to the feelings of others, she now spoke briskly. + +"Joe, if there's anything on your mind, shoot it." + +Garson hesitated for a moment, then decided to unburden himself, +for he craved precise knowledge in this matter. + +"It's Mary," he explained, with some embarrassment; "her and +young Gilder." + +"Well?" came the crisp question. + +"Well, somehow," Garson went on, still somewhat confusedly, "I +can't see any good of it, for her." + +"Why?" Aggie demanded, in surprise. + +Garson's manner grew easier, now that the subject was well +broached. + +"Old man Gilder's got a big pull," he vouchsafed, "and if he +caught on to his boy's going with Mary, he'd be likely to send +the police after us--strong! Believe me, I ain't looking for any +trip up the river." + +Aggie shook her head, quite unaffected by the man's suggestion of +possible peril in the situation. + +"We ain't done nothin' they can touch us for," she declared, with +assurance. "Mary says so." + +Garson, however, was unconvinced, notwithstanding his deference +to the judgment of his leader. + +"Whether we've done anything, or whether we haven't, don't +matter," he objected. "Once the police set out after you, +they'll get you. Russia ain't in it with some of the things I +have seen pulled off in this town." + +"Oh, can that 'fraid talk!" Aggie exclaimed, roughly. "I tell you +they can't get us. We've got our fingers crossed." + +She would have said more, but a noise at the hall door +interrupted her, and she looked up to see a man in the opening, +while behind him appeared the maid, protesting angrily. + +"Never mind that announcing thing with me," the newcomer rasped +to the expostulating servant, in a voice that suited well his +thick-set figure, with the bullet-shaped head and the bull-like +neck. Then he turned to the two in the drawing-room, both of +whom had now risen to their feet. + +"It's all right, Fannie," Aggie said hastily to the flustered +maid. "You can go." + +As the servant, after an indignant toss of the head, departed +along the passage, the visitor clumped heavily forward and +stopped in the center of the room, looking first at one and then +the other of the two with a smile that was not pleasant. He was +not at pains to remove the derby hat which he wore rather far +back on his head. By this single sign, one might have recognized +Cassidy, who had had Mary Turner in his charge on the occasion of +her ill-fated visit to Edward Gilder's office, four years before, +though now the man had thickened somewhat, and his ruddy face was +grown even coarser. + +"Hello, Joe!" he cried, familiarly. "Hello, Aggie!" + +The light-gray eyes of the forger had narrowed perceptibly as he +recognized the identity of the unceremonious caller, while the +lines of his firmly set mouth took on an added fixity. + +"Well?" he demanded. His voice was emotionless. + +"Just a little friendly call," Cassidy announced, in his strident +voice. "Where's the lady of the house?" + +"Out." It was Aggie who spoke, very sharply. + +"Well, Joe," Cassidy went on, without paying further heed to the +girl for a moment, "when she comes back, just tell her it's up to +her to make a get-away, and to make it quick." + +But Aggie was not one to be ignored under any circumstances. +Now, she spoke with some acerbity in her voice, which could at +will be wondrous soft and low. + +"Say!" she retorted viciously, "you can't throw any scare into +us. You hadn't got anything on us. See?" + +Cassidy, in response to this outburst, favored the girl with a +long stare, and there was hearty amusement in his tones as he +answered. + +"Nothing on you, eh? Well, well, let's see." He regarded Garson +with a grin. "You are Joe Garson, forger." As he spoke, the +detective took a note-book from a pocket, found a page, and then +read: "First arrested in 1891, for forging the name of Edwin +Goodsell to a check for ten thousand dollars. Again arrested +June 19, 1893, for forgery. Arrested in April, 1898, for forging +the signature of Oscar Hemmenway to a series of bonds that were +counterfeit. Arrested as the man back of the Reilly gang, in +1903. Arrested in 1908 for forgery." + +There was no change in the face or pose of the man who listened +to the reading. When it was done, and the officer looked up with +a resumption of his triumphant grin, Garson spoke quietly. + +"Haven't any records of convictions, have you?" + +The grin died, and a snarl sprang in its stead. + +"No," he snapped, vindictively. "But we've got the right dope on +you, all right, Joe Garson." He turned savagely on the girl, who +now had regained her usual expression of demure innocence, but +with her rather too heavy brows drawn a little lower than their +wont, under the influence of an emotion otherwise concealed. + +"And you're little Aggie Lynch," Cassidy declared, as he thrust +the note-book back into his pocket. "Just now, you're posing as +Mary Turner's cousin. You served two years in Burnsing for +blackmail. You were arrested in Buffalo, convicted, and served +your stretch. Nothing on you? Well, well!" Again there was +triumph in the officer's chuckle. + +Aggie showed no least sign of perturbation in the face of this +revelation of her unsavory record. Only an expression of +half-incredulous wonder and delight beamed from her widely opened +blue eyes and was emphasized in the rounding of the little mouth. + +"Why," she cried, and now there was softness enough in the cooing +notes, "my Gawd! It looks as though you had actually been +workin'!" + +The sarcasm was without effect on the dull sensibilities of the +officer. He went on speaking with obvious enjoyment of the +extent to which his knowledge reached. + +"And the head of the gang is Mary Turner. Arrested four years +ago for robbing the Emporium. Did her stretch of three years." + +"Is that all you've got about her?" Garson demanded, with such +abruptness that Cassidy forgot his dignity sufficiently to answer +with an unqualified yes. + +The forger continued speaking rapidly, and now there was an +undercurrent of feeling in his voice. + +"Nothing in your record of her about her coming out without a +friend in the world, and trying to go straight? You ain't got +nothing in that pretty little book of your'n about your going to +the millinery store where she finally got a job, and tipping them +off to where she come from?" + +"Sure, they was tipped off," Cassidy answered, quite unmoved. +And he added, swelling visibly with importance: "We got to +protect the city." + +"Got anything in that record of your'n," Garson went on +venomously, "about her getting another job, and your following +her up again, and having her thrown out? Got it there about the +letter you had old Gilder write, so that his influence would get +her canned?" + +"Oh, we had her right the first time," Cassidy admitted, +complacently. + +Then, the bitterness of Garson's soul was revealed by the +fierceness in his voice as he replied. + +"You did not! She was railroaded for a job she never done. She +went in honest, and she came out honest." + +The detective indulged himself in a cackle of sneering merriment. + +"And that's why she's here now with a gang of crooks," he +retorted. + +Garson met the implication fairly. + +"Where else should she be?" he demanded, violently. "You ain't +got nothing in that record about my jumping into the river after +her?" The forger's voice deepened and trembled with the +intensity of his emotion, which was now grown so strong that any +who listened and looked might guess something of the truth as to +his feeling toward this woman of whom he spoke. "That's where I +found her--a girl that never done nobody any harm, starving +because you police wouldn't give her a chance to work. In the +river because she wouldn't take the only other way that was left +her to make a living, because she was keeping straight!... Have +you got any of that in your book?" + +Cassidy, who had been scowling in the face of this arraignment, +suddenly gave vent to a croaking laugh of derision. + +"Huh!" he said, contemptuously. "I guess you're stuck on her, +eh?" + +At the words, an instantaneous change swept over Garson. +Hitherto, he had been tense, his face set with emotion, a man +strong and sullen, with eyes as clear and heartless as those of a +beast in the wild. Now, without warning, a startling +transformation was wrought. His form stiffened to rigidity after +one lightning-swift step forward, and his face grayed. The eyes +glowed with the fires of a man's heart in a spasm of hate. He +was the embodiment of rage, as he spoke huskily, his voice a +whisper that was yet louder than any shout. + +"Cut that!" + +The eyes of the two men locked. Cassidy struggled with all his +pride against the dominant fury this man hurled on him. + +"What?" he demanded, blusteringly. But his tone was weaker than +its wont. + +"I mean," Garson repeated, and there was finality in his accents, +a deadly quality that was appalling, "I mean, cut it out--now, +here, and all the time! It don't go!" The voice rose slightly. +The effect of it was more penetrant than a scream. "It don't +go!... Do you get me?" + +There was a short interval of silence, then the officer's eyes at +last fell. It was Aggie who relieved the tension of the scene. + +"He's got you," she remarked, airily. "Oi, oi! He's got you!" + +There were again a few seconds of pause, and then Cassidy made an +observation that revealed in some measure the shock of the +experience he had just undergone. + +"You would have been a big man, Joe, if it hadn't been for that +temper of yours. It's got you into trouble once or twice +already. Some time it's likely to prove your finish." + +Garson relaxed his immobility, and a little color crept into his +cheeks. + +"That's my business," he responded, dully. + +"Anyway," the officer went on, with a new confidence, now that +his eyes were free from the gaze that had burned into his soul, +"you've got to clear out, the whole gang of you--and do it +quick." + +Aggie, who as a matter of fact began to feel that she was not +receiving her due share of attention, now interposed, moving +forward till her face was close to the detective's. + +"We don't scare worth a cent," she snapped, with the virulence of +a vixen. "You can't do anything to us. We ain't broke the law." +There came a sudden ripple of laughter, and the charming lips +curved joyously, as she added: "Though perhaps we have bent it a +bit." + +Cassidy sneered, outraged by such impudence on the part of an +ex-convict. + +"Don't make no difference what you've done," he growled. "Gee!" +he went on, with a heavy sneer. "But things are coming to a +pretty pass when a gang of crooks gets to arguing about their +rights. That's funny, that is!" + +"Then laugh!" Aggie exclaimed, insolently, and made a face at the +officer. "Ha, ha, ha!" + +"Well, you've got the tip," Cassidy returned, somewhat +disconcerted, after a stolid fashion of his own. "It's up to you +to take it, that's all. If you don't, one of you will make a +long visit with some people out of town, and it'll probably be +Mary. Remember, I'm giving it to you straight." + +Aggie assumed her formal society manner, exaggerated to the point +of extravagance. + +"Do come again, little one," she chirruped, caressingly. "I've +enjoyed your visit so much!" + +But Cassidy paid no apparent attention to her frivolousness; only +turned and went noisily out of the drawing-room, offering no +return to her daintily inflected good-afternoon. + +For her own part, as she heard the outer door close behind the +detective, Aggie's expression grew vicious, and the heavy brows +drew very low, until the level line almost made her prettiness +vanish. + +"The truck-horse detective!" she sneered. "An eighteen collar, +and a six-and-a-half hat! He sure had his nerve, trying to bluff +us!" + +But it was plain that Garson was of another mood. There was +anxiety in his face, as he stood staring vaguely out of the +window. + +"Perhaps it wasn't a bluff, Aggie," he suggested. + +"Well, what have we done, I'd like to know?" the girl demanded, +confidently. She took a cigarette and a match from the tabouret +beside her, and stretched her feet comfortably, if very +inelegantly, on a chair opposite. + +Garson answered with a note of weariness that was unlike him. + +"It ain't what you have done," he said, quietly. "It's what they +can make a jury think you've done. And, once they set out to get +you--God, how they can frame things! If they ever start out after +Mary----" He did not finish the sentence, but sank down into his +chair with a groan that was almost of despair. + +The girl replied with a burst of careless laughter. + +"Joe," she said gaily, "you're one grand little forger, all +right, all right. But Mary's got the brains. Pooh, I'll string +along with her as far as she wants to go. She's educated, she is. +She ain't like you and me, Joe. She talks like a lady, and, +what's a damned sight harder, she acts like a lady. I guess I +know. Wake me up any old night and ask me--just ask me, that's +all. She's been tryin' to make a lady out of me!" + +The vivaciousness of the girl distracted the man for the moment +from the gloom of his thoughts, and he turned to survey the +speaker with a cynical amusement. + +"Swell chance!" he commented, drily. + +"Oh, I'm not so worse! Just you watch out." The lively girl +sprang up, discarded the cigarette, adjusted an imaginary train, +and spoke lispingly in a society manner much more moderate and +convincing than that with which she had favored the retiring +Cassidy. Voice, pose and gesture proclaimed at least the +excellent mimic. + +"How do you do, Mrs. Jones! So good of you to call!... My dear +Miss Smith, this is indeed a pleasure." She seated herself +again, quite primly now, and moved her hands over the tabouret +appropriately to her words. "One lump, or two?... Yes, I just +love bridge. No, I don't play," she continued, simpering; "but, +just the same, I love it." With this absurd ending, Aggie again +arranged her feet according to her liking on the opposite chair. +"That's the kind of stuff she's had me doing," she rattled on in +her coarser voice, "and believe me, Joe, it's damned near killing +me. But all the same," she hurried on, with a swift revulsion of +mood to the former serious topic, "I'm for Mary strong! You stick +to her, Joe, and you'll wear diamon's.... And that reminds me! I +wish she'd let me wear mine, but she won't. She says they're +vulgar for an innocent country girl like her cousin, Agnes Lynch. +Ain't that fierce?... How can anything be vulgar that's worth a +hundred and fifty a carat?" + + + +CHAPTER IX. A LEGAL DOCUMENT. + +Mary Turner spent less than an hour in that mysteriously +important engagement with Dick Gilder, of which she had spoken to +Aggie. After separating from the young man, she went alone down +Broadway, walking the few blocks of distance to Sigismund +Harris's office. On a corner, her attention was caught by the +forlorn face of a girl crossing into the side street. A closer +glance showed that the privation of the gaunt features was +emphasized by the scant garments, almost in tatters. Instantly, +Mary's quick sympathies were aroused, the more particularly since +the wretched child seemed of about the age she herself had been +when her great suffering had befallen. So, turning aside, she +soon caught up with the girl and spoke an inquiry. + +It was the familiar story, a father out of work, a sick mother, a +brood of hungry children. Some confused words of distress +revealed the fact that the wobegone girl was even then fighting +the final battle of purity against starvation. That she still +fought on in such case proved enough as to her decency of nature, +wholesome despite squalid surroundings. Mary's heart was deeply +moved, and her words of comfort came with a simple sincerity that +was like new life to the sorely beset waif. She promised to +interest herself in securing employment for the father, such care +as the mother and children might need, along with a proper +situation for the girl herself. In evidence of her purpose, she +took her engagement-book from her bag, and set down the street +and number of the East Side tenement where the family possessed +the one room that mocked the word home, and she gave a banknote +to the girl to serve the immediate needs. + +When she went back to resume her progress down Broadway, Mary +felt herself vastly cheered by the warm glow within, which is the +reward of a kindly act, gratefully received. And, on this +particular morning, she craved such assuagement of her spirit, +for the conscience that, in spite of all her misdeeds, still +lived was struggling within her. In her revolt against a world +that had wantonly inflicted on her the worst torments, Mary +Turner had thought that she might safely disregard those +principles in which she had been so carefully reared. She had +believed that by the deliberate adoption of a life of guile +within limits allowed by the law, she would find solace for her +wants, while feeling that thus she avenged herself in some slight +measure for the indignities she had undergone unjustly. Yet, as +the days passed, days of success as far as her scheming was +concerned, this brilliant woman, who had tried to deem herself +unscrupulous, found that lawlessness within the law failed to +satisfy something deep within her soul. The righteousness that +was her instinct was offended by the triumphs achieved through so +devious devices, though she resolutely set her will to suppress +any spiritual rebellion. + +There was, as well, another grievance of her nature, yet more +subtle, infinitely more painful. This lay in her craving for +tenderness. She was wholly woman, notwithstanding the virility +of her intelligence, its audacity, its aggressiveness. She had a +heart yearning for the multitudinous affections that are the +prerogative of the feminine; she had a heart longing for love, to +receive and to give in full measure.... And her life was barren. +Since the death of her father, there had been none on whom she +could lavish the great gifts of her tenderness. Through the days +of her working in the store, circumstances had shut her out from +all association with others congenial. No need to rehearse the +impossibilities of companionship in the prison life. Since then, +the situation had not vitally improved, in spite of her better +worldly condition. For Garson, who had saved her from death, she +felt a strong and lasting gratitude--nothing that relieved the +longing for nobler affections. There was none other with whom +she had any intimacy except that, of a sort, with Aggie Lynch, +and by no possibility could the adventuress serve as an object of +deep regard. The girl was amusing enough, and, indeed, a most +likable person at her best. But she was, after all, a +shallow-pated individual, without a shred of principle of any +sort whatsoever, save the single merit of unswerving loyalty to +her "pals." Mary cherished a certain warm kindliness for the +first woman who had befriended her in any way, but beyond this +there was no finer feeling. + +Nevertheless, it is not quite accurate to say that Mary Turner +had had no intimacy in which her heart might have been seriously +engaged. In one instance, of recent happening, she had been much +in association with a young man who was of excellent standing in +the world, who was of good birth, good education, of delightful +manners, and, too, wholesome and agreeable beyond the most of his +class. This was Dick Gilder, and, since her companionship with +him, Mary had undergone a revulsion greater than ever before +against the fate thrust on her, which now at last she had chosen +to welcome and nourish by acquiescence as best she might. + +Of course, she could not waste tenderness on this man, for she +had deliberately set out to make him the instrument of her +vengeance against his father. For that very reason, she suffered +much from a conscience newly clamorous. Never for an instant did +she hesitate in her long-cherished plan of revenge against the +one who had brought ruin on her life, yet, through all her +satisfaction before the prospect of final victory after continued +delay, there ran the secret, inescapable sorrow over the fact +that she must employ this means to attain her end. She had no +thought of weakening, but the better spirit within her warred +against the lust to repay an eye for an eye. It was the new +Gospel against the old Law, and the fierceness of the struggle +rent her. Just now, the doing of the kindly act seemed somehow to +gratify not only her maternal instinct toward service of love, +but, too, to muffle for a little the rebuking voice of her inmost +soul. + +So she went her way more at ease, more nearly content again with +herself and with her system of living. Indeed, as she was shown +into the private office of the ingenious interpreter of the law, +there was not a hint of any trouble beneath the bright mask of +her beauty, radiantly smiling. + +Harris regarded his client with an appreciative eye, as he bowed +in greeting, and invited her to a seat. The lawyer was a man of +fine physique, with a splendid face of the best Semitic type, in +which were large, dark, sparkling eyes--eyes a Lombroso perhaps +might have judged rather too closely set. As a matter of fact, +Harris had suffered a flagrant injustice in his own life from a +suspicion of wrong-doing which he had not merited by any act. +This had caused him a loss of prestige in his profession. He +presently adopted the wily suggestion of the adage, that it is +well to have the game if you have the name, and he resolutely set +himself to the task of making as much money as possible by any +means convenient. Mary Turner as a client delighted his heart, +both because of the novelty of her ideas and for the munificence +of the fees which she ungrudgingly paid with never a protest. +So, as he beamed on her now, and spoke a compliment, it was +rather the lawyer than the man that was moved to admiration. + +"Why, Miss Turner, how charming!" he declared, smiling. "Really, +my dear young lady, you look positively bridal." + +"Oh, do you think so?" Mary rejoined, with a whimsical pout, as +she seated herself. For the moment her air became distrait, but +she quickly regained her poise, as the lawyer, who had dropped +back into his chair behind the desk, went on speaking. His tone +now was crisply business-like. + +"I sent your cousin, Miss Agnes Lynch, the release which she is +to sign," he explained, "when she gets that money from General +Hastings. I wish you'd look it over, when you have time to +spare. It's all right, I'm sure, but I confess that I appreciate +your opinion of things, Miss Turner, even of legal +documents--yes, indeed, I do!--perhaps particularly of legal +documents." + +"Thank you," Mary said, evidently a little gratified by the frank +praise of the learned gentleman for her abilities. "And have you +heard from them yet?" she inquired. + +"No," the lawyer replied. "I gave them until to-morrow. If I +don't hear then, I shall start suit at once." Then the lawyer's +manner became unusually bland and self-satisfied as he opened a +drawer of the desk and brought forth a rather +formidable-appearing document, bearing a most impressive seal. +"You will be glad to know," he went on unctuously, "that I was +entirely successful in carrying out that idea of yours as to the +injunction. My dear Miss Turner," he went on with florid +compliment, "Portia was a squawking baby, compared with you." + +"Thank you again," Mary answered, as she took the legal paper +which he held outstretched toward her. Her scarlet lips were +curved happily, and the clear oval of her cheeks blossomed to a +deeper rose. For a moment, her glance ran over the words of the +page. Then she looked up at the lawyer, and there were new +lusters in the violet eyes. + +"It's splendid," she declared. "Did you have much trouble in +getting it?" + +Harris permitted himself the indulgence of an unprofessional +chuckle of keenest amusement before he answered. + +"Why, no!" he declared, with reminiscent enjoyment in his manner. +"That is, not really!" There was an enormous complacency in his +air over the event. "But, at the outset, when I made the +request, the judge just naturally nearly fell off the bench. +Then, I showed him that Detroit case, to which you had drawn my +attention, and the upshot of it all was that he gave me what I +wanted without a whimper. He couldn't help himself, you know. +That's the long and the short of it." + +That mysterious document with the imposing seal, the request for +which had nearly caused a judge to fall off the bench, reposed +safely in Mary's bag when she, returned to the apartment after +the visit to the lawyer's office. + + + +CHAPTER X. MARKED MONEY. + +Mary had scarcely received from Aggie an account of Cassidy's +threatening invasion, when the maid announced that Mr. Irwin had +called. + +"Show him in, in just two minutes," Mary directed. + +"Who's the gink?" Aggie demanded, with that slangy diction which +was her habit. + +"You ought to know," Mary returned, smiling a little. "He's the +lawyer retained by General Hastings in the matter of a certain +breach-of-promise suit." + +"Oh, you mean yours truly," Aggie exclaimed, not in the least +abashed by her forgetfulness in an affair that concerned herself +so closely. "Hope he's brought the money. What about it?" + +"Leave the room now," Mary ordered, crisply. "When I call to you, +come in, but be sure and leave everything to me. Merely follow +my lead. And, Agnes--be very ingenue." + +"Oh, I'm wise--I'm wise," Aggie nodded, as she hurried out toward +her bedroom. "I'll be a squab--surest thing you know!" + +Next moment, Mary gave a formal greeting to the lawyer who +represented the man she planned to mulct effectively, and invited +him to a chair near her, while she herself retained her place at +the desk, within a drawer of which she had just locked the +formidable-appearing document received from Harris. + +Irwin lost no time in coming to the point. + +"I called in reference to this suit, which Miss Agnes Lynch +threatens to bring against my client, General Hastings." + +Mary regarded the attorney with a level glance, serenely +expressionless as far as could be achieved by eyes so clear and +shining, and her voice was cold as she replied with significant +brusqueness. + +"It's not a threat, Mr. Irwin. The suit will be brought." + +The lawyer frowned, and there was a strident note in his voice +when he answered, meeting her glance with an uncompromising stare +of hostility. + +"You realize, of course," he said finally, "that this is merely +plain blackmail." + +There was not the change of a feature in the face of the woman +who listened to the accusation. Her eyes steadfastly retained +their clear gaze into his; her voice was still coldly formal, as +before. + +"If it's blackmail, Mr. Irwin, why don't you consult the police?" +she inquired, with manifest disdain. Mary turned to the maid, +who now entered in response to the bell she had sounded a minute +before. "Fanny, will you ask Miss Lynch to come in, please?" +Then she faced the lawyer again, with an aloofness of manner that +was contemptuous. "Really, Mr. Irwin," she drawled, "why don't +you take this matter to the police?" + +The reply was uttered with conspicuous exasperation. + +"You know perfectly well," the lawyer said bitterly, "that +General Hastings cannot afford such publicity. His position would +be jeopardized." + +"Oh, as for that," Mary suggested evenly, and now there was a +trace of flippancy in her fashion of speaking, "I'm sure the +police would keep your complaint a secret. Really, you know, Mr. +Irwin, I think you had better take your troubles to the police, +rather than to me. You will get much more sympathy from them." + +The lawyer sprang up, with an air of sudden determination. + +"Very well, I will then," he declared, sternly. "I will!" + +Mary, from her vantage point at the desk across from him, smiled +a smile that would have been very engaging to any man under more +favorable circumstances, and she pushed in his direction the +telephone that stood there. + +"3100, Spring," she remarked, encouragingly, "will bring an +officer almost immediately." She leaned back in her chair, and +surveyed the baffled man amusedly. + +The lawyer was furious over the failure of his effort to +intimidate this extraordinarily self-possessed young woman, who +made a mock of his every thrust. But he was by no means at the +end of his resources. + +"Nevertheless," he rejoined, "you know perfectly well that +General Hastings never promised to marry this girl. You +know----" He broke off as Aggie entered the drawing-room, + +Now, the girl was demure in seeming almost beyond belief, a +childish creature, very fair and dainty, guileless surely, with +those untroubled eyes of blue, those softly curving lips of +warmest red and the more delicate bloom in the rounded cheeks. +There were the charms of innocence and simplicity in the manner +of her as she stopped just within the doorway, whence she +regarded Mary with a timid, pleading gaze, her slender little +form poised lightly as if for flight + +"Did you want me, dear?" she asked. There was something +half-plaintive in the modulated cadences of the query. + +"Agnes," Mary answered affectionately, "this is Mr. Irwin, who +has come to see you in behalf of General Hastings." + +"Oh!" the girl murmured, her voice quivering a little, as the +lawyer, after a short nod, dropped again into his seat; "oh, I'm +so frightened!" She hurried, fluttering, to a low stool behind +the desk, beside Mary's chair, and there she sank down, drooping +slightly, and catching hold of one of Mary's hands as if in mute +pleading for protection against the fear that beset her chaste +soul. + +"Nonsense!" Mary exclaimed, soothingly. "There's really nothing +at all to be frightened about, my dear child." Her voice was +that with which one seeks to cajole a terrified infant. "You +mustn't be afraid, Agnes. Mr. Irwin says that General Hastings +did not promise to marry you. Of course, you understand, my +dear, that under no circumstances must you say anything that +isn't strictly true, and that, if he did not promise to marry +you, you have no case--none at all. Now, Agnes, tell me: did +General Hastings promise to marry you?" + +"Oh, yes--oh, yes, indeed!" Aggie cried, falteringly. "And I wish +he would. He's such a delightful old gentleman!" As she spoke, +the girl let go Mary's hand and clasped her own together +ecstatically. + +The legal representative of the delightful old gentleman scowled +disgustedly at this outburst. His voice was portentous, as he +put a question. + +"Was that promise made in writing?" + +"No," Aggie answered, gushingly. "But all his letters were in +writing, you know. Such wonderful letters!" She raised her blue +eyes toward the ceiling in a naive rapture. "So tender, and +so--er--interesting!" Somehow, the inflection on the last word +did not altogether suggest the ingenuous. + +"Yes, yes, I dare say," Irwin agreed, hastily, with some +evidences of chagrin. He had no intention of dwelling on that +feature of the letters, concerning which he had no doubt +whatsoever, since he knew the amorous General very well indeed. +They would be interesting, beyond shadow of questioning, horribly +interesting. Such was the confessed opinion of the swain himself +who had written them in his folly--horribly interesting to all +the reading public of the country, since the General was a +conspicuous figure. + +Mary intervened with a suavity that infuriated the lawyer almost +beyond endurance. + +"But you're quite sure, Agnes," she questioned gently, "that +General Hastings did promise to marry you?" The candor of her +manner was perfect. + +And the answer of Aggie was given with a like convincing +emphasis. + +"Oh, yes!" she declared, tensely. "Why, I would swear to it." +The limpid eyes, so appealing in their soft lusters, went first +to Mary, then gazed trustingly into those of the routed attorney. + +"You see, Mr. Irwin, she would swear to that," emphasized Mary. + +"We're beaten," he confessed, dejectedly, turning his glance +toward Mary, whom, plainly, he regarded as his real adversary in +the combat on his client's behalf. "I'm going to be quite frank +with you, Miss Turner, quite frank," he stated with more +geniality, though with a very crestfallen air. Somehow, indeed, +there was just a shade too much of the crestfallen in the fashion +of his utterance, and the woman whom he addressed watched warily +as he continued. "We can't afford any scandal, so we're going to +settle at your own terms." He paused expectantly, but Mary +offered no comment; only maintained her alert scrutiny of the +man. The lawyer, therefore, leaned forward with a semblance of +frank eagerness. Instantly, Aggie had become agog with greedily +blissful anticipations, and she uttered a slight ejaculation of +joy; but Irwin paid no heed to her. He was occupied in taking +from his pocket a thick bill-case, and from this presently a +sheaf of banknotes, which he laid on the desk before Mary, with a +little laugh of discomfiture over having been beaten in the +contest. + +As he did so, Aggie thrust forth an avaricious hand, but it was +caught and held by Mary before it reached above the top of the +desk, and the avaricious gesture passed unobserved by the +attorney. + +"We can't fight where ladies are concerned," he went on, +assuming, as best he might contrive, a chivalrous tone. "So, if +you will just hand over General Hastings' letters, why, here's +your money." + +Much to the speaker's surprise, there followed an interval of +silence, and his puzzlement showed in the knitting of his brows. +"You have the letters, haven't you?" he demanded, abruptly. + +Aggie coyly took a thick bundle from its resting place on her +rounded bosom. + +"They never leave me," she murmured, with dulcet passion. There +was in her voice a suggestion of desolation--a desolation that +was the blighting effect of letting the cherished missives go +from her. + +"Well, they can leave you now, all right," the lawyer remarked +unsympathetically, but with returning cheerfulness, since he saw +the end of his quest in visible form before him. He reached +quickly forward for the packet, which Aggie extended willingly +enough. But it was Mary who, with a swift movement, caught and +held it. + +"Not quite yet, Mr. Irwin, I'm afraid," she said, calmly. + +The lawyer barely suppressed a violent ejaculation of annoyance. + +"But there's the money waiting for you," he protested, +indignantly. + +The rejoinder from Mary was spoken with great deliberation, yet +with a note of determination that caused a quick and acute +anxiety to the General's representative. + +"I think," Mary explained tranquilly, "that you had better see +our lawyer, Mr. Harris, in reference to this. We women know +nothing of such details of business settlement." + +"Oh, there's no need for all that formality," Irwin urged, with a +great appearance of bland friendliness. + +"Just the same," Mary persisted, unimpressed, "I'm quite sure you +would better see Mr. Harris first." There was a cadence of +insistence in her voice that assured the lawyer as to the +futility of further pretense on his part. + +"Oh, I see," he said disagreeably, with a frown to indicate his +complete sagacity in the premises. + +"I thought you would, Mr. Irwin," Mary returned, and now she +smiled in a kindly manner, which, nevertheless, gave no pleasure +to the chagrined man before her. As he rose, she went on +crisply: "If you'll take the money to Mr. Harris, Miss Lynch will +meet you in his office at four o'clock this afternoon, and, when +her suit for damages for breach of promise has been legally +settled out of court, you will get the letters.... +Good-afternoon, Mr. Irwin." + +The lawyer made a hurried bow which took in both of the women, +and walked quickly toward the door. But he was arrested before +he reached it by the voice of Mary, speaking again, still in that +imperturbable evenness which so rasped his nerves, for all its +mellow resonance. But this time there was a sting, of the +sharpest, in the words themselves. + +"Oh, you forgot your marked money, Mr. Irwin," Mary said. + +The lawyer wheeled, and stood staring at the speaker with a +certain sheepishness of expression that bore witness to the +completeness of his discomfiture. Without a word, after a long +moment in which he perceived intently the delicate, yet subtly +energetic, loveliness of this slender woman, he walked back to +the desk, picked up the money, and restored it to the bill-case. +This done, at last he spoke, with a new respect in his voice, a +quizzical smile on his rather thin lips. + +"Young woman," he said emphatically, "you ought to have been a +lawyer." And with that laudatory confession of her skill, he +finally took his departure, while Mary smiled in a triumph she +was at no pains to conceal, and Aggie sat gaping astonishment +over the surprising turn of events. + +It was the latter volatile person who ended the silence that +followed on the lawyer's going. + +"You've darn near broke my heart," she cried, bouncing up +violently, "letting all that money go out of the house.... Say, +how did you know it was marked?" + +"I didn't," Mary replied, blandly; "but it was a pretty good +guess, wasn't it? Couldn't you see that all he wanted was to get +the letters, and have us take the marked money? Then, my simple +young friend, we would have been arrested very neatly indeed--for +blackmail." + +Aggie's innocent eyes rounded in an amazed consternation, which +was not at all assumed. + +"Gee!" she cried. "That would have been fierce! And now?" she +questioned, apprehensively. + +Mary's answer repudiated any possibility of fear. + +"And now," she explained contentedly, "he really will go to our +lawyer. There, he will pay over that same marked money. Then, +he will get the letters he wants so much. And, just because it's +a strictly business transaction between two lawyers, with +everything done according to legal ethics----" + +"What's legal ethics?" Aggie demanded, impetuously. "They sound +some tasty!" With the comment, she dropped weakly into a chair. + +Mary laughed in care-free enjoyment, as well she might after +winning the victory in such a battle of wits. + +"Oh," she said, happily, "you just get it legally, and you get +twice as much!" + +"And it's actually the same old game!" Aggie mused. She was doing +her best to get a clear understanding of the matter, though to +her it was all a mystery most esoteric. + +Mary reviewed the case succinctly for the other's enlightenment. + +"Yes, it's the same game precisely," she affirmed. "A shameless +old roue makes love to you, and he writes you a stack of silly +letters." + +The pouting lips of the listener took on a pathetic droop, and +her voice quivered as she spoke with an effective semblance of +virginal terror. + +"He might have ruined my life!" + +Mary continued without giving much attention to these +histrionics. + +"If you had asked him for all this money for the return of his +letters, it would have been blackmail, and we'd have gone to jail +in all human probability. But we did no such thing--no, indeed! +What we did wasn't anything like that in the eyes of the law. +What we did was merely to have your lawyer take steps toward a +suit for damages for breach of promise of marriage for the sum of +ten thousand dollars. Then, his lawyer appears in behalf of +General Hastings, and there follow a number of conferences +between the legal representatives of the opposing parties. By +means of these conferences, the two legal gentlemen run up very +respectable bills of expenses. In the end, we get our ten +thousand dollars, and the flighty old General gets back his +letters... . My dear," Mary concluded vaingloriously, "we're +inside the law, and so we're perfectly safe. And there you are!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI. THE THIEF. + +Mary remained in joyous spirits after her victorious matching of +brains against a lawyer of high standing in his profession. For +the time being, conscience was muted by gratified ambition. Her +thoughts just then were far from the miseries of the past, with +their evil train of consequences in the present. But that past +was soon to be recalled to her with a vividness most terrible. + +She had entered the telephone-booth, which she had caused to be +installed out of an extra closet of her bedroom for the sake of +greater privacy on occasion, and it was during her absence from +the drawing-room that Garson again came into the apartment, +seeking her. On being told by Aggie as to Mary's whereabouts, he +sat down to await her return, listening without much interest to +the chatter of the adventuress.... It was just then that the maid +appeared. + +"There's a girl wants to see Miss Turner," she explained. + +The irrepressible Aggie put on her most finically elegant air. + +"Has she a card?" she inquired haughtily, while the maid +tittered appreciation. + +"No," was the answer. "But she says it's important. I guess the +poor thing's in hard luck, from the look of her," the kindly +Fannie added. + +"Oh, then she'll be welcome, of course," Aggie declared, and +Garson nodded in acquiescence. "Tell her to come in and wait, +Fannie. Miss Turner will be here right away." She turned to +Garson as the maid left the room. "Mary sure is an easy boob," +she remarked, cheerfully. "Bless her soft heart!" + +A curiously gentle smile of appreciation softened the immobility +of the forger's face as he again nodded assent. + +"We might just as well pipe off the skirt before Mary gets here," +Aggie suggested, with eagerness. + +A minute later, a girl perhaps twenty years of age stepped just +within the doorway, and stood there with eyes downcast, after one +swift, furtive glance about her. Her whole appearance was that of +dejection. Her soiled black gown, the cringing posture, the +pallor of her face, proclaimed the abject misery of her state. + +Aggie, who was not exuberant in her sympathies for any one other +than herself, addressed the newcomer with a patronizing +inflection, modulated in her best manner. + +"Won't you come in, please?" she requested. + +The shrinking girl shot another veiled look in the direction of +the speaker. + +"Are you Miss Turner?" she asked, in a voice broken by nervous +dismay. + +"Really, I am very sorry," Aggie replied, primly; "but I am only +her cousin, Miss Agnes Lynch. But Miss Turner is likely to be +back any minute now." + +"Can I wait?" came the timid question. + +"Certainly," Aggie answered, hospitably. "Please sit down." + +As the girl obediently sank down on the nearest chair, Garson +addressed her sharply, so that the visitor started uneasily at +the unexpected sound. + +"You don't know Miss Turner?" + +"No," came the faint reply. + +"Then, what do you want to see her about?" + +There was a brief pause before the girl could pluck up courage +enough for an answer. Then, it was spoken confusedly, almost in +a whisper. + +"She once helped a girl friend of mine, and I thought--I +thought----" + +"You thought she might help you," Garson interrupted. + +But Aggie, too, possessed some perceptive powers, despite the +fact that she preferred to use them little in ordinary affairs. + +"You have been in stir--prison, I mean." She hastily corrected +the lapse into underworld slang. + +Came a distressed muttering of assent from the girl. + +"How sad!" Aggie remarked, in a voice of shocked pity for one so +inconceivably unfortunate. "How very, very sad!" + +This ingenuous method of diversion was put to an end by the +entrance of Mary, who stopped short on seeing the limp figure +huddled in the chair. + +"A visitor, Agnes?" she inquired. + +At the sound of her voice, and before Aggie could hit on a +fittingly elegant form of reply, the girl looked up. And now, +for the first time, she spoke with some degree of energy, albeit +there was a sinister undertone in the husky voice. + +"You're Miss Turner?" she questioned. + +"Yes," Mary said, simply. Her words rang kindly; and she smiled +encouragement. + +A gasp burst from the white lips of the girl, and she cowered as +one stricken physically. + +"Mary Turner! Oh, my God! I----" She hid her face within her arms +and sat bent until her head rested on her knees in an abasement +of misery. + +Vaguely startled by the hysterical outburst from the girl, Mary's +immediate thought was that here was a pitiful instance of one +suffering from starvation. + +"Joe," she directed rapidly, "have Fannie bring a glass of milk +with an egg and a little brandy in it, right away." + +The girl in the chair was shaking soundlessly under the stress of +her emotions. A few disjointed phrases fell from her quivering +lips. + +"I didn't know--oh, I couldn't!" + +"Don't try to talk just now," Mary warned, reassuringly. "Wait +until you've had something to eat." + +Aggie, who had observed developments closely, now lifted her +voice in tardy lamentations over her own stupidity. There was no +affectation of the fine lady in her self-reproach. + +"Why, the poor gawk's hungry!" she exclaimed! "And I never got +the dope on her. Ain't I the simp!" + +The girl regained a degree of self-control, and showed something +of forlorn dignity. + +"Yes," she said dully, "I'm starving." + +Mary regarded the afflicted creature with that sympathy born only +of experience. + +"Yes," she said softly, "I understand." Then she spoke to Aggie. +"Take her to my room, and let her rest there for a while. Have +her drink the egg and milk slowly, and then lie down for a few +minutes anyhow." + +Aggie obeyed with an air of bustling activity. + +"Sure, I will!" she declared. She went to the girl and helped +her to stand up. "We'll fix you out all right," she said, +comfortingly. "Come along with me.... Hungry! Gee, but that's +tough!" + +Half an hour afterward, while Mary was at her desk, giving part +of her attention to Joe Garson, who sat near, and part to a +rather formidable pile of neatly arranged papers, Aggie reported +with her charge, who, though still shambling of gait, and +stooping, showed by some faint color in her face and an increased +steadiness of bearing that the food had already strengthened her +much. + +"She would come," Aggie explained. "I thought she ought to rest +for a while longer anyhow." She half-shoved the girl into a +chair opposite the desk, in an absurd travesty on the maternal +manner. + +"I'm all right, I tell you," came the querulous protest. + +Whereupon, Aggie gave over the uncongenial task of mothering, and +settled herself comfortably in a chair, with her legs merely +crossed as a compromise between ease and propriety. + +"Are you quite sure?" Mary said to the girl. And then, as the +other nodded in assent, she spoke with a compelling kindliness. +"Then you must tell us all about it--this trouble of yours, you +know. What is your name?" + +Once again the girl had recourse to the swift, searching, furtive +glance, but her voice was colorless as she replied, listlessly: + +"Helen Morris." + +Mary regarded the girl with an expression that was inscrutable +when she spoke again. + +"I don't have to ask if you have been in prison," she said +gravely. "Your face shows it." + +"I--I came out--three months ago," was the halting admission. + +Mary watched the shrinking figure reflectively for a long minute +before she spoke again. Then there was a deeper resonance in her +voice. + +"And you'd made up your mind to go straight?" + +"Yes." The word was a whisper. + +"You were going to do what the chaplain had told you," Mary went +on in a voice vibrant with varied emotions. "You were going to +start all over again, weren't you? You were going to begin a new +life, weren't you?" The bent head of the girl bent still lower +in assent. There came a cynical note into Mary's utterance now. + +"It doesn't work very well, does it?" she asked, bitterly. + +The girl gave sullen agreement. + +"No," she said dully; "I'm whipped." + +Mary's manner changed on the instant. She spoke cheerfully for +the first time. + +"Well, then," she questioned, "how would you like to work with +us?" + +The girl looked up for a second with another of her fleeting, +stealthy glances. + +"You--you mean that----?" + +Mary explained her intention in the matter very explicitly. Her +voice grew boastful. + +"Our kind of work pays well when you know how. Look at us." + +Aggie welcomed the opportunity for speech, too long delayed. + +"Hats from Joseph's, gowns from Lucile's, and cracked ice from +Tiffany's. But it ain't ladylike to wear it," she concluded with +a reproachful glance at her mentor. + +Mary disregarded the frivolous interruption, and went on speaking +to the girl, and now there was something pleasantly cajoling in +her manner. + +"Suppose I should stake you for the present, and put you in with +a good crowd. All you would have to do would be to answer +advertisements for servant girls. I will see that you have the +best of references. Then, when you get in with the right people, +you will open the front door some night and let in the gang. Of +course, you will make a get-away when they do, and get your bit +as well." + +There flashed still another of the swift, sly glances, and the +lips of the girl parted as if she would speak. But she did not; +only, her head sagged even lower on her breast, and the shrunken +form grew yet more shrunken. Mary, watching closely, saw these +signs, and in the same instant a change came over her. Where +before there had been an underlying suggestion of hardness, there +was now a womanly warmth of genuine sympathy. + +"It doesn't suit you?" she said, very softly. "Good! I was in +hopes it wouldn't. So, here's another plan." Her voice had +become very winning. "Suppose you could go West--some place +where you would have a fair chance, with money enough so you +could live like a human being till you got a start?" + +There came a tensing of the relaxed form, and the head lifted a +little so that the girl could look at her questioner. And, this +time, the glance, though of the briefest, was less furtive. + +"I will give you that chance," Mary said simply, "if you really +want it." + +That speech was like a current of strength to the wretched girl. +She sat suddenly erect, and her words came eagerly. + +"Oh, I do!" And now her hungry gaze remained fast on the face of +the woman who offered her salvation. + +Mary sprang up and moved a step toward the girl who continued to +stare at her, fascinated. She was now all wholesome. The memory +of her own wrongs surged in her during this moment only to make +her more appreciative of the blessedness of seemly life. She was +moved to a divine compassion over this waif for whom she might +prove a beneficent providence. There was profound conviction in +the emphasis with which she spoke her warning. + +"Then I have just one thing to say to you first. If you are +going to live straight, start straight, and then go through with +it. Do you know what that means?" + +"You mean, keep straight all the time?" The girl spoke with a +force drawn from the other's strength. + +"I mean more than that," Mary went on earnestly. "I mean, forget +that you were ever in prison. I don't know what you have done--I +don't think I care. But whatever it was, you have paid for it--a +pretty big price, too." Into these last words there crept the +pathos of one who knew. The sympathy of it stirred the listener +to fearful memories. + +"I have, I have!" The thin voice broke, wailing. + +"Well, then," Mary went on, "just begin all over again, and be +sure you stand up for your rights. Don't let them make you pay a +second time. Go where no one knows you, and don't tell the first +people who are kind to you that you have been crooked. If they +think you are straight, why, be it. Then nobody will have any +right to complain." Her tone grew suddenly pleading. "Will you +promise me this?" + +"Yes, I promise," came the answer, very gravely, quickened with +hope. + +"Good!" Mary exclaimed, with a smile of approval. "Wait a +minute," she added, and left the room. + +"Huh! Pretty soft for some people," Aggie remarked to Garson, +with a sniff. She felt no alarm lest she wound the sensibilities +of the girl. She herself had never let delicacy interfere +between herself and money. It was really stranger that the +forger, who possessed a more sympathetic nature, did not scruple +to speak an assent openly. Somehow, he felt an inexplicable +prejudice against this abject recipient of Mary's bounty, though +not for the world would he have checked the generous impulse on +the part of the woman he so revered. It was his instinct on her +behalf that made him now vaguely uneasy, as if he sensed some +malign influence against her there present with them. + +Mary returned soon. In her hand she carried a roll of bills. +She went to the girl and held out the money. Her voice was +business-like now, but very kind. + +"Take this. It will pay your fare West, and keep you quite a +while if you are careful." + +But, without warning, a revulsion seized on the girl. Of a +sudden, she shrank again, and turned her head away, and her body +trembled. + +"I can't take it," she stammered. "I can't! I can't!" + +Mary stood silent for a moment from sheer amazement over the +change. When she spoke, her voice had hardened a little. It is +not agreeable to have one's beneficence flouted. + +"Didn't you come here for help?" she demanded. + +"Yes," was the faltering reply, "but--but--I didn't know--it was +you!" The words came with a rush of desperation. + +"Then, you have met me before?" Mary said, quietly. + +"No, no!" The girl's voice rose shrill. + +Aggie spoke her mind with commendable frankness. + +"She's lying." + +And, once again, Garson agreed. His yes was spoken in a tone of +complete certainty. That Mary, too, was of their opinion was +shown in her next words. + +"So, you have met me before? Where?" + +The girl unwittingly made confession in her halting words. + +"I--I can't tell you." There was despair in her voice. + +"You must." Mary spoke with severity. She felt that this +mystery held in it something sinister to herself. "You must," she +repeated imperiously. + +The girl only crouched lower. + +"I can't!" she cried again. She was panting as if in exhaustion. + +"Why can't you?" Mary insisted. She had no sympathy now for the +girl's distress, merely a great suspicious curiosity. + +"Because--because----" The girl could not go on. + +Mary's usual shrewdness came to her aid, and she put her next +question in a different direction. + +"What were you sent up for?" she asked briskly. "Tell me." + +It was Garson who broke the silence that followed. + +"Come on, now!" he ordered. There was a savage note in his voice +under which the girl visibly winced. Mary made a gesture toward +him that he should not interfere. Nevertheless, the man's +command had in it a threat which the girl could not resist and +she answered, though with a reluctance that made the words seem +dragged from her by some outside force--as indeed they were. + +"For stealing." + +"Stealing what?" Mary said. + +"Goods." + +"Where from?" + +A reply came in a breath so low that it was barely audible. + +"The Emporium." + +In a flash of intuition, the whole truth was revealed to the +woman who stood looking down at the cowering creature before her. + +"The Emporium!" she repeated. There was a tragedy in the single +word. Her voice grew cold with hate, the hate born of innocence +long tortured. "Then you are the one who----" + +The accusation was cut short by the girl's shriek. + +"I am not! I am not, I tell you." + +For a moment, Mary lost her poise. Her voice rose in a flare of +rage. + +"You are! You are!" + +The craven spirit of the girl could struggle no more. She could +only sit in a huddled, shaking heap of dread. The woman before +her had been disciplined by sorrow to sternest self-control. +Though racked by emotions most intolerable, Mary soon mastered +their expression to such an extent that when she spoke again, as +if in self-communion, her words came quietly, yet with overtones +of a supreme wo. + +"She did it!" Then, after a little, she addressed the girl with a +certain wondering before this mystery of horror. "Why did you +throw the blame on me?" + +The girl made several efforts before her mumbling became +intelligible, and then her speech was gasping, broken with fear. + +"I found out they were watching me, and I was afraid they would +catch me. So, I took them and ran into the cloak-room, and put +them in a locker that wasn't close to mine, and some in the +pocket of a coat that was hanging there. God knows I didn't know +whose it was. I just put them there--I was frightened----" + +"And you let me go to prison for three years!" There was a menace +in Mary's voice under which the girl cringed again. + +"I was scared," she whined. "I didn't dare to tell." + +"But they caught you later," Mary went on inexorably. "Why didn't +you tell then?" + +"I was afraid," came the answer from the shuddering girl. "I +told them it was the first time I had taken anything and they let +me off with a year." + +Once more, the wrath of the victim flamed high. + +"You!" Mary cried. "You cried and lied, and they let you off +with a year. I wouldn't cry. I told the truth --and----" Her +voice broke in a tearless sob. The color had gone out of her +face, and she stood rigid, looking down at the girl whose crime +had ruined her life with an expression of infinite loathing in +her eyes. Garson rose from his chair as if to go to her, and his +face passed swiftly from compassion to ferocity as his gaze went +from the woman he had saved from the river to the girl who had +been the first cause of her seeking a grave in the waters. Yet, +though he longed with every fiber of him to comfort the stricken +woman, he did not dare intrude upon her in this time of her +anguish, but quietly dropped back into his seat and sat watching +with eyes now tender, now baleful, as they shifted their +direction. + +Aggie took advantage of the pause. Her voice was acid. + +"Some people are sneaks--just sneaks!" + +Somehow, the speech was welcome to the girl, gave her a touch of +courage sufficient for cowardly protestations. It seemed to +relieve the tension drawn by the other woman's torment. It was +more like the abuse that was familiar to her. A gush of tears +came. + +"I'll never forgive myself, never!" she moaned. + +Contempt mounted in Mary's breast. + +"Oh, yes, you will," she said, malevolently. "People forgive +themselves pretty easily." The contempt checked for a little the +ravages of her grief. "Stop crying," she commanded harshly. +"Nobody is going to hurt you." She thrust the money again toward +the girl, and crowded it into the half-reluctant, half-greedy +hand. + +"Take it, and get out." The contempt in her voice rang still +sharper, mordant. + +Even the puling creature writhed under the lash of Mary's tones. +She sprang up, slinking back a step. + +"I can't take it!" she cried, whimpering. But she did not drop +the money. + +"Take the chance while you have it," Mary counseled, still with +the contempt that pierced even the hardened girl's sense of +selfishness. She pointed toward the door. "Go!--before I change +my mind." + +The girl needed, indeed, no second bidding. With the money still +clutched in her hand, she went forth swiftly, stumbling a little +in her haste, fearful lest, at the last moment, the woman she had +so wronged should in fact change in mood, take back the +money--ay, even give her over to that terrible man with the eyes +of hate, to put her to death as she deserved. + +Freed from the miasma of that presence, Mary remained motionless +for a long minute, then sighed from her tortured heart. She +turned and went slowly to her chair at the desk, and seated +herself languidly, weakened by the ordeal through which she had +passed. + +"A girl I didn't know!" she said, bewilderedly; "perhaps had +never spoken to--who smashed my life like that! Oh, if it wasn't +so awful, it would be--funny! It would be funny!" A gust of +hysterical laughter burst from her. "Why, it is funny!" she +cried, wildly. "It is funny!" + +"Mary!" Garson exclaimed sharply. He leaped across the room to +face her. "That's no good!" he said severely. + +Aggie, too, rushed forward. + +"No good at all!" she declared loudly. + +The interference recalled the distressed woman to herself. She +made a desperate effort for self-command. Little by little, the +unmeaning look died down, and presently she sat silent and +moveless, staring at the two with stormy eyes out of a wan face. + +"You were right," she said at last, in a lifeless voice. "It's +done, and can't be undone. I was a fool to let it affect me like +that. I really thought I had lost all feeling about it, but the +sight of that girl--the knowledge that she had done it--brought +it all back to me. Well, you understand, don't you?" + +"We understand," Garson said, grimly. But there was more than +grimness, infinitely more, in the expression of his clear, +glowing eyes. + +Aggie thought that it was her turn to voice herself, which she +did without undue restraint. + +"Perhaps, we do, but I dunno! I'll tell you one thing, though. +If any dame sent me up for three years and then wanted money from +me, do you think she'd get it? Wake me up any time in the night +and ask me. Not much--not a little bit much! I'd hang on to it +like an old woman to her last tooth." And that was Aggie's final +summing up of her impressions concerning the scene she had just +witnessed. + + + +CHAPTER XII. A BRIDEGROOM SPURNED. + +After Aggie's vigorous comment there followed a long silence. +That volatile young person, little troubled as she was by +sensitiveness, guessed the fact that just now further discussion +of the event would be distasteful to Mary, and so she betook +herself discreetly to a cigarette and the illustrations of a +popular magazine devoted to the stage. As for the man, his +reticence was really from a fear lest in speaking at all he might +speak too freely, might betray the pervasive violence of his +feeling. So, he sat motionless and wordless, his eyes carefully +avoiding Mary in order that she might not be disturbed by the +invisible vibrations thus sent from one to another. Mary herself +was shaken to the depths. A great weariness, a weariness that +cried the worthlessness of all things, had fallen upon her. It +rested leaden on her soul. It weighed down her body as well, +though that mattered little indeed. Yet, since she could +minister to that readily, she rose and went to a settee on the +opposite side of the room where she arranged herself among the +cushions in a posture more luxurious than her rather precise +early training usually permitted her to assume in the presence of +others. There she rested, and soon felt the tides of energy +again flowing in her blood, and that same vitality, too, wrought +healing even for her agonized soul, though more slowly. The +perfect health of her gave her strength to recover speedily from +the shock she had sustained. It was this health that made the +glory of the flawless skin, white with a living white that +revealed the coursing blood beneath, and the crimson lips that +bent in smiles so tender, or so wistful, and the limpid eyes in +which always lurked fires that sometimes burst into flame, the +lustrous mass of undulating hair that sparkled in the sunlight +like an aureole to her face or framed it in heavy splendors with +its shadows, and the supple erectness of her graceful carriage, +the lithe dignity of her every movement. + +But, at last, she stirred uneasily and sat up. Garson accepted +this as a sufficient warrant for speech. + +"You know--Aggie told you--that Cassidy was up here from +Headquarters. He didn't put a name to it, but I'm on." Mary +regarded him inquiringly, and he continued, putting the fact with +a certain brutal bluntness after the habit of his class. "I +guess you'll have to quit seeing young Gilder. The bulls are +wise. His father has made a holler. + +"Don't let that worry you, Joe," she said tranquilly. She allowed +a few seconds go by, then added as if quite indifferent: "I was +married to Dick Gilder this morning." There came a squeal of +amazement from Aggie, a start of incredulity from Garson. + +"Yes," Mary repeated evenly, "I was married to him this morning. +That was my important engagement," she added with a smile toward +Aggie. For some intuitive reason, mysterious to herself, she did +not care to meet the man's eyes at that moment. + +Aggie sat erect, her baby face alive with worldly glee. + +"My Gawd, what luck!" she exclaimed noisily. "Why, he's a king +fish, he is. Gee! But I'm glad you landed him!" + +"Thank you," Mary said with a smile that was the result of her +sense of humor rather than from any tenderness. + +It was then that Garson spoke. He was a delicate man in his +sensibilities at times, in spite of the fact that he followed +devious methods in his manner of gaining a livelihood. So, now, +he put a question of vital significance. + +"Do you love him?" + +The question caught Mary all unprepared, but she retained her +self-control sufficiently to make her answer in a voice that to +the ordinary ear would have revealed no least tremor. + +"No," she said. She offered no explanation, no excuse, merely +stated the fact in all its finality. + +Aggie was really shocked, though for a reason altogether sordid, +not one whit romantic. + +"Ain't he young?" she demanded aggressively. "Ain't he +good-looking, and loose with his money something scandalous? If +I met up with a fellow as liberal as him, if he was three times +his age, I could simply adore him!" + +It was Garson who pressed the topic with an inexorable curiosity +born of his unselfish interest in the woman concerned. + +"Then, why did you marry him?" he asked. The sincerity of him +was excuse enough for the seeming indelicacy of the question. +Besides, he felt himself somehow responsible. He had given back +to her the gift of life, which she had rejected. Surely, he had +the right to know the truth. + +It seemed that Mary believed her confidence his due, for she told +him the fact. + +"I have been working and scheming for nearly a year to do it," +she said, with a hardening of her face that spoke of indomitable +resolve. "Now, it's done." A vindictive gleam shot from her +violet eyes as she added: "It's only the beginning, too." + +Garson, with the keen perspicacity that had made him a successful +criminal without a single conviction to mar his record, had +seized the implication in her statement, and now put it in words. + +"Then, you won't leave us? We're going on as we were before?" +The hint of dejection in his manner had vanished. "And you won't +live with him?" + +"Live with him?" Mary exclaimed emphatically. "Certainly not!" + +Aggie's neatly rounded jaw dropped in a gape of surprise that was +most unladylike. + +"You are going to live on in this joint with us?" she +questioned, aghast. + +"Of course." The reply was given with the utmost of certainty. + +Aggie presented the crux of the matter. + +"Where will hubby live?" + +There was no lessening of the bride's composure as she replied, +with a little shrug. + +"Anywhere but here." + +Aggie suddenly giggled. To her sense of humor there was +something vastly diverting in this new scheme of giving bliss to +a fond husband. + +"Anywhere but here," she repeated gaily. "Oh, won't that be +nice--for him? Oh, yes! Oh, quite so! Oh, yes, indeed--quite +so--so!" + +Garson, however, was still patient in his determination to +apprehend just what had come to pass. + +"Does he understand the arrangement?" was his question. + +"No, not yet," Mary admitted, without sign of embarrassment. + +"Well," Aggie said, with another giggle, "when you do get around +to tell him, break it to him gently." + +Garson was intently considering another phase of the situation, +one suggested perhaps out of his own deeper sentiments. + +"He must think a lot of you!" he said, gravely. "Don't he?" + +For the first time, Mary was moved to the display of a slight +confusion. She hesitated a little before her answer, and when +she spoke it was in a lower key, a little more slowly. + +"I--I suppose so." + +Aggie presented the truth more subtly than could have been +expected from her. + +"Think a lot of you? Of course he does! Thinks enough to marry +you! And believe me, kid, when a man thinks enough of you to +marry you, well, that's some thinking!" + +Somehow, the crude expression of this professional adventuress +penetrated to Mary's conscience, though it held in it the truth +to which her conscience bore witness, to which she had tried to +shut her ears.... And now from the man came something like a +draught of elixir to her conscience--like the trump of doom to +her scheme of vengeance. + +Garson spoke very softly, but with an intensity that left no +doubt as to the honesty of his purpose. + +"I'd say, throw up the whole game and go to him, if you really +care." + +There fell a tense silence. It was broken by Mary herself. She +spoke with a touch of haste, as if battling against some +hindrance within. + +"I married him to get even with his father," she said. "That's +all there is to it.... By the way, I expect Dick will be here in +a minute or two. When he comes, just remember not to--enlighten +him." + +Aggie sniffed indignantly. + +"Don't worry about me, not a mite. Whenever it's really wanted, +I'm always there with a full line of that lady stuff." +Thereupon, she sprang up, and proceeded to give her conception of +the proper welcoming of the happy bridegroom. The performance +was amusing enough in itself, but for some reason it moved +neither of the two for whom it was rendered to more than +perfunctory approval. The fact had no depressing effect on the +performer, however, and it was only the coming of the maid that +put her lively sallies to an end. + +"Mr. Gilder," Fannie announced. + +Mary put a question with so much of energy that Garson began +finally to understand the depth of her vindictive feeling. + +"Any one with him?" + +"No, Miss Turner," the maid answered. + +"Have him come in," Mary ordered. + +Garson felt that he would be better away for the sake of the +newly married pair at least, if not for his own. He made hasty +excuses and went out on the heels of the maid. Aggie, however, +consulting only her own wishes in the matter, had no thought of +flight, and, if the truth be told, Mary was glad of the +sustaining presence of another woman. + +She got up slowly, and stood silent, while Aggie regarded her +curiously. Even to the insensitive observer, there was something +strange in the atmosphere.... A moment later the bridegroom +entered. + +He was still clean-cut and wholesome. Some sons of wealthy +fathers are not, after four years experience of the white lights +of town. And the lines of his face were firmer, better in every +way. It seemed, indeed, that here was some one of a resolute +character, not to be wasted on the trivial and gross things. In +an instant, he had gone to her, had caught her in his arms with, +"Hello, dear!" smothered in the kiss he implanted on her lips. + +Mary strove vainly to free herself. + +"Don't, oh, don't!" she gasped. + +Dick Gilder released his wife from his arms and smiled the +beatific smile of the newly-wed. + +"Why not?" he demanded, with a smile, a smile calm, triumphant, +masterful. + +"Agnes!" ... It was the sole pretext to which Mary could turn for +a momentary relief. + +The bridegroom faced about, and perceived Agnes, who stood +closely watching the meeting between husband and wife. He made +an excellent formal bow of the sort that one learns only abroad, +and spoke quietly. + +"I beg your pardon, Miss Lynch, but"--a smile of perfect +happiness shone on his face--"you could hardly expect me to see +any one but Mary under the circumstances. Could you?" + +Aggie strove to rise to this emergency, and again took on her +best manner, speaking rather coldly. + +"Under what circumstances?" she inquired. + +The young man exclaimed joyously. + +"Why, we were married this morning." + +Aggie accepted the news with fitting excitement. + +"Goodness gracious! How perfectly lovely!" + +The bridegroom regarded her with a face that was luminous of +delight. + +"You bet, it's lovely!" he declared with entire conviction. He +turned to Mary, his face glowing with satisfaction. + +"Mary," he said, "I have the honeymoon trip all fixed. The +Mauretania sails at five in the morning, so we will----" + +A cold voice struck suddenly through this rhapsodizing. It was +that of the bride. + +"Where is your father?" she asked, without any trace of emotion. + +The bridegroom stopped short, and a deep blush spread itself over +his boyish face. His tone was filled full to overflowing with +compunction as he answered. + +"Oh, Lord! I had forgotten all about Dad." He beamed on Mary +with a smile half-ashamed, half-happy. "I'm awfully sorry," he +said earnestly. "I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll send Dad a +wireless from the ship, then write him from Paris." + +But the confident tone brought no response of agreement from +Mary. On the contrary, her voice was, if anything, even colder +as she replied to his suggestion. She spoke with an emphasis that +brooked no evasion. + +"What was your promise? I told you that I wouldn't go with you +until you had brought your father to me, and he had wished us +happiness." Dick placed his hands gently on his wife's shoulders +and regarded her with a touch of indignation in his gaze. + +"Mary," he said reproachfully, "you are not going to hold me to +that promise?" + +The answer was given with a decisiveness that admitted of no +question, and there was a hardness in her face that emphasized +the words. + +"I am going to hold you to that promise, Dick." + +For a few seconds, the young man stared at her with troubled +eyes. Then he moved impatiently, and dropped his hands from her +shoulders. But his usual cheery smile came again, and he +shrugged resignedly. + +"All right, Mrs. Gilder," he said, gaily. The sound of the name +provoked him to new pleasure. "Sounds fine, doesn't it?" he +demanded, with an uxorious air. + +"Yes," Mary said, but there was no enthusiasm in her tone. + +The husband went on speaking with no apparent heed of his wife's +indifference. + +"You pack up what things you need, girlie," he directed. "Just a +few--because they sell clothes in Paris. And they are some class, +believe me! And meantime, I'll run down to Dad's office, and have +him back here in half an hour. You will be all ready, won't +you?" + +Mary answered quickly, with a little catching of her breath, but +still coldly. + +"Yes, yes, I'll be ready. Go and bring your father." + +"You bet I will," Dick cried heartily. He would have taken her +in his arms again, but she evaded the caress. "What's the +matter?" he demanded, plainly at a loss to understand this +repulse. + +"Nothing!" was the ambiguous answer. + +"Just one!" Dick pleaded. + +"No," the bride replied, and there was determination in the +monosyllable. + +It was evident that Dick perceived the futility of argument. + +"For a married woman you certainly are shy," he replied, with a +sly glance toward Aggie, who beamed back sympathy. "You'll +excuse me, won't you, Miss Lynch,... Good-by, Mrs. Gilder." He +made a formal bow to his wife. As he hurried to the door, he +expressed again his admiration for the name. "Mrs. Gilder! +Doesn't that sound immense?" And with that he was gone. + +There was silence in the drawing-room until the two women heard +the closing of the outer door of the apartment. Then, at last, +Aggie relieved her pent-up emotions in a huge sigh that was near +a groan. + +"Oh Gawd!" she gasped. "The poor simp!" + + + +CHAPTER XIII. THE ADVENT OF GRIGGS. + +Later on, Garson, learning from the maid that Dick Gilder had +left, returned, just as Mary was glancing over the release, with +which General Hastings was to be compensated, along with the +return of his letters, for his payment of ten thousand dollars to +Miss Agnes Lynch. + +"Hello, Joe," Mary said graciously as the forger entered. Then +she spoke crisply to Agnes. "And now you must get ready. You +are to be at Harris's office with this document at four o'clock, +and remember that you are to let the lawyer manage everything." + +Aggie twisted her doll-like face into a grimace. + +"It gets my angora that I'll have to miss Pa Gilder's being led +like a lamb to the slaughter-house." And that was the nearest +the little adventuress ever came to making a Biblical quotation. + +"Anyhow," she protested, "I don't see the use of all this monkey +business here. All I want is the coin." But she hurried +obediently, nevertheless, to get ready for the start. + +Garson regarded Mary quizzically. + +"It's lucky for her that she met you," he said. "She's got no +more brains than a gnat." + +"And brains are mighty useful things, even in our business," Mary +replied seriously; "particularly in our business." + +"I should say they were," Garson agreed. "You have proved that." + +Aggie came back, putting on her gloves, and cocking her small +head very primly under the enormous hat that was garnished with +costliest plumes. It was thus that she consoled herself in a +measure for the business of the occasion--in lieu of cracked ice +from Tiffany's at one hundred and fifty a carat. Mary gave over +the release, and Aggie, still grumbling, deposited it in her +handbag. + +"It seems to me we're going through a lot of red tape," she said +spitefully. + +Mary, from her chair at the desk, regarded the malcontent with a +smile, but her tone was crisp as she answered. + +"Listen, Agnes. The last time you tried to make a man give up +part of his money it resulted in your going to prison for two +years." + +Aggie sniffed, as if such an outcome were the merest bagatelle. + +"But that way was so exciting," she urged, not at all convinced. + +"And this way is so safe," Mary rejoined, sharply. "Besides, my +dear, you would not get the money. My way will. Your way was +blackmail; mine is not. Understand?" + +"Oh, sure," Aggie replied, grimly, on her way to the door. "It's +clear as Pittsburgh." With that sarcasm directed against legal +subtleties, she tripped daintily out, an entirely ravishing +vision, if somewhat garish as to raiment, and soon in the glances +of admiration that every man cast on her guileless-seeming +beauty, she forgot that she had ever been annoyed. + +Garson's comment as she departed was uttered with his accustomed +bluntness. + +"Solid ivory!" + +"She's a darling, anyway!" Mary declared, smiling. "You really +don't half-appreciate her, Joe!" + +"Anyhow, I appreciate that hat," was the reply, with a dry +chuckle. + +"Mr. Griggs," Fannie announced. There was a smile on the face of +the maid, which was explained a minute later when, in accordance +with her mistress's order, the visitor was shown into the +drawing-room, for his presence was of an elegance so +extraordinary as to attract attention anywhere--and mirth as well +from ribald observers. + +Meantime, Garson had explained to Mary. + +"It's English Eddie--you met him once. I wonder what he wants? +Probably got a trick for me. We often used to work together." + +"Nothing without my consent," Mary warned. + +"Oh, no, no, sure not!" Garson agreed. + +Further discussion was cut short by the appearance of English +Eddie himself, a tall, handsome man in the early thirties, who +paused just within the doorway, and delivered to Mary a bow that +was the perfection of elegance. Mary made no effort to restrain +the smile caused by the costume of Mr. Griggs. Yet, there was no +violation of the canons of good taste, except in the aggregate. +From spats to hat, from walking coat to gloves, everything was +perfect of its kind. Only, there was an over-elaboration, so +that the ensemble was flamboyant. And the man's manners precisely +harmonized with his clothes, whereby the whole effect was +emphasized and rendered bizarre. Garson took one amazed look, +and then rocked with laughter. + +Griggs regarded his former associate reproachfully for a moment, +and then grinned in frank sympathy. + +"Really, Mr. Griggs, you quite overcome me," Mary said, +half-apologetically. + +The visitor cast a self-satisfied glance over his garb. + +"I think it's rather neat, myself." He had some reputation in +the under-world for his manner of dressing, and he regarded this +latest achievement as his masterpiece. + +"Sure some duds!" Garson admitted, checking his merriment. + +"From your costume," Mary suggested, "one might judge that this +is purely a social call. Is it?" + +"Well, not exactly," Griggs answered with a smile. + +"So I fancied," his hostess replied. "So, sit down, please, and +tell us all about it." + +While she was speaking, Garson went to the various doors, and +made sure that all were shut, then he took a seat in a chair near +that which Griggs occupied by the desk, so that the three were +close together, and could speak softly. + +English Eddie wasted no time in getting to the point. + +"Now, look here," he said, rapidly. "I've got the greatest game +in the world.... Two years ago, a set of Gothic tapestries, worth +three hundred thousand dollars and a set of Fragonard panels, +worth nearly as much more, were plucked from a chateau in France +and smuggled into this country." + +"I have never heard of that," Mary said, with some interest. + +"No," Griggs replied. "You naturally wouldn't, for the simple +reason that it's been kept on the dead quiet." + +"Are them things really worth that much?" Garson exclaimed. + +"Sometimes more," Mary answered. "Morgan has a set of Gothic +tapestries worth half a million dollars." + +Garson uttered an ejaculation of disgust. + +"He pays half a million dollars for a set of rugs!" There was a +note of fiercest bitterness come into his voice as he +sarcastically concluded: "And they wonder at crime!" + +Griggs went on with his account. + +"About a month ago, the things I was telling you of were hung in +the library of a millionaire in this city." He hitched his chair +a little closer to the desk, and leaned forward, lowering his +voice almost to a whisper as he stated his plan. + +"Let's go after them. They were smuggled, mind you, and no +matter what happens, he can't squeal. What do you say?" + +Garson shot a piercing glance at Mary. + +"It's up to her," he said. Griggs regarded Mary eagerly, as she +sat with eyes downcast. Then, after a little interval had +elapsed in silence, he spoke interrogatively: + +"Well?" + +Mary shook her head decisively. "It's out of our line," she +declared. + +Griggs would have argued the matter. "I don't see any easier way +to get half a million," he said aggressively. + +Mary, however, was unimpressed. + +"If it were fifty millions, it would make no difference. It's +against the law." + +"Oh, I know all that, of course," Griggs returned impatiently. +"But if you can----" + +Mary interrupted him in a tone of finality. + +"My friends and I never do anything that's illegal! Thank you for +coming to us, Mr. Griggs, but we can't go in, and there's an end +of the matter." + +"But wait a minute," English Eddie expostulated, "you see this +chap, Gilder, is----" + +Mary's manner changed from indifference to sudden keen interest. + +"Gilder?" she exclaimed, questioningly. + +"Yes. You know who he is," Griggs answered; "the drygoods man." + +Garson in his turn showed a new excitement as he bent toward +Mary. + +"Why, it's old Gilder, the man you----" + +Mary, however, had regained her self-control, for a moment rudely +shaken, and now her voice was tranquil again as she replied: + +"I know. But, just the same, it's illegal, and I won't touch it. +That's all there is to it." + +Griggs was dismayed. + +"But half a million!" he exclaimed, disconsolately. "There's a +stake worth playing for. Think of it!" He turned pleadingly to +Garson. "Half a million, Joe!" + +The forger repeated the words with an inflection that was +gloating. + +"Half a million!" + +"And it's the softest thing you ever saw." + +The telephone at the desk rang, and Mary spoke into it for a +moment, then rose and excused herself to resume the conversation +over the wire more privately in the booth. The instant she was +out of the room, Griggs turned to Garson anxiously. + +"It's a cinch, Joe," he pleaded. "I've got a plan of the house." +He drew a paper from his breast-pocket, and handed it to the +forger, who seized it avidly and studied it with intent, +avaricious eyes. + +"It looks easy," Garson agreed, as he gave back the paper. + +"It is easy," Griggs reiterated. "What do you say?" + +Garson shook his head in refusal, but there was no conviction in +the act. + +"I promised Mary never to----" + +Griggs broke in on him. + +"But a chance like this! Anyhow, come around to the back room at +Blinkey's to-night, and we'll have a talk. Will you?" + +"What time?" Garson asked hesitatingly, tempted. + +"Make it early, say nine," was the answer. "Will you?" + +"I'll come," Garson replied, half-guiltily. And in the same +moment Mary reentered. + +Griggs rose and spoke with an air of regret. + +"It's 'follow the leader,' " he said, "and since you are against +it, that settles it." + +"Yes, I'm against it," Mary said, firmly. + +"I'm sorry," English Eddie rejoined. "But we must all play the +game as we see it.... Well, that was the business I was after, +and, as it's finished, why, good-afternoon, Miss Turner." He +nodded toward Joe, and took his departure. + +Something of what was in his mind was revealed in Garson's first +speech after Griggs's going. + +"That's a mighty big stake he's playing for." + +"And a big chance he's taking!" Mary retorted. "No, Joe, we +don't want any of that. We'll play a game that's safe and sure." + +The words recalled to the forger weird forebodings that had been +troubling him throughout the day. + +"It's sure enough," he stated, "but is it safe?" + +Mary looked up quickly. + +"What do you mean?" she demanded. + +Garson walked to and fro nervously as he answered. + +"S'pose the bulls get tired of you putting it over on 'em and try +some rough work?" + +Mary smiled carelessly. + +"Don't worry, Joe," she advised. "I know a way to stop it." + +"Well, so far as that goes, so do I," the forger said, with +significant emphasis. + +"Just what do you mean by that?" Mary demanded, suspiciously. + +"For rough work," he said, "I have this." He took a magazine +pistol from his pocket. It was of an odd shape, with a barrel +longer than is usual and a bell-shaped contrivance attached to +the muzzle. + +"No, no, Joe," Mary cried, greatly discomposed. "None of +that--ever!" + +The forger smiled, and there was malignant triumph in his +expression. + +"Pooh!" he exclaimed. "Even if I used it, they would never get +on to me. See this?" He pointed at the strange contrivance on +the muzzle. + +Mary's curiosity made her forget for a moment her distaste. + +"What is it?" she asked, interestedly. "I have never seen +anything like that before." + +"Of course you haven't," Garson answered with much pride. "I'm +the first man in the business to get one, and I'll bet on it. I +keep up with the times." For once, he was revealing that +fundamental egotism which is the characteristic of all his kind. +"That's one of the new Maxim silencers," he continued. "With +smokeless powder in the cartridges, and the silencer on, I can +make a shot from my coat-pocket, and you wouldn't even know it +had been done. . .. And I'm some shot, believe me." + +"Impossible!" Mary ejaculated. + +"No, it ain't," the man asserted. "Here, wait, I'll show you." + +"Good gracious, not here!" Mary exclaimed in alarm. "We would +have the whole place down on us." + +Garson chuckled. + +"You just watch that dinky little vase on the table across the +room there. 'Tain't very valuable, is it?" + +"No," Mary answered. + +In the same instant, while still her eyes were on the vase, it +fell in a cascade of shivered glass to the table and floor. She +had heard no sound, she saw no smoke. Perhaps, there had been a +faintest clicking noise. She was not sure. She stared +dumfounded for a few seconds, then turned her bewildered face +toward Garson, who was grinning in high enjoyment. + +"I would'nt have believed it possible," she declared, vastly +impressed. + +"Neat little thing, ain't it?" the man asked, exultantly. + +"Where did you get it?" Mary asked. + +"In Boston, last week. And between you and me, Mary, it's the +only model, and it sure is a corker for crime." + +The sinister association of ideas made Mary shudder, but she said +no more. She would have shuddered again, if she could have +guessed the vital part that pistol was destined to play. But she +had no thought of any actual peril to come from it. She might +have thought otherwise, could she have known of the meeting that +night in the back room of Blinkey's, where English Eddie and +Garson sat with their heads close together over a table. + +"A chance like this," Griggs was saying, "a chance that will make +a fortune for all of us." + +"It sounds good," Garson admitted, wistfully. + +"It is good," the other declared with an oath. "Why, if this +goes through, we're set up for life. We can quit, all of us." + +"Yes," Garson agreed, "we can quit, all of us." There was +avarice in his voice. + +The tempter was sure that the battle was won, and smiled +contentedly. + +"Well," he urged, "what do you say?" + +"How would we split it?" It was plain that Garson had given over +the struggle against greed. After all, Mary was only a woman, +despite her cleverness, and with all a woman's timidity. Here +was sport for men. + +"Three ways would be right," Griggs answered. "One to me, one to +you and one to be divided up among the others." + +Garson brought his fist down on the table with a force that made +the glasses jingle. + +"You're on," he said, strongly. + +"Fine!" Griggs declared, and the two men shook hands. "Now, I'll +get----" + +"Get nothing!" Garson interrupted. "I'll get my own men. +Chicago Red is in town. So is Dacey, with perhaps a couple of +others of the right sort. I'll get them to meet you at Blinkey's +at two to-morrow afternoon, and, if it looks right, we'll turn +the trick to-morrow night." + +"That's the stuff," Griggs agreed, greatly pleased. + +But a sudden shadow fell on the face of Garson. He bent closer +to his companion, and spoke with a fierce intensity that brooked +no denial. + +"She must never know." + +Griggs nodded understandingly. + +"Of course," he answered. "I give you my word that I'll never +tell her. And you know you can trust me, Joe." + +"Yes," the forger replied somberly, "I know I can trust you." +But the shadow did not lift from his face. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. A WEDDING ANNOUNCEMENT. + +Mary dismissed Garson presently, and betook herself to her +bedroom for a nap. The day had been a trying one, and, though +her superb health could endure much, she felt that both prudence +and comfort required that she should recruit her energies while +there was opportunity. She was not in the least surprised that +Dick had not yet returned, though he had mentioned half an hour. +At the best, there were many things that might detain him, his +father's absence from the office, difficulties in making +arrangements for his projected honeymoon trip abroad--which would +never occur--or the like. At the worst, there was a chance of +finding his father promptly, and of that father as promptly +taking steps to prevent the son from ever again seeing the woman +who had so indiscreetly married him. Yet, somehow, Mary could +not believe that her husband would yield to such paternal +coercion. Rather, she was sure that he would prove loyal to her +whom he loved, through every trouble. At the thought a certain +wistfulness pervaded her, and a poignant regret that this +particular man should have been the one chosen of fate to be +entangled within her mesh of revenge. There throbbed in her a +heart-tormenting realization that there were in life +possibilities infinitely more splendid than the joy of vengeance. +She would not confess the truth even to her inmost soul, but the +truth was there, and set her a-tremble with vague fears. +Nevertheless, because she was in perfect health, and was much +fatigued, her introspection did not avail to keep her awake, and +within three minutes from the time she lay down she was +blissfully unconscious of all things, both the evil and the good, +revenge and love. + +She had slept, perhaps, a half-hour, when Fannie awakened her. + +"It's a man named Burke," she explained, as her mistress lay +blinking. "And there's another man with him. They said they +must see you." + +By this time, Mary was wide-awake, for the name of Burke, the +Police Inspector, was enough to startle her out of drowsiness. + +"Bring them in, in five minutes," she directed. + +She got up, slipped into a tea-gown, bathed her eyes in cologne, +dressed her hair a little, and went into the drawing-room, where +the two men had been waiting for something more than a quarter of +an hour--to the violent indignation of both. + +"Oh, here you are, at last!" the big, burly man cried as she +entered. The whole air of him, though he was in civilian's +clothes, proclaimed the policeman. + +"Yes, Inspector," Mary replied pleasantly, as she advanced into +the room. She gave a glance toward the other visitor, who was of +a slenderer form, with a thin, keen face, and recognized him +instantly as Demarest, who had taken part against her as the +lawyer for the store at the time of her trial, and who was now +holding the office of District Attorney. She went to the chair +at the desk, and seated herself in a leisurely fashion that +increased the indignation of the fuming Inspector. She did not +trouble to ask her self-invited guests to sit. + +"To whom do I owe the pleasure of this visit, Inspector?" she +remarked coolly. It was noticeable that she said whom and not +what, as if she understood perfectly that the influence of some +person brought him on this errand. + +"I have come to have a few quiet words with you," the Inspector +declared, in a mighty voice that set the globes of the +chandeliers a-quiver. Mary disregarded him, and turned to the +other man. + +"How do you do, Mr. Demarest?" she said, evenly. "It's four +years since we met, and they've made you District Attorney since +then. Allow me to congratulate you." + +Demarest's keen face took on an expression of perplexity. + +"I'm puzzled," he confessed. "There is something familiar, +somehow, about you, and yet----" He scrutinized appreciatively +the loveliness of the girl with her classically beautiful face, +that was still individual in its charm, the slim graces of the +tall, lissome form. "I should have remembered you. I don't +understand it." + +"Can't you guess?" Mary questioned, somberly. "Search your +memory, Mr. Demarest." + +Of a sudden, the face of the District Attorney lightened. + +"Why," he exclaimed, "you are--it can't be--yes--you are the +girl, you're the Mary Turner whom I--oh, I know you now." + +There was an enigmatic smile bending the scarlet lips as she +answered. + +"I'm the girl you mean, Mr. Demarest, but, for the rest, you +don't know me--not at all!" + +The burly figure of the Inspector of Police, which had loomed +motionless during this colloquy, now advanced a step, and the big +voice boomed threatening. It was very rough and weighted with +authority. + +"Young woman," Burke said, peremptorily, "the Twentieth Century +Limited leaves Grand Central Station at four o'clock. It arrives +in Chicago at eight-fifty-five to-morrow morning." He pulled a +massive gold watch from his waistcoat pocket, glanced at it, +thrust it back, and concluded ponderously: "You will just about +have time to catch that train." + +Mary regarded the stockily built officer with a half-amused +contempt, which she was at no pains to conceal. + +"Working for the New York Central now?" she asked blandly. + +The gibe made the Inspector furious. + +"I'm working for the good of New York City," he answered +venomously. + +Mary let a ripple of cadenced laughter escape her. + +"Since when?" she questioned. + +A little smile twisted the lips of the District Attorney, but he +caught himself quickly, and spoke with stern gravity. + +"Miss Turner, I think you will find that a different tone will +serve you better." + +"Oh, let her talk," Burke interjected angrily. "She's only got a +few minutes anyway." + +Mary remained unperturbed. + +"Very well, then," she said genially, "let us be comfortable +during that little period." She made a gesture of invitation +toward chairs, which Burke disdained to accept; but Demarest +seated himself. + +"You'd better be packing your trunk," the Inspector rumbled. + +"But why?" Mary inquired, with a tantalizing assumption of +innocence. "I'm not going away." + +"On the Twentieth Century Limited, this afternoon," the Inspector +declared, in a voice of growing wrath. + +"Oh, dear, no!" Mary's assertion was made very quietly, but with +an underlying firmness that irritated the official beyond +endurance. + +"I say yes!" The answer was a bellow. + +Mary appeared distressed, not frightened. Her words were an +ironic protest against the man's obstreperous noisiness, no more. + +"I thought you wanted quiet words with me." + +Burke went toward her, in a rage. + +"Now, look here, Mollie----" he began harshly. + +On the instant, Mary was on her feet, facing him, and there was a +gleam in her eyes as they met his that bade him pause. + +"Miss Turner, if you don't mind." She laughed slightly. "For +the present, anyway." She reseated herself tranquilly. + +Burke was checked, but he retained his severity of bearing. + +"I'm giving you your orders. You will either go to Chicago, or +you'll go up the river." + +Mary answered in a voice charged with cynicism. + +"If you can convict me. Pray, notice that little word 'if'." + +The District Attorney interposed very suavely. + +"I did once, remember." + +"But you can't do it again," Mary declared, with an assurance +that excited the astonishment of the police official. + +"How do you know he can't?" he blustered. + +Mary laughed in a cadence of genial merriment. + +"Because," she replied gaily, "if he could, he would have had me +in prison some time ago." + +Burke winced, but he made shift to conceal his realization of the +truth she had stated to him. + +"Huh!" he exclaimed gruffly. "I've seen them go up pretty easy." + +Mary met the assertion with a serenity that was baffling. + +"The poor ones," she vouchsafed; "not those that have money. I +have money, plenty of money--now." + +"Money you stole!" the Inspector returned, brutally. + +"Oh, dear, no!" Mary cried, with a fine show of virtuous +indignation. + +"What about the thirty thousand dollars you got on that +partnership swindle?" Burke asked, sneering. "I s'pose you +didn't steal that!" + +"Certainly not," was the ready reply. "The man advertised for a +partner in a business sure to bring big and safe returns. I +answered. The business proposed was to buy a tract of land, and +subdivide it. The deeds to the land were all forged, and the +supposed seller was his confederate, with whom he was to divide +the money. We formed a partnership, with a capital of sixty +thousand dollars. We paid the money into the bank, and then at +once I drew it out. You see, he wanted to get my money +illegally, but instead I managed to get his legally. For it was +legal for me to draw that money--wasn't it, Mr. Demarest?" + +The District Attorney by an effort retained his severe expression +of righteous disapprobation, but he admitted the truth of her +contention. + +"Unfortunately, yes," he said gravely. "A partner has the right +to draw out any, or all, of the partnership funds." + +"And I was a partner," Mary said contentedly. "You, see, +Inspector, you wrong me--you do, really! I'm not a swindler; I'm +a financier." + +Burke sneered scornfully. + +"Well," he roared, "you'll never pull another one on me. You can +gamble on that!" + +Mary permitted herself to laugh mockingly in the face of the +badgered official. + +"Thank you for telling me," she said, graciously. "And let me +say, incidentally, that Miss Lynch at the present moment is +painlessly extracting ten thousand dollars from General Hastings +in a perfectly legal manner, Inspector Burke." + +"Well, anyhow," Burke shouted, "you may stay inside the law, but +you've got to get outside the city." He tried to employ an +elephantine bantering tone. "On the level, now, do you think you +could get away with that young Gilder scheme you've been +planning?" + +Mary appeared puzzled. + +"What young Gilder scheme?" she asked, her brows drawn in +bewilderment. + +"Oh, I'm wise--I'm wise!" the Inspector cried roughly. "The +answer is, once for all, leave town this afternoon, or you'll be +in the Tombs in the morning." + +Abruptly, a change came over the woman. Hitherto, she had been +cynical, sarcastic, laughing, careless, impudent. Now, of a +sudden, she was all seriousness, and she spoke with a gravity +that, despite their volition, impressed both the men before her. + +"It can't be done, Inspector," she said, sedately. + +The declaration, simple as it was, aroused the official to new +indignation. + +"Who says it can't?" he vociferated, overflowing with anger at +this flouting of the authority he represented. + +Mary opened a drawer of the desk, and took out the document +obtained that morning from Harris, and held it forth. + +"This," she replied, succinctly. + +"What's this?" Burke stormed. But he took the paper. + +Demarest looked over the Inspector's shoulder, and his eyes grew +larger as he read. When he was at an end of the reading, he +regarded the passive woman at the desk with a new respect. + +"What's this?" Burke repeated helplessly. It was not easy for +him to interpret the legal phraseology. Mary was kind enough to +make the document clear to him. + +"It's a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court, +instructing you to let me alone until you have legal proof that I +have broken the law.... Do you get that, Mr. Inspector Burke?" + +The plethoric official stared hard at the injunction. + +"Another new one," he stuttered finally. Then his anger sought +vent in violent assertion. "But it can't be done!" he shouted. + +"You might ask Mr. Demarest," Mary suggested, pleasantly, "as to +whether or not it can be done. The gambling houses can do it, +and so keep on breaking the law. The race track men can do it, +and laugh at the law. The railroad can do it, to restrain its +employees from striking. So, why shouldn't I get one, too? You +see, I have money. I can buy all the law I want. And there's +nothing you can't do with the law, if you have money enough.... +Ask Mr. Demarest. He knows." + +Burke was fairly gasping over this outrage against his authority. + +"Can you beat that!" he rumbled with a raucously sonorous +vehemence. He regarded Mary with a stare of almost reverential +wonder. "A crook appealing to the law!" + +There came a new note into the woman's voice as she answered the +gibe. + +"No, simply getting justice," she said simply. "That's the +remarkable part of it." She threw off her serious air. "Well, +gentlemen," she concluded, "what are you going to do about it?" + +Burke explained. + +"This is what I'm going to do about it. One way or another, I'm +going to get you." + +The District Attorney, however, judged it advisable to use more +persuasive methods. + +"Miss Turner," he said, with an appearance of sincerity, "I'm +going to appeal to your sense of fair play." + +Mary's shining eyes met his for a long moment, and before the +challenge in hers, his fell. He remembered then those doubts +that had assailed him when this girl had been sentenced to +prison, remembered the half-hearted plea he had made in her +behalf to Richard Gilder. + +"That was killed," Mary said, "killed four years ago." + +But Demarest persisted. Influence had been brought to bear on +him. It was for her own sake now that he urged her. + +"Let young Gilder alone." + +Mary laughed again. But there was no hint of joyousness in the +musical tones. Her answer was frank--brutally frank. She had +nothing to conceal. + +"His father sent me away for three years--three years for +something I didn't do. Well, he's got to pay for it." + +By this time, Burke, a man of superior intelligence, as one must +be to reach such a position of authority, had come to realize +that here was a case not to be carried through by blustering, by +intimidation, by the rough ruses familiar to the force. Here was +a woman of extraordinary intelligence, as well as of peculiar +personal charm, who merely made sport of his fulminations, and +showed herself essentially armed against anything he might do, by +a court injunction, a thing unheard of until this moment in the +case of a common crook. It dawned upon him that this was, +indeed, not a common crook. Moreover, there had grown in him a +certain admiration for the ingenuity and resource of this woman, +though he retained all his rancor against one who dared thus to +resist the duly constituted authority. So, in the end, he spoke +to her frankly, without a trace of his former virulence, with a +very real, if rugged, sincerity. + +"Don't fool yourself, my girl," he said in his huge voice, which +was now modulated to a degree that made it almost unfamiliar to +himself. "You can't go through with this. There's always a weak +link in the chain somewhere. It's up to me to find it, and I +will." + +His candor moved her to a like honesty. + +"Now," she said, and there was respect in the glance she gave the +stalwart man, "now you really sound dangerous." + +There came an interruption, alike unexpected by all. Fannie +appeared at the door. + +"Mr. Edward Gilder wishes to see you, Miss Turner," she said, +with no appreciation of anything dynamic in the announcement. +"Shall I show him in?" + +"Oh, certainly," Mary answered, with an admirable pretense of +indifference, while Burke glared at Demarest, and the District +Attorney appeared ill at ease. + +"He shouldn't have come," Demarest muttered, getting to his feet, +in reply to the puzzled glance of the Inspector. + +Then, while Mary sat quietly in her chair at the desk, and the +two men stood watching doubtfully the door, the maid appeared, +stood aside, and said simply, "Mr. Gilder." + +There entered the erect, heavy figure of the man whom Mary had +hated through the years. He stopped abruptly just within the +room, gave a glance at the two men, then his eyes went to Mary, +sitting at her desk, with her face lifted inquiringly. He did +not pause to take in the beauty of that face, only its strength. +He stared at her silently for a moment. Then he spoke in his +oritund voice, a little tremulous from anxiety. + +"Are you the woman?" he said. There was something simple and +primitive, something of dignity beyond the usual conventions, in +his direct address. + +And there was the same primitive simplicity in the answer. +Between the two strong natures there was no subterfuge, no +suggestion of polite evasions, of tergiversation, only the plea +of truth to truth. Mary's acknowledgment was as plain as his own +question. + +"I am the woman. What do you want?" ... Thus two honest folk had +met face to face. + +"My son." The man's answer was complete. + +But Mary touched a tragic note in her question. It was asked in +no frivolous spirit, but, of a sudden, she guessed that his +coming was altogether of his own volition, and not the result of +his son's information, as at first she had supposed. + +"Have you seen him recently?" she asked. + +"No," Gilder answered. + +"Then, why did you come?" + +Thereat, the man was seized with a fatherly fury. His heavy face +was congested, and his sonorous voice was harsh with virtuous +rebuke. + +"Because I intend to save my boy from a great folly. I am +informed that he is infatuated with you, and Inspector Burke +tells me why--he tells me--why--he tells me----" He paused, +unable for a moment to continue from an excess of emotion. But +his gray eyes burned fiercely in accusation against her. + +Inspector Burke himself filled the void in the halting sentence. + +"I told you she had been an ex-convict." + +"Yes," Gilder said, after he had regained his self-control. He +stared at her pleadingly. "Tell me," he said with a certain +dignity, "is this true?" + +Here, then, was the moment for which she had longed through weary +days, through weary years. Here was the man whom she hated, +suppliant before her to know the truth. Her heart quickened. +Truly, vengeance is sweet to one who has suffered unjustly. + +"Is this true?" the man repeated, with something of horror in +his voice. + +"It is," Mary said quietly. + +For a little, there was silence in the room. Once, Inspector +Burke started to speak, but the magnate made an imperative +gesture, and the officer held his peace. Always, Mary rested +motionless. Within her, a fierce joy surged. Here was the time +of her victory. Opposite her was the man who had caused her +anguish, the man whose unjust action had ruined her life. Now, +he was her humble petitioner, but this servility could be of no +avail to save him from shame. He must drink of the dregs of +humiliation--and then again. No price were too great to pay for +a wrong such as that which he had put upon her. + +At last, Gilder was restored in a measure to his self-possession. +He spoke with the sureness of a man of wealth, confident that +money will salve any wound. + +"How much?" he asked, baldly. + +Mary smiled an inscrutable smile. + +"Oh, I don't need money," she said, carelessly. "Inspector Burke +will tell you how easy it is for me to get it." + +Gilder looked at her with a newly dawning respect; then his +shrewdness suggested a retort. + +"Do you want my son to learn what you are?" he said. + +Mary laughed. There was something dreadful in that burst of +spurious amusement. + +"Why not?" she answered. "I'm ready to tell him myself." + +Then Gilder showed the true heart of him, in which love for his +boy was before all else. He found himself wholly at a loss +before the woman's unexpected reply. + +"But I don't want him to know," he stammered. "Why, I've spared +the boy all his life. If he really loves you--it will----" + +At that moment, the son himself entered hurriedly from the +hallway. In his eagerness, he saw no one save the woman whom he +loved. At his entrance, Mary rose and moved backward a step +involuntarily, in sheer surprise over his coming, even though she +had known he must come--perhaps from some other emotion, deeper, +hidden as yet even from herself. + +The young man, with his wholesome face alight with tenderness, +went swiftly to her, while the other three men stood silent, +motionless, abashed by the event. And Dick took Mary's hand in a +warm clasp, pressed it tenderly. + +"I didn't see father," he said happily, "but I left him a note on +his desk at the office." + +Then, somehow, the surcharged atmosphere penetrated his +consciousness, and he looked around, to see his father standing +grimly opposite him. But there was no change in his expression +beyond a more radiant smile. + +"Hello, Dad!" he cried, joyously. "Then you got my note?" + +The voice of the older man came with a sinister force and +saturnine. + +"No, Dick, I haven't had any note." + +"Then, why?" The young man broke off suddenly. He was become +aware that here was something malignant, with a meaning beyond +his present understanding, for he saw the Inspector and Demarest, +and he knew the two of them for what they were officially. + +"What are they doing here?" he demanded suspiciously, staring at +the two. + +"Oh, never mind them," Mary said. There was a malevolent gleam +in her violet eyes. This was the recompense of which she had +dreamed through soul-tearing ages. "Just tell your father your +news, Dick." + +The young man had no comprehension of the fact that he was only a +pawn in the game. He spoke with simple pride. + +"Dad, we're married. Mary and I were married this morning." + +Always, Mary stared with her eyes steadfast on the father. There +was triumph in her gaze. This was the vengeance for which she +had longed, for which she had plotted, the vengeance she had at +last achieved. Here was her fruition, the period of her +supremacy. + +Gilder himself seemed dazed by the brief sentence. + +"Say that again," he commanded. + +Mary rejoiced to make the knowledge sure. + +"I married your son this morning," she said in a matter-of-fact +tone. "I married him. Do you quite understand, Mr. Gilder? I +married him." In that insistence lay her ultimate compensation +for untold misery. The father stood there wordless, unable to +find speech against this calamity that had befallen him. + +It was Burke who offered a diversion, a crude interruption after +his own fashion. + +"It's a frame-up," he roared. He glared at the young man. "Tell +your father it ain't true. Why, do you know what she is? She's +done time." He paused for an instant, then spoke in a voice that +was brutally menacing. "And, by God, she'll do it again!" + +The young man turned toward his bride. There was disbelief, +hope, despair, in his face, which had grown older by years with +the passing of the seconds. + +"It's a lie, Mary," he said. "Say it's a lie!" He seized her +hand passionately. + +There was no quiver in her voice as she answered. She drew her +hand from his clasp, and spoke evenly. + +"It's the truth." + +"It's the truth!" the young man repeated, incredulously. + +"It is the truth," Mary said, firmly. "I have served three years +in prison." + +There was a silence of a minute that was like years. It was the +father who broke it, and now his voice was become tremulous. + +"I wanted to save you, Dick. That's why I came." + +The son interrupted him violently. + +"There's a mistake--there must be." + +It was Demarest who gave an official touch to the tragedy of the +moment. + +"There's no mistake," he said. There was authority in his +statement. + +"There is, I tell you!" Dick cried, horrified by this conspiracy +of defamation. He turned his tortured face to his bride of a +day. + +"Mary," he said huskily, "there is a mistake." + +Something in her face appalled him. He was voiceless for a few +terrible instants. Then he spoke again, more beseechingly. + +"Say there's a mistake." + +Mary preserved her poise. Yes--she must not forget! This was the +hour of her triumph. What mattered it that the honey of it was +as ashes in her mouth? She spoke with a simplicity that admitted +no denial. + +"It's all quite true." + +The man who had so loved her, so trusted her, was overwhelmed by +the revelation. He stood trembling for a moment, tottered, +almost it seemed would have fallen, but presently steadied +himself and sank supinely into a chair, where he sat in impotent +suffering. + +The father looked at Mary with a reproach that was pathetic. + +"See," he said, and his heavy voice was for once thin with +passion," see what you've done to my boy!" + +Mary had held her eyes on Dick. There had been in her gaze a +conflict of emotions, strong and baffling. Now, however, when the +father spoke, her face grew more composed, and her eyes met his +coldly. Her voice was level and vaguely dangerous as she +answered his accusation. + +"What is that compared to what you have done to me?" + +Gilder stared at her in honest amazement. He had no suspicion as +to the tragedy that lay between him and her. + +"What have I done to you?" he questioned, uncomprehending. + +Mary moved forward, passing beyond the desk, and continued her +advance toward him until the two stood close together, face to +face. She spoke softly, but with an intensity of supreme feeling +in her voice. + +"Do you remember what I said to you the day you had me sent +away?" + +The merchant regarded her with stark lack of understanding. + +"I don't remember you at all," he said. + +The woman looked at him intently for a moment, then spoke in a +colorless voice. + +"Perhaps you remember Mary Turner, who was arrested four years +ago for robbing your store. And perhaps you remember that she +asked to speak to you before they took her to prison." + +The heavy-jowled man gave a start. + +"Oh, you begin to remember. Yes! There was a girl who swore she +was innocent--yes, she swore that she was innocent. And she +would have got off--only, you asked the judge to make an example +of her." + +The man to whom she spoke had gone gray a little. He began to +understand, for he was not lacking in intelligence. Somehow, it +was borne in on him that this woman had a grievance beyond the +usual run of injuries. + +"You are that girl?" he said. It was not a question, rather an +affirmation. + +Mary spoke with the dignity of long suffering--more than that, +with the confident dignity of a vengeance long delayed, now at +last achieved. Her words were simple enough, but they touched to +the heart of the man accused by them. + +"I am that girl." + +There was a little interval of silence. Then, Mary spoke again, +remorselessly. + +"You took away my good name. You smashed my life. You put me +behind the bars. You owe for all that.... Well' I've begun to +collect." + +The man opposite her, the man of vigorous form, of strong face +and keen eyes, stood gazing intently for long moments. In that +time, he was learning many things. Finally, he spoke. + +"And that is why you married my boy." + +"It is." Mary gave the answer coldly, convincingly. + +Convincingly, save to one--her husband. Dick suddenly aroused, +and spoke with the violence of one sure. + +"It is not!" + +Burke shouted a warning. Demarest, more diplomatic, made a +restraining gesture toward the police official, then started to +address the young man soothingly. + +But Dick would have none of their interference. + +"This is my affair," he said, and the others fell silent. He +stood up and went to Mary, and took her two hands in his, very +gently, yet very firmly. + +"Mary," he said softly, yet with a strength of conviction, "you +married me because you love me." + +The wife shuddered, but she strove to deny. + +"No," she said gravely, "no, I did not!" + +"And you love me now!" he went on insistingly. + +"No, no!" Mary's denial came like a cry for escape. + +"You love me now!" There was a masterful quality in his +declaration, which seemed to ignore her negation. + +"I don't," she repeated bitterly. + +But he was inexorable. + +"Look me in the face, and say that." + +He took her face in his hands, lifted it, and his eyes met hers +searchingly. + +"Look me in the face, and say that," he repeated. + +There was a silence that seemed long, though it was measured in +the passing of seconds. The three watchers dared not interrupt +this drama of emotions, but, at last, Mary, who had planned so +long for this hour, gathered her forces and spoke valiantly. Her +voice was low, but without any weakness of doubt. + +"I do not love you." + +In the instant of reply, Dick Gilder, by some inspiration of +love, changed his attitude. "Just the same," he said cheerfully, +"you are my wife, and I'm going to keep you and make you love +me." + +Mary felt a thrill of fear through her very soul. + +"You can't!" she cried harshly. "You are his son!" + +"She's a crook!" Burke said. + +"I don't care a damn what you've been!" Dick exclaimed. "From now +on you'll go straight. You'll walk the straightest line a woman +ever walked. You'll put all thoughts of vengeance out of your +heart, because I'll fill it with something bigger--I'm going to +make you love me." + +Burke, with his rousing voice, spoke again: + +"I tell you, she's a crook!" + +Mary moved a little, and then turned her face toward Gilder. + +"And, if I am, who made me one? You can't send a girl to prison, +and have her come out anything else." + +Burke swung himself around in a movement of complete disgust. + +"She didn't get her time for good behavior." + +Mary raised her head, haughtily, with a gesture of high disdain. + +"And I'm proud of it!" came her instant retort. "Do you know +what goes on there behind those stone walls? Do you, Mr. +District Attorney, whose business it is to send girls there? Do +you know what a girl is expected to do, to get time off for good +behavior? If you don't, ask the keepers." + +Gilder moved fussily. + +"And you----" + +Mary swayed a little, standing there before her questioner. + +"I served every minute of my time--every minute of it, three +full, whole years. Do you wonder that I want to get even, that +some one has got to pay? Four years ago, you took away my +name--and gave me a number.... Now, I've given up the number--and +I've got your name." + + + +CHAPTER XV. AFTERMATH OF TRAGEDY. + +The Gilders, both father and son, endured much suffering +throughout the night and day that followed the scene in Mary +Turner's apartment, when she had made known the accomplishment of +her revenge on the older man by her ensnaring of the younger. +Dick had followed the others out of her presence at her command, +emphasized by her leaving him alone when he would have pleaded +further with her. Since then, he had striven to obtain another +interview with his bride, but she had refused him. He was denied +admission to the apartment. Only the maid answered the ringing +of the telephone, and his notes were seemingly unheeded. +Distraught by this violent interjection of torment into a life +that hitherto had known no important suffering, Dick Gilder +showed what mettle of man lay beneath his debonair appearance. +And that mettle was of a kind worth while. In these hours of +grief, the soul of him put out its strength. He learned beyond +peradventure of doubt that the woman whom he had married was in +truth an ex-convict, even as Burke and Demarest had declared. +Nevertheless, he did not for an instant believe that she was +guilty of the crime with which she had been originally charged +and for which she had served a sentence in prison. For the rest, +he could understand in some degree how the venom of the wrong +inflicted on her had poisoned her nature through the years, till +she had worked out its evil through the scheme of which he was +the innocent victim. He cared little for the fact that recently +she had devoted herself to devious devices for making money, to +ingenious schemes for legal plunder. In his summing of her, he +set as more than an offset to her unrighteousness in this regard +the desperate struggle she had made after leaving prison to keep +straight, which, as he learned, had ended in her attempt at +suicide. He knew the intelligence of this woman whom he loved, +and in his heart was no thought of her faults as vital flaws. It +seemed to him rather that circumstances had compelled her, and +that through all the suffering of her life she had retained the +more beautiful qualities of her womanliness, for which he +reverenced her. In the closeness of their association, short as +it had been, he had learned to know something of the tenderer +depths within her, the kindliness of her, the wholesomeness. +Swayed as he was by the loveliness of her, he was yet more +enthralled by those inner qualities of which the outer beauty was +only the fitting symbol. + +So, in the face of this catastrophe, where a less love must have +been destroyed utterly, Dick remained loyal. His passionate +regard did not falter for a moment. It never even occurred to +him that he might cast her off, might yield to his father's +prayers, and abandon her. On the contrary, his only purpose was +to gain her for himself, to cherish and guard her against every +ill, to protect with his love from every attack of shame or +injury. He would not believe that the girl did not care for him. +Whatever had been her first purpose of using him only as an +instrument through which to strike against his father, whatever +might be her present plan of eliminating him from her life in the +future, he still was sure that she had grown to know a real and +lasting affection for himself. He remembered startled glances +from the violet eyes, caught unawares, and the music of her voice +in rare instants, and these told him that love for him stirred, +even though it might as yet be but faintly, in her heart. + +Out of that fact, he drew an immediate comfort in this period of +his misery. Nevertheless, his anguish was a racking one. He +grew older visibly in the night and the day. There crept +suddenly lines of new feeling into his face, and, too, lines of +new strength. The boy died in that time; the man was born, came +forth in the full of his steadfastness and his courage, and his +love. + +The father suffered with the son. He was a proud man, intensely +gratified over the commanding position to which he had achieved +in the commercial world, proud of his business integrity, of his +standing in the community as a leader, proud of his social +position, proud most of all of the son whom he so loved. Now, +this hideous disaster threatened his pride at every turn--worse, +it threatened the one person in the world whom he really loved. +Most fathers would have stormed at the boy when pleading failed, +would have given commands with harshness, would have menaced the +recalcitrant with disinheritance. Edward Gilder did none of +these things, though his heart was sorely wounded. He loved his +son too much to contemplate making more evil for the lad by any +estrangement between them. Yet he felt that the matter could not +safely be left in the hands of Dick himself. He realized that +his son loved the woman--nor could he wonder much at that. His +keen eyes had perceived Mary Turner's graces of form, her +loveliness of face. He had apprehended, too, in some measure at +least, the fineness of her mental fiber and the capacities of her +heart. Deep within him, denied any outlet, he knew there lurked +a curious, subtle sympathy for the girl in her scheme of revenge +against himself. Her persistent striving toward the object of +her ambition was something he could understand, since the like +thing in different guise had been back of his own business +success. He would not let the idea rise to the surface of +consciousness, for he still refused to believe that Mary Turner +had suffered at his hand unjustly. He would think of her as +nothing else than a vile creature, who had caught his son in the +toils of her beauty and charm, for the purpose of eventually +making money out of the intrigue. + +Gilder, in his library this night, was pacing impatiently to and +fro, eagerly listening for the sound of his son's return to the +house. He had been the guest of honor that night at an important +meeting of the Civic Committee, and he had spoken with his usual +clarity and earnestness in spite of the trouble that beset him. +Now, however, the regeneration of the city was far from his +thought, and his sole concern was with the regeneration of a +life, that of his son, which bade fair to be ruined by the wiles +of a wicked woman. He was anxious for the coming of Dick, to +whom he would make one more appeal. If that should fail--well, +he must use the influences at his command to secure the forcible +parting of the adventuress from his son. + +The room in which he paced to and fro was of a solid dignity, +well fitted to serve as an environment for its owner. It was +very large, and lofty. There was massiveness in the desk that +stood opposite the hall door, near a window. This particular +window itself was huge, high, jutting in octagonal, with leaded +panes. In addition, there was a great fireplace set with tiles, +around which was woodwork elaborately carved, the fruit of +patient questing abroad. On the walls were hung some pieces of +tapestry, where there were not bookcases. Over the octagonal +window, too, such draperies fell in stately lines. Now, as the +magnate paced back and forth, there was only a gentle light in +the room, from a reading-lamp on his desk. The huge chandelier +was unlighted.... It was even as Gilder, in an increasing +irritation over the delay, had thrown himself down on a couch +which stood just a little way within an alcove, that he heard the +outer door open and shut. He sprang up with an ejaculation of +satisfaction. + +"Dick, at last!" he muttered. + +It was, in truth, the son. A moment later, he entered the room, +and went at once to his father, who was standing waiting, facing +the door. + +"I'm awfully sorry I'm so late, Dad," he said simply. + +"Where have you been?" the father demanded gravely. But there +was great affection in the flash of his gray eyes as he scanned +the young man's face, and the touch of the hand that he put on +Dick's shoulder was very tender. "With that woman again?" + +The boy's voice was disconsolate as he replied: + +"No, father, not with her. She won't see me." + +The older man snorted a wrathful appreciation. + +"Naturally!" he exclaimed with exceeding bitterness in the heavy +voice. "She's got all she wanted from you --my name!" He +repeated the words with a grimace of exasperation: "My name!" + +There was a novel dignity in the son's tone as he spoke. + +"It's mine, too, you know, sir," he said quietly. + +The father was impressed of a sudden with the fact that, while +this affair was of supreme import to himself, it was, after all, +of still greater significance to his son. To himself, the chief +concerns were of the worldly kind. To this boy, the vital thing +was something deeper, something of the heart: for, however absurd +his feeling, the truth remained that he loved the woman. Yes, it +was the son's name that Mary Turner had taken, as well as that of +his father. In the case of the son, she had taken not only his +name, but his very life. Yes, it was, indeed, Dick's tragedy. +Whatever he, the father, might feel, the son was, after all, more +affected. He must suffer more, must lose more, must pay more +with happiness for his folly. + +Gilder looked at his son with a strange, new respect, but he +could not let the situation go without protest, protest of the +most vehement. + +"Dick," he cried, and his big voice was shaken a little by the +force of his emotion; "boy, you are all I have in the world. You +will have to free yourself from this woman somehow." He stood +very erect, staring steadfastly out of his clear gray eyes into +those of his son. His heavy face was rigid with feeling; the +coarse mouth bent slightly in a smile of troubled fondness, as he +added more softly: "You owe me that much." + +The son's eyes met his father's freely. There was respect in +them, and affection, but there was something else, too, something +the older man recognized as beyond his control. He spoke +gravely, with a deliberate conviction. + +"I owe something to her, too, Dad." + +But Gilder would not let the statement go unchallenged. His heavy +voice rang out rebukingly, overtoned with protest. + +"What can you owe her?" he demanded indignantly. "She tricked +you into the marriage. Why, legally, it's not even that. +There's been nothing more than a wedding ceremony. The courts +hold that that is only a part of the marriage actually. The fact +that she doesn't receive you makes it simpler, too. It can be +arranged. We must get you out of the scrape." + +He turned and went to the desk, as if to sit, but he was halted +by his son's answer, given very gently, yet with a note of +finality that to the father's ear rang like the crack of doom. + +"I'm not sure that I want to get out of it, father." + +That was all, but those plain words summed the situation, made +the issue a matter not of advice, but of the heart. + +Gilder persisted, however, in trying to evade the integral fact +of his son's feeling. Still he tried to fix the issue on the +known unsavory reputation of the woman. + +"You want to stay married to this jail-bird!" he stormed. + +A gust of fury swept the boy. He loved the woman, in spite of +all; he respected her, even reverenced her. To hear her thus +named moved him to a rage almost beyond his control. But he +mastered himself. He remembered that the man who spoke loved +him; he remembered, too, that the word of opprobrium was no more +than the truth, however offensive it might be to his +sensitiveness. He waited a moment until he could hold his voice +even. Then his words were the sternest protest that could have +been uttered, though they came from no exercise of thought, only +out of the deeps of his heart. + +"I'm very fond of her." + +That was all. But the simple sincerity of the saying griped the +father's mood, as no argument could have done. There was a +little silence. After all, what could meet such loving loyalty? + +When at last he spoke, Gilder's voice was subdued, a little +husky. + +"Now, that you know?" he questioned. + +There was no faltering in the answer. + +"Now, that I know," Dick said distinctly. Then abruptly, the +young man spoke with the energy of perfect faith in the woman. +"Don't you see, father? Why, she is justified in a way, in her +own mind anyhow, I mean. She was innocent when she was sent to +prison. She feels that the world owes her----" + +But the older man would not permit the assertion to go +uncontradicted. That reference to the woman's innocence was an +arraignment of himself, for it had been he who sent her to the +term of imprisonment. + +"Don't talk to me about her innocence!" he said, and his voice +was ominous. "I suppose next you will argue that, because she's +been clever enough to keep within the law, since she's got out of +State Prison, she's not a criminal. But let me tell you--crime +is crime, whether the law touches it in the particular case, or +whether it doesn't." + +Gilder faced his son sternly for a moment, and then presently +spoke again with deeper earnestness. + +"There's only one course open to you, my boy. You must give this +girl up." + +The son met his father's gaze with a level look in which there +was no weakness. + +"I've told you, Dad----" he began. + +"You must, I tell you," the father insisted. Then he went on +quickly, with a tone of utmost positiveness. "If you don't, what +are you going to do the day your wife is thrown into a patrol +wagon and carried to Police Headquarters--for it's sure to +happen? The cleverest of people make mistakes, and some day +she'll make one." + +Dick threw out his hands in a gesture of supreme denial. He was +furious at this supposition that she would continue in her +irregular practices. + +But the father went on remorselessly. + +"They will stand her up where the detectives will walk past her +with masks on their faces. Her picture, of course, is already in +the Rogues' Gallery, but they will take another. Yes, and the +imprints of her fingers, and the measurements of her body." + +The son was writhing under the words. The woman of whom these +things were said was the woman whom he loved. It was blasphemy +to think of her in such case, subjected to the degradation of +these processes. Yet, every word had in it the piercing, horrible +sting of truth. His face whitened. He raised a supplicating +hand. + +"Father!" + +"That's what they will do to your wife," Gilder went on harshly; +"to the woman who bears your name and mine." There was a little +pause, and the father stood rigid, menacing. The final question +came rasping. "What are you going to do about it?" + +Dick went forward until he was close to his father. Then he spoke +with profound conviction. + +"It will never happen. She will go straight, Dad. That I know. +You would know it if you only knew her as I do." + +Gilder once again put his hand tenderly on his son's shoulder. +His voice was modulated to an unaccustomed mildness as he spoke. + +"Be sensible, boy," he pleaded softly. "Be sensible!" + +Dick dropped down on the couch, and made his answer very gently, +his eyes unseeing as he dwelt on the things he knew of the woman +he loved. + +"Why, Dad," he said, "she is young. She's just like a child in a +hundred ways. She loves the trees and the grass and the +flowers--and everything that's simple and real! And as for her +heart--" His voice was low and very tender: "Why, her heart is +the biggest I've ever known. It's just overflowing with +sweetness and kindness. I've seen her pick up a baby that had +fallen in the street, and mother it in a way that--well, no one +could do it as she did it, unless her soul was clean." + +The father was silent, a little awed. He made an effort to shake +off the feeling, and spoke with a sneer. + +"You heard what she said yesterday, and you still are such a fool +as to think that." + +The answer of the son came with an immutable finality, the +sublime faith of love. + +"I don't think--I know!" + +Gilder was in despair. What argument could avail him? He cried +out sharply in desperation. + +"Do you realize what you're doing? Don't go to smash, Dick, just +at the beginning of your life. Oh, I beg you, boy, stop! Put +this girl out of your thoughts and start fresh." + +The reply was of the simplest, and it was the end of argument. + +"Father," Dick said, very gently, "I can't." + +There followed a little period of quiet between the two. The +father, from his desk, stood facing his son, who thus denied him +in all honesty because the heart so commanded. The son rested +motionless and looked with unflinching eyes into his father's +face. In the gaze of each was a great affection. + +"You're all I have, my boy," the older man said at last. And now +the big voice was a mildest whisper of love. + +"Yes, Dad," came the answer--another whisper, since it is hard to +voice the truth of feeling such as this. "If I could avoid it, I +wouldn't hurt you for anything in the world. I'm sorry, Dad, +awfully sorry----" He hesitated, then his voice rang out clearly. +There was in his tone, when he spoke again, a recognition of that +loneliness which is the curse and the crown of being: + +"But," he ended, "I must fight this out by myself--fight it out +in my own way.... And I'm going to do it!" + + + +CHAPTER XVI. BURKE PLOTS. + +The butler entered. + +"A man to see you, sir," he said. + +Gilder made a gesture of irritation, as he sank into the chair at +his desk. + +"I can't see any one to-night, Thomas," he exclaimed, sharply. + +"But he said it was most important, sir," the servant went on. +He held out the tray insistently. + +The master took the card grudgingly. As his eyes caught the +name, his expression changed slightly. + +"Very well," he said, "show him up." His glance met the +wondering gaze of his son. + +"It's Burke," he explained. + +"What on earth can he want--at this time of night?" Dick +exclaimed. + +The father smiled grimly. + +"You may as well get used to visits from the police." There was +something ghastly in the effort toward playfulness. + +A moment later, Inspector Burke entered the room. + +"Oh, you're here, too," he said, as his eyes fell on Dick. +"That's good. I wanted to see you, too." + +Inspector Burke was, in fact, much concerned over the situation +that had developed. He was a man of undoubted ability, and he +took a keen professional pride in his work. He possessed the +faults of his class, was not too scrupulous where he saw a safe +opportunity to make a snug sum of money through the employment of +his official authority, was ready to buckle to those whose +influence could help or hinder his ambition. But, in spite of +these ordinary defects, he was fond of his work and wishful to +excel in it. Thus, Mary Turner had come to be a thorn in his +side. She flouted his authority and sustained her incredible +effrontery by a restraining order from the court. The thing was +outrageous to him, and he set himself to match her cunning. The +fact that she had involved Dick Gilder within her toils made him +the more anxious to overcome her in the strife of resources +between them. After much studying, he had at last planned +something that, while it would not directly touch Mary herself, +would at least serve to intimidate her, and as well make further +action easier against her. It was in pursuit of this scheme that +he now came to Gilder's house, and the presence of the young man +abruptly gave him another idea that might benefit him well. So, +he disregarded Gilder's greeting, and went on speaking to the +son. + +"She's skipped!" he said, triumphantly. + +Dick made a step forward. His eyes flashed, and there was anger +in his voice as he replied: + +"I don't believe it." + +The Inspector smiled, unperturbed. + +"She left this morning for Chicago," he said, lying with a manner +that long habit rendered altogether convincing. "I told you +she'd go." He turned to the father, and spoke with an air of +boastful good nature. "Now, all you have to do is to get this boy +out of the scrape and you'll be all right." + +"If we only could!" The cry came with deepest earnestness from +the lips of Gilder, but there was little hope in his voice. + +The Inspector, however, was confident of success, and his tones +rang cheerfully as he answered: + +"I guess we can find a way to have the marriage annulled, or +whatever they do to marriages that don't take." + +The brutal assurance of the man in thus referring to things that +were sacred, moved Dick to wrath. + +"Don't you interfere," he said. His words were spoken softly, +but tensely. + +Nevertheless, Burke held to the topic, but an indefinable change +in his manner rendered it less offensive to the young man. + +"Interfere! Huh!" he ejaculated, grinning broadly. "Why, that's +what I'm paid to do. Listen to me, son. The minute you begin +mixing up with crooks, you ain't in a position to give orders to +any one. The crooks have got no rights in the eyes of the +police. Just remember that." + +The Inspector spoke the simple truth as he knew it from years of +experience. The theory of the law is that a presumption of +innocence exists until the accused is proven guilty. But the +police are out of sympathy with such finical methods. With them, +the crook is presumed guilty at the outset of whatever may be +charged against him. If need be, there will be proof a-plenty +against him--of the sort that the underworld knows to its sorrow. + +But Dick was not listening. His thoughts were again wholly with +the woman he loved, who, as the Inspector declared, had fled from +him. + +"Where's she gone in Chicago?" + +Burke answered in his usual gruff fashion, but with a note of +kindliness that was not without its effect on Dick. + +"I'm no mind-reader," he said. "But she's a swell little girl, +all right. I've got to hand it to her for that. So, she'll +probably stop at the Blackstone--that is, until the Chicago +police are tipped off that she is in town." + +Of a sudden, the face of the young man took on a totally +different expression. Where before had been anger, now was a +vivid eagerness. He went close to the Inspector, and spoke with +intense seriousness. + +"Burke," he said, pleadingly, "give me a chance. I'll leave for +Chicago in the morning. Give me twenty-four hours start before +you begin hounding her." + +The Inspector regarded the speaker searchingly. His heavy face +was drawn in an expression of apparent doubt. Abruptly, then, he +smiled acquiescence. + +"Seems reasonable," he admitted. + +But the father strode to his son. + +"No, no, Dick," he cried. "You shall not go! You shall not go!" + +Burke, however, shook his head in remonstrance against Gilder's +plea. His huge voice came booming, weightily impressive. + +"Why not?" he questioned. "It's a fair gamble. And, besides, I +like the boy's nerve." + +Dick seized on the admission eagerly. + +"And you'll agree?" he cried. + +"Yes, I'll agree," the Inspector answered. + +"Thank you," Dick said quietly. + +But the father was not content. On the contrary, he went toward +the two hurriedly, with a gesture of reproval. + +"You shall not go, Dick," he declared, imperiously. + +The Inspector shot a word of warning to Gilder in an aside that +Dick could not hear. + +"Keep still," he replied. "It's all right." + +Dick went on speaking with a seriousness suited to the magnitude +of his interests. + +"You give me your word, Inspector," he said, "that you won't +notify the police in Chicago until I've been there twenty-four +hours?" + +"You're on," Burke replied genially. "They won't get a whisper +out of me until the time is up." He swung about to face the +father, and there was a complete change in his manner. "Now, +then, Mr. Gilder," he said briskly, "I want to talk to you about +another little matter----" + +Dick caught the suggestion, and interrupted quickly. + +"Then I'll go." He smiled rather wanly at his father. "You +know, Dad, I'm sorry, but I've got to do what I think is the +right thing." + +Burke helped to save the situation from the growing tenseness. + +"Sure," he cried heartily; "sure you have. That's the best any +of us can do." He watched keenly as the young man went out of +the room. It was not until the door was closed after Dick that +he spoke. Then he dropped to a seat on the couch, and proceeded +to make his confidences to the magnate. + +"He'll go to Chicago in the morning, you think, don't you?" + +"Certainly," Gilder answered. "But I don't like it." + +Burke slapped his leg with an enthusiasm that might have broken a +weaker member. + +"Best thing that could have happened!" he vociferated. And then, +as Gilder regarded him in astonishment, he added, chuckling: "You +see, he won't find her there." + +"Why do you think that?" Gilder demanded, greatly puzzled. + +Burke permitted himself the luxury of laughing appreciatively a +moment more before making his exclamation. Then he said quietly: + +"Because she didn't go there." + +"Where did she go, then?" Gilder queried wholly at a loss. + +Once again the officer chuckled. It was evident that he was well +pleased with his own ingenuity. + +"Nowhere yet," he said at last. "But, just about the time he's +starting for the West I'll have her down at Headquarters. +Demarest will have her indicted before noon. She'll go for trial +in the afternoon. And to-morrow night she'll be sleeping up the +river.... That's where she is going." + +Gilder stood motionless for a moment. After all, he was an +ordinary citizen, quite unfamiliar with the recondite methods +familiar to the police. + +"But," he said, wonderingly, "you can't do that." + +The Inspector laughed, a laugh of disingenuous amusement, for he +understood perfectly the lack of comprehension on the part of his +hearer. + +"Well," he said, and his voice sank into a modest rumble that was +none the less still thunderous. "Perhaps I can't!" And then he +beamed broadly, his whole face smiling blandly on the man who +doubted his power. "Perhaps I can't," he repeated. Then the +chuckle came again, and he added emphatically: "But I will!" +Suddenly, his heavy face grew hard. His alert eyes shone +fiercely, with a flash of fire that was known to every patrolman +who had ever reported to the desk when he was lieutenant. His +heavy jaw shot forward aggressively as he spoke. + +"Think I'm going to let that girl make a joke of the Police +Department? Why, I'm here to get her--to stop her anyhow. Her +gang is going to break into your house to-night." + +"What?" Gilder demanded. "You mean, she's coming here as a +thief?" + +"Not exactly," Inspector Burke confessed, "but her pals are +coming to try to pull off something right here. She wouldn't +come, not if I know her. She's too clever for that. Why, if she +knew what Garson was planning to do, she'd stop him." + +The Inspector paused suddenly. For a long minute his face was +seamed with thought. Then, he smote his thigh with a blow strong +enough to kill an ox. His face was radiant. + +"By God! I've got her!" he cried. The inspiration for which he +had longed was his at last. He went to the desk where the +telephone was, and took up the receiver. + +"Give me 3100 Spring," he said. As he waited for the connection +he smiled widely on the astonished Gilder. " 'Tain't too late," +he said joyously. "I must have been losing my mind not to have +thought of it before." The impact of sounds on his ear from the +receiver set him to attention. + +"Headquarters?" he called. "Inspector Burke speaking. Who's in +my office? I want him quick." He smiled as he listened, and he +spoke again to Gilder. "It's Smith, the best man I have. That's +luck, if you ask me." Then again he spoke into the mouthpiece of +the telephone. + +"Oh, Ed, send some one up to that Turner woman. You have the +address. Just see that she is tipped off, that Joe Garson and +some pals are going to break into Edward Gilder's house to-night. +Get some stool-pigeon to hand her the information. You'd better +get to work damned quick. Understand?" + +The Inspector pulled out that watch of which Aggie Lynch had +spoken so avariciously, and glanced at it, then went on speaking: + +"It's ten-thirty now. She went to the Lyric Theater with some +woman. Get her as she leaves, or find her back at her own place +later. You'll have to hustle, anyhow. That's all!" + +The Inspector hung up the receiver and faced his host with a +contented smile. + +"What good will all that do?" Gilder demanded, impatiently. + +Burke explained with a satisfaction natural to one who had +devised something ingenious and adequate. This inspiration filled +him with delight. At last he was sure of catching Mary Turner +herself in his toils. + +"She'll come to stop 'em," he said. "When we get the rest of the +gang, we'll grab her, too. Why, I almost forgot her, thinking +about Garson. Mr. Gilder, you would hardly believe it, but +there's scarcely been a real bit of forgery worth while done in +this country for the last twenty years, that Garson hasn't been +mixed up in. We've never once got him right in all that time." +The Inspector paused to chuckle. "Crooks are funny," he +explained with obvious contentment. "Clever as he is, Garson let +Griggs talk him into a second-story job, and now we'll get him +with the goods.... Just call your man for a minute, will you, Mr. +Gilder?" + +Gilder pressed the electric button on his desk. At the same +moment, through the octagonal window came a blinding flash of +light that rested for seconds, then vanished. Burke, by no means +a nervous man, nevertheless was startled by the mysterious +radiance. + +"What's that?" he demanded, sharply. + +"It's the flashlight from the Metropolitan Tower," Gilder +explained with a smile over the policeman's perturbation. "It +swings around this way about every fifteen minutes. The servant +forgot to draw the curtains." As he spoke, he went to the +window, and pulled the heavy draperies close. "It won't bother +us again." + +The entrance of the butler brought the Inspector's thoughts back +to the matter in hand. + +"My man," he said, authoritatively, "I want you to go up to the +roof and open the scuttle. You'll find some men waiting up +there. Bring 'em down here." + +The servant's usually impassive face showed astonishment, not +unmixed with dismay, and he looked doubtfully toward his master, +who nodded reassuringly. + +"Oh, they won't hurt you," the Inspector declared, as he noticed +the man's hesitation. "They're police officers. You get 'em down +here, and then you go to bed and stay there till morning. +Understand?" + +Again, the butler looked at his master for guidance in this very +peculiar affair, as he deemed it. Receiving another nod, he +said: + +"Very well, sir." He regarded the Inspector with a certain +helpless indignation over this disturbance of the natural order, +and left the room. + +Gilder himself was puzzled over the situation, which was by no +means clear to him. + +"How do you know they're going to break into the house to-night?" +he demanded of Burke; "or do you only think they're going to +break into the house?" + +"I know they are." The Inspector's harsh voice brought out the +words boastfully. "I fixed it." + +"You did!" There was wonder in the magnate's exclamation. + +"Sure," Burke declared complacently, "did it through a +stool-pigeon." + +"Oh, an informer," Gilder interrupted, a little doubtfully. + +"Yes," Burke agreed. "Stool-pigeon is the police name for him. +Really, he's the vilest thing that crawls." + +"But, if you think that," Gilder expostulated, "why do you have +anything to do with that sort of person?" + +"Because it's good business," the Inspector replied. "We know +he's a spy and a traitor, and that every time he comes near us we +ought to use a disinfectant. But we deal with him just the +same--because we have to. Now, the stool-pigeon in this trick is +a swell English crook. He went to Garson yesterday with a scheme +to rob your house. He tried out Mary Turner, too, but she +wouldn't stand for it--said it would break the law, which is +contrary to her principles. She told Garson to leave it alone. +But he met Griggs afterward without her knowing anything about +it, and then he agreed to pull it off. Griggs got word to me +that it's coming off to-night. And so, you see, Mr. Gilder, +that's how I know. Do you get me?" + +"I see," Gilder admitted without any enthusiasm. As a matter of +fact, he felt somewhat offended that his house should be thus +summarily seized as a trap for criminals. + +"But why do you have your men come down over the roof?" he +inquired curiously. + +"It wasn't safe to bring them in the front way," was the +Inspector's prompt reply. "It's a cinch the house is being +watched. I wish you would let me have your latch-key. I want to +come back, and make this collar myself." + +The owner of the house obediently took the desired key from his +ring and gave it to the Inspector with a shrug of resignation. + +"But, why not stay, now that you are here?" he asked. + +"Huh!" Burke retorted. "Suppose some of them saw me come in? +There wouldn't be anything doing until after they see me go out +again." + +The hall door opened and the butler reentered the room. Behind +him came Cassidy and two other detectives in plain clothes. At a +word from his master, the disturbed Thomas withdrew with the +intention of obeying the Inspector's directions that he should +retire to bed and stay there, carefully avoiding whatever +possibilities of peril there might be in the situation so foreign +to his ideals of propriety. + +"Now," Burke went on briskly, as the door closed behind the +servant, "where could these men stay out of sight until they're +needed?" + +There followed a little discussion which ended in the selection +of a store-room at the end of the passage on the ground floor, on +which one of the library doors opened. + +"You see," Burke explained to Gilder, when this matter had been +settled to his satisfaction, and while Cassidy and the other +detectives were out of the library on a tour of inspection, "you +must have things right, when it comes to catching crooks on a +frame-up like this. I had these men come to Number Twenty-six on +the other street, then round the block on the roofs." + +Gilder nodded appreciation which was not actually sincere. It +seemed to him that such elaborate manoeuvering was, in truth, +rather absurd. + +"And now, Mr. Gilder," the Inspector said energetically, "I'm +going to give you the same tip I gave your man. Go to bed, and +stay there." + +"But the boy," Gilder protested. "What about him? He's the one +thing of importance to me." + +"If he says anything more about going to Chicago--just you let +him go, that's all! It's the best place for him for the next few +days. I'll get in touch with you in the morning and let you know +then how things are coming out." + +Gilder sighed resignedly. His heavy face was lined with anxiety. +There was a hesitation in his manner of speech that was wholly +unlike its usual quick decisiveness. + +"I don't like this sort of thing," he said, doubtfully. "I let +you go ahead because I can't suggest any alternative, but I don't +like it, not at all. It seems to me that other methods might be +employed with excellent results without the element of treachery +which seems to involve me as well as you in our efforts to +overcome this woman." + +Burke, however, had no qualms as to such plotting. + +"You must have crooked ways to catch crooks, believe me," he said +cheerfully. "It's the easiest and quickest way out of the +trouble for us, and the easiest and quickest way into trouble for +them." + +The return of the detectives caused him to break off, and he gave +his attention to the final arrangements of his men. + +"You're in charge here," he said to Cassidy, "and I hold you +responsible. Now, listen to this, and get it." His coarse voice +came with a grating note of command. "I'm coming back to get this +bunch myself, and I'll call you when you're wanted. You'll wait +in the store-room out there and don't make a move till you hear +from me, unless by any chance things go wrong and you get a call +from Griggs. You know who he is. He's got a whistle, and he'll +use it if necessary.... Got that straight?" And, when Cassidy +had declared an entire understanding of the directions given, he +concluded concisely. "On your way, then!" + +As the men left the room, he turned again to Gilder. + +"Just one thing more," he said. "I'll have to have your help a +little longer. After I've gone, I want you to stay up for a +half-hour anyhow, with the lights burning. Do you see? I want to +be sure to give the Turner woman time to get here while that gang +is at work. Your keeping on the lights will hold them back, for +they won't come in till the house is dark, so, in half an hour +you can get off the job, switch off the lights and go to bed and +stay there--just as I told you before." Then Inspector Burke, +having in mind the great distress of the man over the unfortunate +entanglement of his son, was at pains to offer a reassuring word. + +"Don't worry about the boy," he said, with grave kindliness. +"We'll get him out of this scrape all right." And with the +assertion he bustled out, leaving the unhappy father to miserable +forebodings. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. OUTSIDE THE LAW. + +Gilder scrupulously followed the directions of the Police +Inspector. Uneasily, he had remained in the library until the +allotted time was elapsed. He fidgeted from place to place, his +mind heavy with distress under the shadow that threatened to +blight the life of his cherished son. Finally, with a sense of +relief he put out the lights and went to his chamber. But he did +not follow the further directions given him, for he was not +minded to go to bed. Instead, he drew the curtains closely to +make sure that no gleam of light could pass them, and then sat +with a cigar between his lips, which he did not smoke, though +from time to time he was at pains to light it. His thoughts were +most with his son, and ever as he thought of Dick, his fury waxed +against the woman who had enmeshed the boy in her plotting for +vengeance on himself. And into his thoughts now crept a doubt, +one that alarmed his sense of justice. It occurred to him that +this woman could not have thus nourished a plan for retribution +through the years unless, indeed, she had been insane, even as he +had claimed--or innocent! The idea was appalling. He could not +bear to admit the possibility of having been the involuntary +inflicter of such wrong as to send the girl to prison for an +offense she had not committed. He rejected the suggestion, but +it persisted. He knew the clean, wholesome nature of his son. +It seemed to him incredible that the boy could have thus given +his heart to one altogether undeserving. A horrible suspicion +that he had misjudged Mary Turner crept into his brain, and would +not out. He fought it with all the strength of him, and that was +much, but ever it abode there. He turned for comfort to the +things Burke had said. The woman was a crook, and there was an +end of it. Her ruse of spoliation within the law was evidence of +her shrewdness, nothing more. + +Mary Turner herself, too, was in a condition utterly wretched, +and for the same cause--Dick Gilder. That source of the father's +suffering was hers as well. She had won her ambition of years, +revenge on the man who had sent her to prison. And now the joy +of it was a torture, for the puppet of her plans, the son, had +suddenly become the chief thing in her life. She had taken it +for granted that he would leave her after he came to know that +her marriage to him was only a device to bring shame on his +father. Instead, he loved her. That fact seemed the secret of +her distress. He loved her. More, he dared believe, and to +assert boldly, that she loved him. Had he acted otherwise, the +matter would have been simple enough.... But he loved her, loved +her still, though he knew the shame that had clouded her life, +knew the motive that had led her to accept him as a husband. +More--by a sublime audacity, he declared that she loved him. + +There came a thrill in her heart each time she thought of +that--that she loved him. The idea was monstrous, of course, and +yet---- Here, as always, she broke off, a hot flush blazing in +her cheeks.... Nevertheless, such curious fancies pursued her +through the hours. She strove her mightiest to rid herself of +them, but in vain. Ever they persisted. She sought to oust them +by thinking of any one else, of Aggie, of Joe. There at last was +satisfaction. Her interference between the man who had saved her +life and the temptation of the English crook had prevented a +dangerous venture, which might have meant ruin to the one whom +she esteemed for his devotion to her, if for no other reason. At +least, she had kept him from the outrageous folly of an ordinary +burglary. + +Mary Turner was just ready for bed after her evening at the +theater, when she was rudely startled out of this belief. A note +came by a messenger who waited for no answer, as he told the +yawning maid. As Mary read the roughly scrawled message, she was +caught in the grip of terror. Some instinct warned her that this +danger was even worse than it seemed. The man who had saved her +from death had yielded to temptation. Even now, he was engaged in +committing that crime which she had forbidden him. As he had +saved her, so she must save him. She hurried into the gown she +had just put off. Then she went to the telephone-book and +searched for the number of Gilder's house. + + * * * * * + +It was just a few moments before Mary Turner received the note +from the hands of the sleepy maid that one of the leaves of the +octagonal window in the library of Richard Gilder's town house +swung open, under the persuasive influence of a thin rod of +steel, cunningly used, and Joe Garson stepped confidently into +the dark room. + +A faint radiance of moonlight from without showed him for a +second as he passed between the heavy draperies. Then these fell +into place, and he was invisible, and soundless as well. For a +space, he rested motionless, listening intently. Reassured, he +drew out an electric torch and set it glowing. A little disc of +light touched here and there about the room, traveling very +swiftly, and in methodical circles. Satisfied by the survey, +Garson crossed to the hall door. He moved with alert assurance, +lithely balanced on the balls of his feet, noiselessly. At the +hall door he listened for any sound of life without, and found +none. The door into the passage that led to the store-room where +the detectives waited next engaged his business-like attention. +And here, again, there was naught to provoke his suspicion. + +These preliminaries taken as measures of precaution, Garson went +boldly to the small table that stood behind the couch, turned the +button, and the soft glow of an electric lamp illumined the +apartment. The extinguished torch was thrust back into his +pocket. Afterward he carried one of the heavy chairs to the door +of the passage and propped it against the panel in such wise that +its fall must give warning as to the opening of the door. His +every action was performed with the maximum of speed, with no +least trace of flurry or of nervous haste. It was evident that +he followed a definite program, the fruit of precise thought +guided by experience. + +It seemed to him that now everything was in readiness for the +coming of his associates in the commission of the crime. There +remained only to give them the signal in the room around the +corner where they waited at a telephone. He seated himself in +Gilder's chair at the desk, and drew the telephone to him. + +"Give me 999 Bryant," he said. His tone was hardly louder than a +whisper, but spoken with great distinctness. + +There was a little wait. Then an answer in a voice he knew came +over the wire. + +But Garson said nothing more. Instead, he picked up a penholder +from the tray on the desk, and began tapping lightly on the rim +of the transmitter. It was a code message in Morse. In the room +around the corner, the tapping sounded clearly, ticking out the +message that the way was free for the thieves' coming. + +When Garson had made an end of the telegraphing, there came a +brief answer in like Morse, to which he returned a short +direction. + +For a final safeguard, Garson searched for and found the +telephone bell-box on the surbase below the octagonal window. It +was the work of only a few seconds to unscrew the bells, which he +placed on the desk. So simply he made provision against any +alarm from this source. He then took his pistol from his +hip-pocket, examined it to make sure that the silencer was +properly adjusted, and then thrust it into the right side-pocket +of his coat, ready for instant use in desperate emergency. Once +again, now, he produced the electric torch, and lighted it as he +extinguished the lamp on the table. + +Forthwith, Garson went to the door into the hall, opened it, and, +leaving it ajar, made his way in silence to the outer doorway. +Presently, the doors there were freed of their bolts under his +skilled fingers, and one of them swung wide. He had put out the +torch now, lest its gleam might catch the gaze of some casual +passer-by. So nicely had the affair been timed that hardly was +the door open before the three men slipped in, and stood mute and +motionless in the hall, while Garson refastened the doors. Then, +a pencil of light traced the length of the hallway and Garson +walked quickly back to the library. Behind him with steps as +noiseless as his own came the three men to whom he had just given +the message. + +When all were gathered in the library, Garson shut the hall door, +touched the button in the wall beside it, and the chandelier +threw its radiant light on the group. + +Griggs was in evening clothes, seeming a very elegant young +gentleman indeed, but his two companions were of grosser type, as +far as appearances went: one, Dacey, thin and wiry, with a ferret +face; the other, Chicago Red, a brawny ruffian, whose stolid +features nevertheless exhibited something of half-sullen good +nature. + +"Everything all right so far," Garson said rapidly. He turned to +Griggs and pointed toward the heavy hangings that shrouded the +octagonal window. "Are those the things we want?" he demanded. + +"Yes," was the answer of English Eddie. + +"Well, then, we've got to get busy," Garson went on. His alert, +strong face was set in lines of eagerness that had in it +something of fierceness now. + +But, before he could add a direction, he was halted by a soft +buzzing from the telephone, which, though bell-less, still gave +this faint warning of a call. For an instant, he hesitated while +the others regarded him doubtfully. The situation offered +perplexities. To give no attention to the summons might be +perilous, and failure to respond might provoke investigation in +some urgent matter; to answer it might easily provide a larger +danger. + +"We've got to take a chance." Garson spoke his decision curtly. +He went to the desk and put the receiver to his ear. + +There came again the faint tapping of some one at the other end +of the line, signaling a message in the Morse code. An +expression of blank amazement, which grew in a flash to deep +concern, showed on Garson's face as he listened tensely. + +"Why, this is Mary calling," he muttered. + +"Mary!" Griggs cried. His usual vacuity of expression was cast +off like a mask and alarm twisted his features. Then, in the next +instant, a crafty triumph gleamed from his eyes. + +"Yes, she's on," Garson interpreted, a moment later, as the +tapping ceased for a little. He translated in a loud whisper as +the irregular ticking noise sounded again. + +"I shall be there at the house almost at once. I am sending this +message from the drug store around the corner. Have some one +open the door for me immediately." + +"She's coming over," Griggs cried incredulously. + +"No, I'll stop her," Garson declared firmly. + +"Right! Stop her," Chicago Red vouchsafed. + +But, when, after tapping a few words, the forger paused for the +reply, no sound came. + +"She don't answer," he exclaimed, greatly disconcerted. He tried +again, still without result. At that, he hung up the receiver +with a groan. "She's gone----" + +"On her way already," Griggs suggested, and there was none to +doubt that it was so. + +"What's she coming here for?" Garson exclaimed harshly. "This +ain't no place for her! Why, if anything should go wrong now----" + +But Griggs interrupted him with his usual breezy cheerfulness of +manner. + +"Oh, nothing can go wrong now, old top. I'll let her in." He +drew a small torch from the skirt-pocket of his coat and crossed +to the hall door, as Garson nodded assent. + +"God! Why did she have to come?" Garson muttered, filled with +forebodings. "If anything should go wrong now!" + +He turned back toward the door just as it opened, and Mary darted +into the room with Griggs following. "What do you want here?" he +demanded, with peremptory savageness in his voice, which was a +tone he had never hitherto used in addressing her. + +Mary went swiftly to face Garson where he stood by the desk, +while Griggs joined the other two men who stood shuffling about +uneasily by the fireplace, at a loss over this intrusion on their +scheme. Mary moved with a lissome grace like that of some wild +creature, but as she halted opposite the man who had given her +back the life she would have thrown away, there was only tender +pleading in her voice, though her words were an arraignment. + +"Joe, you lied to me." + +"That can be settled later," the man snapped. His jaw was thrust +forward obstinately, and his clear eyes sparkled defiantly. + +"You are fools, all of you!" Mary cried. Her eyes darkened and +distended with fear. They darted from Garson to the other three +men, and back again in rebuke. "Yes, fools! This is burglary. I +can't protect you if you are caught. How can I? Oh, come!" She +held out her hands pleadingly toward Garson, and her voice +dropped to beseeching. "Joe, Joe, you must get away from this +house at once, all of you. Joe, make them go." + +"It's too late," was the stern answer. There was no least +relaxation in the stubborn lines of his face. "We're here now, +and we'll stay till the business is done." + +Mary went a step forward. The cloak she was wearing was thrown +back by her gesture of appeal so that those watching saw the +snowy slope of the shoulders and the quick rise and fall of the +gently curving bosom. The beautiful face within the framing scarf +was colorless with a great fear, save only the crimson lips, of +which the bow was bent tremulously as she spoke her prayer. + +"Joe, for my sake!" + +But the man was inexorable. He had set himself to this thing, +and even the urging of the one person in the world for whom he +most cared was powerless against his resolve. + +"I can't quit now until we've got what we came here after," he +declared roughly. + +Of a sudden, the girl made shift to employ another sort of +supplication. + +"But there are reasons," she said, faltering. A certain +embarrassment swept her, and the ivory of her cheeks bloomed +rosily. "I--I can't have you rob this house, this particular +house of all the world." Her eyes leaped from the still obdurate +face of the forger to the group of three back of him. Her voice +was shaken with a great dread as she called out to them. + +"Boys, let's get away! Please, oh, please! Joe, for God's sake!" +Her tone was a sob. + +Her anguish of fear did not swerve Garson from his purpose. + +"I'm going to see this through," he said, doggedly. + +"But, Joe----" + +"It's settled, I tell you." + +In the man's emphasis the girl realized at last the inefficacy of +her efforts to combat his will. She seemed to droop visibly +before their eyes. Her head sank on her breast. Her voice was +husky as she tried to speak. + +"Then----" She broke off with a gesture of despair, and turned +away toward the door by which she had entered. + +But, with a movement of great swiftness, Garson got in front of +her, and barred her going. For a few seconds the two stared at +each other searchingly as if learning new and strange things, +each of the other. In the girl's expression was an outraged +wonder and a great terror. In the man's was a half-shamed pride, +as if he exulted in the strength with which he had been able to +maintain his will against her supreme effort to overthrow it. + +"You can't go," Garson said sharply. "You might be caught." + +"And if I were," Mary demanded in a flash of indignation, "do you +think I'd tell?" + +There came an abrupt change in the hard face of the man. Into +the piercing eyes flamed a softer fire of tenderness. The firm +mouth grew strangely gentle as he replied, and his voice was +overtoned with faith. + +"Of course not, Mary," he said. "I know you. You would go up +for life first." + +Then again his expression became resolute, and he spoke +imperiously. + +"Just the same, you can't take any chances. We'll all get away +in a minute, and you'll come with us." He turned to the men and +spoke with swift authority. + +"Come," he said to Dacey, "you get to the light switch there by +the hall door. If you hear me snap my fingers, turn 'em off. +Understand?" + +With instant obedience, the man addressed went to his station by +the hall door, and stood ready to control the electric current. + +The distracted girl essayed one last plea. The momentary +softening of Garson had given her new courage. + +"Joe, don't do this." + +"You can't stop it now, Mary," came the brisk retort. "Too late. +You're only wasting time, making it dangerous for all of us." + +Again he gave his attention to carrying on the robbery. + +"Red," he ordered, "you get to that door." He pointed to the one +that gave on the passageway against which he had set the chair +tilted. As the man obeyed, Garson gave further instructions. + +"If any one comes in that way, get him and get him quick. You +understand? Don't let him cry out." + +Chicago Red grinned with cheerful acceptance of the issue in such +an encounter. He held up his huge hand, widely open. + +"Not a chance," he declared, proudly, "with that over his mug." +To avoid possible interruption of his movements in an emergency, +he removed the chair Garson had placed and set it to one side, +out of the way. + +"Now, let's get to work," Garson continued eagerly. Mary spoke +with the bitterness of defeat. + +"Listen, Joe! If you do this, I'm through with you. I quit." + +Garson was undismayed by the threat. + +"If this goes through," he countered, "we'll all quit. That's why +I'm doing it. I'm sick of the game." + +He turned to the work in hand with increased energy. + +"Come, you, Griggs and Red, and push that desk down a bit so that +I can stand on it." The two men bent to the task, heedless of +Mary's frantic protest. + +"No! no! no! no! no, Joe!" + +Red, however, suddenly straightened from the desk and stood +motionless, listening. He made a slight hissing noise that +arrested the attention of the others and held them in moveless +silence. + +"I hear something," he whispered. He went to the keyhole of the +door leading into the passage. Then he whispered again, "And +it's coming this way." + +At the words, Garson snapped his fingers. The room was plunged +in darkness. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. THE NOISELESS DEATH. + +There was absolute silence in the library after the turning of +the switch that brought the pall of darkness. Long seconds +passed, then a little noise--the knob of the passage door +turning. As the door swung open, there came a gasping breath +from Mary, for she saw framed in the faint light that came from +the single burner in the corridor the slender form of her +husband, Dick Gilder. In the next instant he had stepped within +the room and pulled to the door behind him. And in that same +instant Chicago Red had pounced on his victim, the huge hand +clapped tight over the young man's mouth. Even as his powerful +arm held the newcomer in an inescapable embrace, there came a +sound of scuffling feet and that was all. Finally the big man's +voice came triumphantly. + +"I've got him." + +"It's Dick!" The cry came as a wail of despair from the girl. + +At the same moment, Garson flashed his torch, and the light fell +swiftly on young Gilder, bowed to a kneeling posture before the +couch, half-throttled by the strength of Chicago Red. Close +beside him, Mary looked down in wordless despair over this final +disaster of the night. There was silence among the men, all of +whom save the captor himself were gathered near the fireplace. + +Garson retired a step farther before he spoke his command, so +that, though he held the torch still, he like the others was in +shadow. Only Mary was revealed clearly as she bent in alarm +toward the man she had married. It was borne in on the forger's +consciousness that the face of the woman leaning over the +intruder was stronger to hold the prisoner and to prevent any +outcry than the might of Chicago Red himself, and so he gave the +order. + +"Get away, Red." + +The fellow let go his grip obediently enough, though with a +trifle of regret, since he gloried in his physical prowess. + +Thus freed of that strangling embrace, Dick stumbled blindly to +his feet. Then, mechanically, his hand went to the lamp on the +table back of the couch. In the same moment Garson snapped his +torch to darkness. When, after a little futile searching, Dick +finally found the catch, and the mellow streamed forth, he +uttered an ejaculation of stark amazement, for his gaze was +riveted on the face of the woman he loved. + +"Good God!" It was a cry of torture wrung from his soul of souls. + +Mary swayed toward him a little, palpitant with fear --fear for +herself, for all of them, most of all for him. + +"Hush! hush!" she panted warningly. "Oh, Dick, you don't +understand." + +Dick's hand was at his throat. It was not easy for him to speak +yet. He had suffered severely in the process of being throttled, +and, too, he was in the clutch of a frightful emotion. To find +her, his wife, in this place, in such company--her, the woman +whom he loved, whom, in spite of everything, he had honored, the +woman to whom he had given his name! Mary here! And thus! + +"I understand this," he said brokenly at last. "Whether you ever +did it before or not, this time you have broken the law." A +sudden inspiration on his own behalf came to him. For his love's +sake, he must seize on this opportunity given of fate to him for +mastery. He went on with a new vehemence of boldness that became +him well. + +"You're in my hands now. So are these men as well. Unless you do +as I say, Mary, I'll jail every one of them." + +Mary's usual quickness was not lacking even now, in this period +of extremity. Her retort was given without a particle of +hesitation. + +"You can't," she objected with conviction. "I'm the only one +you've seen." + +"That's soon remedied," Dick declared. He turned toward the hall +door as if with the intention of lighting the chandelier. + +But Mary caught his arm pleadingly. + +"Don't, Dick," she begged. "It's--it's not safe." + +"I'm not afraid," was his indignant answer. He would have gone +on, but she clung the closer. He was reluctant to use over-much +force against the one whom he cherished so fondly. + +There came a diversion from the man who had made the capture, who +was mightily wondering over the course of events, which was +wholly unlike anything in the whole of his own rather extensive +housebreaking experience. + +"Who's this, anyhow?" Chicago Red demanded. + +There was a primitive petulance in his drawling tones. + +Dick answered with conciseness enough. + +"I'm her husband. Who are you?" + +Mary called a soft admonition. + +"Don't speak, any of you," she directed. "You mustn't let him +hear your voices." + +Dick was exasperated by this persistent identification of herself +with these criminals in his father's house. + +"You're fighting me like a coward," he said hotly. His voice was +bitter. The eyes that had always been warm in their glances on +her were chill now. He turned a little way from her, as if in +instinctive repugnance. "You are taking advantage of my love. +You think that because of it I can't make a move against these +men. Now, listen to me, I----" + +"I won't!" Mary cried. Her words were shrill with mingled +emotions. "There's nothing to talk about," she went on wildly. +"There never can be between you and me." + +The young man's voice came with a sonorous firmness that was new +to it. In these moments, the strength of him, nourished by +suffering, was putting forth its flower. His manner was +masterful. + +"There can be and there will be," he contradicted. He raised his +voice a little, speaking into the shadows where was the group of +silent men. + +"You men back there!" he cried. "If I give you my word to let +every one of you go free and pledge myself never to recognize one +of you again, will you make Mary here listen to me? That's all I +ask. I want a few minutes to state my case. Give me that. +Whether I win or lose, you men go free, and I'll forget +everything that has happened here to-night." There came a +muffled guffaw of laughter from the big chest of Chicago Red at +this extraordinarily ingenuous proposal, while Dacey chuckled +more quietly. + +Dick made a gesture of impatience at this open derision. + +"Tell them I can be trusted," he bade Mary curtly. + +It was Garson who answered. + +"I know that you can be trusted," he said, "because I know you +lo----" He checked himself with a shiver, and out of the darkness +his face showed white. + +"You must listen," Dick went on, facing again toward the girl, +who was trembling before him, her eyes by turns searching his +expression or downcast in unfamiliar confusion, which she herself +could hardly understand. + +"Your safety depends on me," the young man warned. "Suppose I +should call for help?" + +Garson stepped forward threateningly. + +"You would only call once," he said very gently, yet most grimly. +His hand went to the noiseless weapon in his coat-pocket. + +But the young man's answer revealed the fact that he, too, was +determined to the utmost, that he understood perfectly the +situation. + +"Once would be quite enough," he said simply. + +Garson nodded in acceptance of the defeat. It may be, too, that +in some subtle fashion he admired this youth suddenly grown +resolute, competent to control a dangerous event. There was even +the possibility that some instinct of tenderness toward Mary +herself made him desire that this opportunity should be given for +wiping out the effects of misfortune which fate hitherto had +brought into her life. + +"You win," Garson said, with a half-laugh. He turned to the +other men and spoke a command. + +"You get over by the hall door, Red. And keep your ears open +every second. Give us the office if you hear anything. If we're +rushed, and have to make a quick get-away, see that Mary has the +first chance. Get that, all of you?" + +As Chicago Red took up his appointed station, Garson turned to +Dick. + +"Make it quick, remember." + +He touched the other two and moved back to the wall by the +fireplace, as far as possible from the husband and wife by the +couch. + +Dick spoke at once, with a hesitancy that betrayed the depth of +his emotion. + +"Don't you care for me at all?" he asked wistfully. + +The girl's answer was uttered with nervous eagerness which +revealed her own stress of fear. + +"No, no, no!" she exclaimed, rebelliously. + +Now, however, the young man had regained some measure of +reassurance. + +"I know you do, Mary," he asserted, confidently; "a little, +anyway. Why, Mary," he went on reproachfully, "can't you see +that you're throwing away everything that makes life worth while? +Don't you see that?" + +There was no word from the girl. Her breast was moving +convulsively. She held her face steadfastly averted from the +face of her husband. + +"Why don't you answer me?" he insisted. + +Mary's reply came with all the coldness she could command. + +"That was not in the bargain," Mary said, indifferently. + +The man's voice grew tenderly winning, persuasive with the +longing of a lover, persuasive with the pity of the righteous for +the sinner. + +"Mary, Mary!" he cried. "You've got to change. Don't be so hard. +Give the woman in you a chance." + +The girl's form became rigid as she fought for self-control. The +plea touched to the bottom of her heart, but she could not, would +not yield. Her words rushed forth with a bitterness that was the +cover of her distress. + +"I am what I am," she said sharply. "I can't change. Keep your +promise, now, and let's get out of this." + +Her assertion was disregarded as to the inability to change. + +"You can change," Dick went on impetuously. "Mary, haven't you +ever wanted the things that other women have, shelter, and care, +and the big things of life, the things worth while? They're all +ready for you, now, Mary.... And what about me?" Reproach leaped +in his tone. "After all, you've married me. Now it's up to you +to give me my chance to make good. I've never amounted to much. +I've never tried much. I shall, now, if you will have it so, +Mary; if you'll help me. I will come out all right, I know +that--so do you, Mary. Only, you must help me." + +"I help you!" The exclamation came from the girl in a note of +incredulous astonishment. + +"Yes," Dick said, simply. "I need you, and you need me. Come +away with me." + +"No, no!" was the broken refusal. There was a great grief +clutching at the soul of this woman who had brought vengeance to +its full flower. She was gasping. "No, no! I married you, not +because I loved you, but to repay your father the wrong he had +done me. I wouldn't let myself even think of you, and then--I +realized that I had spoiled your life." + +"No, not spoiled it, Mary! Blessed it! We must prove that yet." + +"Yes, spoiled it," the wife went on passionately. "If I had +understood, if I could have dreamed that I could ever care---- +Oh, Dick, I would never have married you for anything in the +world." + +"But now you do realize," the young man said quietly. "The thing +is done. If we made a mistake, it is for us to bring happiness +out of that error." + +"Oh, can't you see?" came the stricken lament. "I'm a +jail-bird!" + +"But you love me--you do love me, I know!" The young man spoke +with joyous certainty, for some inflection of her voice had told +the truth to his heart. Nothing else mattered. "But now, to come +back to this hole we're in here. Don't you understand, at last, +that you can't beat the law? If you're caught here to-night, +where would you get off--caught here with a gang of burglars? +Tell me, dear, why did you do it? Why didn't you protect +yourself? Why didn't you go to Chicago as you planned?" + +"What?" There was a new quality in Mary's voice. A sudden throb +of shock masked in the surface indifference of intonation. + +Dick repeated his question, unobservant of its first effect. + +"Why didn't you go to Chicago as you had planned?" + +"Planned? With whom?" The interrogation came with an abrupt +force that cried of new suspicions. + +"Why, with Burke." The young man tried to be patient over her +density in this time of crisis. + +"Who told you that I had arranged any such thing?" Mary asked. +Now the tenseness in her manner got the husband's attention, and +he replied with a sudden gravity, apprehensive of he knew not +what. + +"Burke himself did." + +"When?" Mary was standing rigid now, and the rare color flamed +in her cheeks. Her eyes were blazing. + +"Less than an hour ago." He had caught the contagion of her mood +and vague alarm swept him. + +"Where?" came the next question, still with that vital +insistence. + +"In this room." + +"Burke was here?" Mary's voice was suddenly cold, very +dangerous. "What was he doing here?" + +"Talking to my father." + +The seemingly simple answer appeared the last straw to the girl's +burden of frenzied suspicion. Her voice cut fiercely into the +quiet of the room, imperious, savage. + +"Joe, turn on that light! I want to see the face of every man in +this room." + +Something fatally significant in her voice set Garson a-leap to +the switch, and, in the same second, the blaze of the chandelier +flamed brilliantly over all. The others stood motionless, +blinking in the sudden radiance--all save Griggs, who moved +stealthily in that same moment, a little nearer the door into the +passage, which was nearest to him. + +But Mary's next words came wholly as a surprise, seemingly +totally irrelevant to this instant of crisis. Yet they rang +a-throb with an hysterical anxiety. + +"Dick," she cried, "what are those tapestries worth?" With the +question, she pointed toward the draperies that shrouded the +great octagonal window. + +The young man was plainly astonished, disconcerted as well by the +obtrusion of a sordid detail into the tragedy of the time. + +"Why in the world do you----?" he began, impatiently. + +Mary stamped her foot angrily in protest against the delay. + +"Tell me--quick!" she commanded. The authority in her voice and +manner was not to be gainsaid. + +Dick yielded sullenly. + +"Oh, two or three hundred dollars, I suppose," he answered. +"Why?" + +"Never mind that!" Mary exclaimed, violently. And now the girl's +voice came stinging like a whiplash. In Garson's face, too, was +growing fury, for in an instant of illumination he guessed +something of the truth. Mary's next question confirmed his raging +suspicion. + +"How long have you had them, Dick?" + +By now, the young man himself sensed the fact that something +mysteriously baneful lay behind the frantic questioning on this +seemingly trivial theme. + +"Ever since I can remember," he replied, promptly. + +Mary's voice came then with an intonation that brought +enlightenment not only to Garson's shrewd perceptions, but also +to the heavier intelligences of Dacey and of Chicago Red. + +"And they're not famous masterpieces which your father bought +recently, from some dealer who smuggled them into this country?" +So simple were the words of her inquiry, but under them beat +something evil, deadly. + +The young man laughed contemptuously. + +"I should say not!" he declared indignantly, for he resented the +implication against his father's honesty. + +"It's a trick! Burke's done it!" Mary's words came with accusing +vehemence. + +There was another single step made by Griggs toward the door into +the passage. + +Mary's eye caught the movement, and her lips soundlessly formed +the name: + +"Griggs!" + +The man strove to carry off the situation, though he knew well +that he stood in mortal peril. He came a little toward the girl +who had accused him of treachery. He was very dapper in his +evening clothes, with his rather handsome, well-groomed face set +in lines of innocence. + +"He's lying to you!" he cried forcibly, with a scornful gesture +toward Dick Gilder. "I tell you, those tapestries are worth a +million cold." + +Mary's answer was virulent in its sudden burst of hate. For +once, the music of her voice was lost in a discordant cry of +detestation. + +"You stool-pigeon! You did this for Burke!" + +Griggs sought still to maintain his air of innocence, and he +strove well, since he knew that he fought for his life against +those whom he had outraged. As he spoke again, his tones were +tremulous with sincerity--perhaps that tremulousness was born +chiefly of fear, yet to the ear his words came stoutly enough for +truth: + +"I swear I didn't! I swear it!" + +Mary regarded the protesting man with abhorrence. The perjured +wretch shrank before the loathing in her eyes. + +"You came to me yesterday," she said, with more of restraint in +her voice now, but still with inexorable rancor. "You came to me +to explain this plan. And you came from him--from Burke!" + +"I swear I was on the level. I was tipped off to the story by a +pal," Griggs declared, but at last the assurance was gone out of +his voice. He felt the hostility of those about him. + +Garson broke in ferociously. + +"It's a frame-up!" he said. His tones came in a deadened roar of +wrath. + +On the instant, aware that further subterfuge could be of no +avail, Griggs swaggered defiance. + +"And what if it is true?" he drawled, with a resumption of his +aristocratic manner, while his eyes swept the group balefully. +He plucked the police whistle from his waistcoat-pocket, and +raised it to his lips. + +He moved too slowly. In the same moment of his action, Garson +had pulled the pistol from his pocket, had pressed the trigger. +There came no spurt of flame. There was no sound--save perhaps a +faint clicking noise. But the man with the whistle at his lips +suddenly ceased movement, stood absolutely still for the space of +a breath. Then, he trembled horribly, and in the next instant +crashed to the floor, where he lay rigid, dead. + +"Damn you--I've got you!" Garson sneered through clenched teeth. +His eyes were like balls of fire. There was a frightful grin of +triumph twisting his mouth in this minute of punishment. + +In the first second of the tragedy, Dick had not understood. +Indeed, he was still dazed by the suddenness of it all. But the +falling of Griggs before the leveled weapon of the other man, +there to lie in that ghastly immobility, made him to understand. +He leaped toward Garson--would have wrenched the pistol from the +other's grasp. In the struggle, it fell to the floor. + +Before either could pick it up, there came an interruption. Even +in the stress of this scene, Chicago Red had never relaxed his +professional caution. A slight noise had caught his ear, he had +stooped, listening. Now, he straightened, and called his warning. + +"Somebody's opening the front door!" + +Garson forgot his weapon in this new alarm. He sprang to the +octagonal window, even as Dick took possession of the pistol. + +"The street's empty! We must jump for it!" His hate was forgotten +now in an emotion still deeper, and he turned to Mary. His face +was all gentleness again, where just before it had been evil +incarnate, aflame with the lust to destroy. "Come on, Mary," he +cried. + +Already Chicago Red had snapped off the lights of the chandelier, +had sprung to the window, thrown open a panel of it, and had +vanished into the night, with Dacey at his heels. As Garson +would have called out to the girl again in mad anxiety for haste, +he was interrupted by Dick: + +"She couldn't make it, Garson," he declared coolly and +resolutely. "You go. It'll be all right, you know. I'll take +care of her!" + +"If she's caught----!" There was an indescribable menace in the +forger's half-uttered threat. + +"She won't be." The quality of sincerity in Dick's voice was +more convincing than any vow might have been. + +"If she is, I'll get you, that's all," Garson said gravely, as +one stating a simple fact that could not be disputed. + +Then he glanced down at the body of the man whom he had done to +death. + +"And you can tell that to Burke!" he said viciously to the dead. +"You damned squealer!" There was a supremely malevolent content +in his sneer. + + + +CHAPTER XIX. WITHIN THE TOILS. + +The going of Garson left the room deathly still. Dick stared for +a moment at the space of window left uncovered by the draperies +now, since the man had hurried past them, without pausing to draw +them after him. Then, presently, the young man turned again to +Mary, and took her hand in his. The shock of the event had +somehow steadied him, since it had drawn his thoughts from that +other more engrossing mood of concern over the crisis in his own +life. After all, what mattered the death of this crook? his +fancy ran. The one thing of real worth in all the world was the +life that remained to be lived between him and her.... Then, +violently, the selfishness of his mood was made plain to him. +For the hand he held was shaking like some slender-stalked lily +in the clutch of the sirocco. Even as he first perceived the +fact, he saw the girl stagger. His arm swept about her in a +virile protecting embrace--just in time, or she would have +fallen. + +A whisper came from her quivering lips. Her face was close to +his, else he could not have caught the uncertain murmuring. That +face now was become ghastly pale. The violet eyes were widened +and dull. The muscles of her face twitched. She rested supinely +against him, as if bereft of any strength of body or of soul. +Yet, in the intensity of her utterance, the feeble whisper struck +like a shriek of horror. + +"I--I--never saw any one killed before!" + +The simple, grisly truth of the words--words that he might have +spoken as well--stirred the man to the deeps of his being. He +shuddered, as he turned his eyes to avoid seeing the thing that +lay so very near, mercifully merged within the shadows beyond the +gentle radiance from the single lamp. With a pang of infinite +pity for the woman in his arms, he apprehended in some degree the +torture this event must have inflicted on her. Frightful to him, +it must in truth be vastly worse to her. There was her womanly +sensitiveness to enhance the innate hideousness of the thing that +had been done here before their eyes. There was, too, the fact +that the murderer himself had been the man to whom she owed her +life. Yes, for him, Dick realized with poignant sympathy, the +happening that night was terrible indeed: for her, as he guessed +now at last, the torture must be something easily to overwhelm +all her strength. His touch on her grew tender beyond the +ordinary tenderness of love, made gentler by a great underlying +compassion for her misery. + +Dick drew Mary toward the couch, there let her sink down in a +huddled attitude of despair. + +"I never saw a man--killed before!" she said again. There was a +note of half-hysterical, almost childish complaint in her voice. +She moved her head a little, as if to look into the shadows where +*IT lay, then checked herself violently, and looked up at her +husband with the pathetic simplicity of terror. + +"You know, Dick," she repeated dully, "I never saw a man killed +before." + +Before he could utter the soothing words that rose to his lips, +Dick was interrupted by a slight sound at the door. Instantly, +he was all alert to meet the exigencies of the situation. He +stood by the couch, bending forward a little, as if in a posture +of intimate fondness. Then, with a new thought, he got out his +cigarette-case and lighted a cigarette, after which he resumed +his former leaning over the woman as would the ardent lover. He +heard the noise again presently, now so near that he made sure of +being overheard, so at once he spoke with a forced cheerfulness +in his inflection. + +"I tell you, Mary," he declared, "everything's going to be all +right for you and me. It was bully of you to come here to me +like this." + +The girl made no response. She lived still in the nightmare of +murder--that nightmare wherein she had seen Griggs fall dead to +the floor. + +Dick, in nervous apprehension as to the issue, sought to bring +her to realization of the new need that had come upon them. + +"Talk to me," he commanded, very softly. "They'll be here in a +minute. When they come in, pretend you just came here in order +to meet me. Try, Mary. You must, dearest!" Then, again, his +voice rose to loudness, as he continued. "Why, I've been trying +all day to see you. And, now, here we are together, just as I +was beginning to get really discouraged.... I know my father will +eventually----" + +He was interrupted by the swift swinging open of the hallway +door. Burke stood just within the library, a revolver pointed +menacingly. + +"Hands up!--all of you!" The Inspector's voice fairly roared the +command. + +The belligerent expression of his face vanished abruptly, as his +eyes fell on Dick standing by the couch and Mary reclining there +in limp helplessness. His surprise would have been ludicrous but +for the seriousness of the situation to all concerned. Burke's +glance roved the room sharply, and he was quickly convinced that +these two were in fact the only present spoil of his careful +plotting. His face set grimly, for the disappointment of this +minute surged fiercely within him. He started to speak, his eyes +lowering as he regarded the two before him. + +But Dick forestalled him. He spoke in a voice coldly repellent. + +"What are you doing in this house at this time of night?" he +demanded. His manner was one of stern disapproval. "I recognize +you, Inspector Burke. But you must understand that there are +limits even to what you can do. It seems to me, sir, that you +exceed your authority by such an intrusion as this." + +Burke, however, was not a whit dismayed by the rebuke and the air +of rather contemptuous disdain with which it was uttered. He +waved his revolver toward Mary, merely as a gesture of +inquisitiveness, without any threat. + +"What's she doing here?" he asked. There was wrath in his rough +voice, for he could not avoid the surmise that his shrewdly +concocted scheme to entrap this woman had somehow been set awry. +"What's she doing here, I say?" he repeated heavily. His keen +eyes were darting once more about the room, questing some clue to +this disturbing mystery, so hateful to his pride. + +Dick's manner became that of the devoted husband offended by +impertinent obtrusion. + +"You forget yourself, Inspector," he said, icily. "This is my +wife. She has the right to be with me--her husband!" + +The Inspector grinned sceptically. He was moved no more +effectively by Mary's almost hysterical effort to respond to her +husband's leading. + +"Why shouldn't I be here? Why? Why? I----" + +Burke broke in on the girl's pitiful histrionics ruthlessly. He +was not in the least deceived. He was aware that something +untoward, as he deemed it, had occurred. It seemed to him, in +fact, that his finical mechanisms for the undoing of Mary Turner +were in a fair way to be thwarted. But he would not give up the +cause without a struggle. Again, he addressed himself to Dick, +disregarding completely the aloof manner of the young man. + +"Where's your father?" he questioned roughly. + +"In bed, naturally," was the answer. "I ask you again: What are +you doing here at this time of night?" + +Burke shook his shoulders ponderously in a movement of impatience +over this prolonging of the farce. + +"Oh, call your father," he directed disgustedly. + +Dick remonstrated with an excellent show of dignity. + +"It's late," he objected. "I'd rather not disturb him, if you +don't mind. Really, the idea is absurd, you know." Suddenly, he +smiled very winningly, and spoke with a good assumption of +ingenuousness. + +"Inspector," he said briskly, "I see, I'll have to tell you the +truth. It's this: I've persuaded my wife to go away with me. +She's going to give all that other sort of thing up. Yes, we're +going away together." There was genuine triumph in his voice +now. "So, you see, we've got to talk it over. Now, then, +Inspector, if you'll come back in the morning----" + +The official grinned sardonically. He could not in the least +guess just what had in very deed happened, but he was far too +clever a man to be bamboozled by Dick's maunderings. + +"Oh, that's it!" he exclaimed, with obvious incredulity. + +"Of course," Dick replied bravely, though he knew that the +Inspector disbelieved his pretenses. Still, for his own part, he +was inclined as yet to be angry rather than alarmed by this +failure to impress the officer. "You see, I didn't know----" + +And even in the moment of his saying, the white beam of the +flashing searchlight from the Tower fell between the undrawn +draperies of the octagonal window. The light startled the +Inspector again, as it had done once before that same night. His +gaze followed it instinctively. So, within the second, he saw the +still form lying there on the floor--lying where had been +shadows, where now, for the passing of an instant, was brilliant +radiance. + +There was no mistaking that awful, motionless, crumpled posture. +The Inspector knew in this single instant of view that murder had +been done here. Even as the beam of light from the Tower shifted +and vanished from the room, he leaped to the switch by the door, +and turned on the lights of the chandelier. In the next moment, +he had reached the door of the passage across the room, and his +whistle sounded shrill. His voice bellowed reinforcement to the +blast. + +"Cassidy! Cassidy!" + +As Dick made a step toward his wife, from whom he had withdrawn a +little in his colloquy with the official, Burke voiced his +command viciously: + +"Stay where you are--both of you!" + +Cassidy came rushing in, with the other detectives. He was +plainly surprised to find the room so nearly empty, where he had +expected to behold a gang of robbers. + +"Why, what's it all mean, Chief?" he questioned. His peering +eyes fell on Dick, standing beside Mary, and they rounded in +amazement. + +"They've got Griggs!" Burke answered. There was exceeding rage +in his voice, as he spoke from his kneeling posture beside the +body, to which he had hurried after the summons to his aides. He +glowered up into the bewildered face of the detective. "I'll +break you for this, Cassidy," he declared fiercely. "Why didn't +you get here on the run when you heard the shot?" + +"But there wasn't any shot," the perplexed and alarmed detective +expostulated. He fairly stuttered in the earnestness of his +self-defense. "I tell you, Chief, there hasn't been a sound." + +Burke rose to his feet. His heavy face was set in its sternest +mold. + +"You could drive a hearse through the hole they've made in him," +he rumbled. He wheeled on Mary and Dick. "So!" he shouted, "now +it's murder!... Well, hand it over. Where's the gun?" + +Followed a moment's pause. Then the Inspector spoke harshly to +Cassidy. He still felt himself somewhat dazed by this +extraordinary event, but he was able to cope with the situation. +He nodded toward Dick as he gave his order: "Search him!" + +Before the detective could obey the direction, Dick took the +revolver from his pocket where he had bestowed it, and held it +out. + +And it so chanced that at this incriminating crisis for the son, +the father hastily strode within the library. He had been +aroused by the Inspector's shouting, and was evidently greatly +perturbed. His usual dignified air was marred by a patent alarm. + +"What's all this?" he exclaimed, as he halted and stared +doubtfully on the scene before him. + +Burke, in a moment like this, was no respecter of persons, for +all his judicious attentions on other occasions to those whose +influence might serve him well for benefits received. + +"You can see for yourself," he said grimly to the dumfounded +magnate. Then, he fixed sinister eyes on the son. "So," he went +on, with somber menace in his voice, "you did it, young man." He +nodded toward the detective. "Well, Cassidy, you can take 'em +both down-town.... That's all." + +The command aroused Dick to remonstrance against such indignity +toward the woman whom he loved. + +"Not her!" he cried, imploringly. "You don't want her, +Inspector! This is all wrong!" + +Now, at last, Mary interposed with a new spirit. She had +regained, in some measure at least, her poise. She was speaking +again with that mental clarity which was distinctive in her. + +"Dick," she advised quietly, but with underlying urgency in her +gently spoken words, "don't talk, please." + +Burke laughed harshly. + +"What do you expect?" he inquired truculently. "As a matter of +fact, the thing's simple enough, young man. Either you killed +Griggs, or she did." + +The Inspector, with his charge, made a careless gesture toward +the corpse of the murdered stool-pigeon. For the first time, +Edward Gilder, as his glance unconsciously followed the officer's +movement, looked and saw the ghastly inanimate heap of flesh and +bone that had once been a man. He fairly reeled at the gruesome +spectacle, then fumbled with an outstretched hand as he moved +stumblingly until he laid hold on a chair, into which he sank +helplessly. It suddenly smote upon his consciousness that he +felt very old and broken. He marveled dully over the +sensation--it was wholly new to him. Then, soon, from a long way +off, he heard the strident voice of the Inspector remorselessly +continuing in the vile, the impossible accusation.... And that +grotesque accusation was hurled against his only son--the boy +whom he so loved. The thing was monstrous, a thing incredible. +This whole seeming was no more than a chimera of the night, a +phantom of bad dreams, with no truth under it.... Yet, the stern +voice of the official came with a strange semblance of reality. + +"Either you killed him," the voice repeated gratingly, "or she +did. Well, then, young man, did she kill him?" + +"Good God, no!" Dick shouted, aghast. + +"Then, it was you!" Such was the Inspector's summary of the case. + +Mary's words came frantically. Once again, she was become +desperate over the course of events in this night of fearful +happenings. + +"No, no! He didn't!" + +Burke's rasping voice reiterated the accusation with a certain +complacency in the inevitability of the dilemma. + +"One of you killed Griggs. Which one of you did it?" He scowled +at Dick. "Did she kill him?" + +Again, the husband's cry came with the fierceness of despair over +the fate of the woman. + +"I told you, no!" + +The Inspector, always savagely impressive now in voice and look +and gesture, faced the girl with saturnine persistence. + +"Well, then," he blustered, "did he kill him?" + +The nod of his head was toward Dick. Then, as she remained +silent: "I'm talking to you!" he snapped. "Did he kill him?" + +The reply came with a soft distinctness that was like a crash of +destiny. + +"Yes." + +Dick turned to his wife in reproachful amazement. + +"Mary!" he cried, incredulously. This betrayal was something +inconceivable from her, since he believed that now at last he +knew her heart. + +Burke, however, as usual, paid no heed to the niceties of +sentiment. They had small place in his concerns as an official +of police. His sole ambition just now was to fix the crime +definitely on the perpetrator. + +"You'll swear he killed him?" he asked, briskly, well content +with this concrete result of the entanglement. + +Mary subtly evaded the question, while seeming to give +unqualified assent. + +"Why not?" she responded listlessly. + +At this intolerable assertion as he deemed it, Edward Gilder was +reanimated. He sat rigidly erect in his, chair. In that +frightful moment, it came to him anew that here was in verity the +last detail in a consummate scheme by this woman for revenge +against himself. + +"God!" he cried, despairingly. "And that's your vengeance!" + +Mary heard, and understood. There came an inscrutable smile on +her curving lips, but there was no satisfaction in that smile, as +of one who realized the fruition of long-cherished schemes of +retribution. Instead, there was only an infinite sadness, while +she spoke very gently. + +"I don't want vengeance--now!" she said. + +"But they'll try my boy for murder," the magnate remonstrated, +distraught. + +"Oh, no, they can't!" came the rejoinder. And now, once again, +there was a hint of the quizzical creeping in the smile. "No, +they can't!" she repeated firmly, and there was profound relief +in her tones since at last her ingenuity had found a way out of +this outrageous situation thrust on her and on her husband. + +Burke glared at the speaker in a rage that was abruptly grown +suspicious in some vague way. + +"What's the reason we can't?" he stormed. + +Mary sprang to her feet. She was radiant with a new serenity, +now that her quick-wittedness had discovered a method for +baffling the mesh of evidence that had been woven about her and +Dick through no fault of their own. Her eyes were glowing with +even more than their usual lusters. Her voice came softly +modulated, almost mocking. + +"Because you couldn't convict him," she said succinctly. A +contented smile bent the red graces of her lips. + +Burke sneered an indignation that was, nevertheless, somewhat +fearful of what might lie behind the woman's assurance. + +"What's the reason?" he demanded, scornfully. "There's the +body." He pointed to the rigid form of the dead man, lying there +so very near them. "And the gun was found on him. And then, +you're willing to swear that he killed him.... Well, I guess +we'll convict him, all right. Why not?" + +Mary's answer was given quietly, but, none the less, with an +assurance that could not be gainsaid. + +"Because," she said, "my husband merely killed a burglar." In +her turn, she pointed toward the body of the dead man. "That +man," she continued evenly, "was the burglar. You know that! My +husband shot him in defense of his home!" There was a brief +silence. Then, she added, with a wonderful mildness in the music +of her voice. "And so, Inspector, as you know of course, he was +within the law!" + + + +CHAPTER XX. WHO SHOT GRIGGS? + +In his office next morning, Inspector Burke was fuming over the +failure of his conspiracy. He had hoped through this plot to +vindicate his authority, so sadly flaunted by Garson and Mary +Turner. Instead of this much-to-be-desired result from his +scheming, the outcome had been nothing less than disastrous. The +one certain fact was that his most valuable ally in his warfare +against the criminals of the city had been done to death. Some +one had murdered Griggs, the stool-pigeon. Where Burke had meant +to serve a man of high influence, Edward Gilder, by railroading +the bride of the magnate's son to prison, he had succeeded only +in making the trouble of that merchant prince vastly worse in the +ending of the affair by arresting the son for the capital crime +of murder. The situation was, in very truth, intolerable. More +than ever, Burke grew hot with intent to overcome the woman who +had so persistently outraged his authority by her ingenious +devices against the law. Anyhow, the murder of Griggs could not +go unpunished. The slayer's identity must be determined, and +thereafter the due penalty of the law inflicted, whoever the +guilty person might prove to be. To the discovery of this +identity, the Inspector was at the present moment devoting +himself by adroit questioning of Dacey and Chicago Red, who had +been arrested in one of their accustomed haunts by his men a +short time before. + +The policeman on duty at the door was the only other person in +the room, and in consequence Burke permitted himself, quite +unashamed, to employ those methods of persuasion which have risen +to a high degree of admiration in police circles. + +"Come across now!" he admonished. His voice rolled forth like +that of a bull of Bashan. He was on his feet, facing the two +thieves. His head was thrust forward menacingly, and his eyes +were savage. The two men shrank before him--both in natural +fear, and, too, in a furtive policy of their own. This was no +occasion for them to assert a personal pride against the man who +had them in his toils. + +"I don't know nothin'!" Chicago Red's voice was between a snarl +and a whine. "Ain't I been telling you that for over an hour?" + +Burke vouchsafed no answer in speech, but with a nimbleness +surprising in one of his bulk, gave Dacey, who chanced to be the +nearer of the two, a shove that sent the fellow staggering +half-way across the room under its impetus. + +With this by way of appreciable introduction to his seriousness +of purpose, Burke put a question: + +"Dacey, how long have you been out?" + +The answer came in a sibilant whisper of dread. + +"A week." + +Burke pushed the implication brutally. + +"Want to go back for another stretch?" The Inspector's voice was +freighted with suggestions of disasters to come, which were well +understood by the cringing wretch before him. + +The thief shuddered, and his face, already pallid from the prison +lack of sunlight like some noxious growth of a cellar, became +livid. His words came in a muffled moan of fear. + +"God, no!" + +Burke left a little interval of silence then in which the thieves +might tremble over the prospect suggested by his words, but +always he maintained his steady, relentless glare on the cowed +creatures. It was a familiar warfare with him. Yet, in this +instance, he was destined to failure, for the men were of a type +different from that of English Eddie, who was lying dead as the +meet reward for treachery to his fellows.... When, at last, his +question issued from the close-shut lips, it came like the crack +of a gun. + +"Who shot Griggs?" + +The reply was a chorus from the two: + +"I don't know--honest, I don't!" + +In his eagerness, Chicago Red moved toward his +questioner--unwisely. + +"Honest to Gawd, I don't know nothin' about it!" + +The Inspector's fist shot out toward Chicago Red's jaw. The +impact was enough. The thief went to his knees under the blow. + +"Now, get up--and talk!" Burke's voice came with unrepentant +noisiness against the stricken man. + +Cringingly, Chicago Red, who so gloried in his strength, yet was +now altogether humble in this precarious case, obeyed as far as +the getting to his feet was concerned.... It never occurred to +him even that he should carry his obedience to the point of +"squealing on a pal!" Had the circumstances been different, he +might have refused to accept the Inspector's blow with such +meekness, since above all things he loved a bit of bodily strife +with some one near his own strength, and the Inspector was of a +sort to offer him a battle worth while. + +So, now, while he got slowly to his feet, he took care to keep at +a respectful distance from the official, though his big hands +fairly ached to double into fists for blows with this man who had +so maltreated him. + +His own self-respect, of its peculiar sort, was saved by the +interference of Cassidy, who entered the Inspector's office to +announce the arrival of the District Attorney. + +"Send 'im in," Burke directed at once. He made a gesture toward +the doorman, and added: "Take 'em back!" + +A grin of evil humor writhed the lips of the police official, and +he added to the attentive doorman a word of direction that might +well be interpreted by the malevolent expression on his face. + +"Don't be rough with 'em, Dan," he said. For once, his +dominating voice was reduced to something approaching softness, +in his sardonic appreciation of his own humor in the conception +of what these two men, who had ventured to resist his +importunities, might receive at the hands of his faithful +satellites.... The doorman grinned appreciatively, and herded his +victims from the place. And the two went shamblingly in sure +knowledge of the things that were in store. Yet, without thought +of treachery. They would not "squeal"! All they would tell of +the death of Eddie Griggs would be: "He got what was coming to +him!" + +The Inspector dropped into his swivel chair at the desk whilst he +awaited the arrival of Demarest, the District Attorney. The +greetings between the two were cordial when at last the public +prosecutor made his appearance. + +"I came as soon as I got your message," the District Attorney +said, as he seated himself in a chair by the desk. "And I've +sent word to Mr. Gilder.... Now, then, Burke, let's have this +thing quickly." + +The Inspector's explanation was concise: + +"Joe Garson, Chicago Red, and Dacey, along with Griggs, broke +into Edward Gilder's house, last night! I knew the trick was +going to be pulled off, and so I planted Cassidy and a couple of +other men just outside the room where the haul was to be made. +Then, I went away, and after something like half an hour I came +back to make the arrests myself." A look of intense disgust +spread itself over the Inspector's massive face. "Well," he +concluded sheepishly, "when I broke into the room I found young +Gilder along with that Turner woman he married, and they were +just talking together." + +"No trace of the others?" Demarest questioned crisply. + +At the inquiry, Burke's face crimsoned angrily, then again set in +grim lines. + +"I found Griggs lying on the floor--dead!" Once again the disgust +showed in his expression. "The Turner woman says young Gilder +shot Griggs because he broke into the house. Ain't that the +limit?" + +"What does the boy say?" the District Attorney demanded. + +Burke shook his head dispiritedly. + +"Nothing," he answered. "She told him not to talk, and so, of +course, he won't, he's such a fool over her." + +"And what does she say?" Demarest asked. He found himself +rather amused by the exceeding chagrin of the Inspector over this +affair. + +Burke's voice grew savage as he snapped a reply. + +"Refuses to talk till she sees a lawyer. But a touch of +cheerfulness appeared in his tones as he proceeded. "We've got +Chicago Red and Dacey, and we'll have Garson before the day's +over. And, oh, yes, they've picked up a young girl at the Turner +woman's place. And we've got one real clue--for once!" The +speaker's expression was suddenly triumphant. He opened a drawer +of the desk, and took out Garson's pistol, to which the silencer +was still attached. + +"You never saw a gun like that before, eh?" he exclaimed. + +Demarest admitted the fact after a curious examination. + +"I'll bet you never did!" Burke cried, with satisfaction. "That +thing on the end is a Maxim silencer. There are thousands of them +in use on rifles, but they've never been able to use them on +revolvers before. This is a specially made gun," he went on +admiringly, as he took it back and slipped it into a pocket of +his coat. "That thing is absolutely noiseless. I've tried it. +Well, you see, it'll be an easy thing--easiest thing in the +world!--to trace that silencer attachment. Cassidy's working on +that end of the thing now." + +For a few minutes longer, the two men discussed the details of +the crime, theorizing over the baffling event. Then, presently, +Cassidy entered the office, and made report of his investigations +concerning the pistol with the silencer attachment. + +"I got the factory at Hartford on the wire," he explained, "and +they gave me Mr. Maxim himself, the inventor of the silencer. He +said this was surely a special gun, which was made for the use of +Henry Sylvester, one of the professors at Yale. He wanted it for +demonstration purposes. Mr. Maxim said the things have never +been put on the market, and that they never will be." + +"For humane reasons," Demarest commented, nodding approbation. + +"Good thing, too!" Burke conceded. "They'd make murder too +devilish easy, and it's easy enough now.... Well, Cassidy?" + +"I got hold of this man, Sylvester," Cassidy went on. "I had him +on the 'phone, too. He says that his house was robbed about +eight weeks ago, and among other things the silencer was stolen." +Cassidy paused, and chuckled drily. "He adds the startling +information that the New Haven police have not been able to +recover any of the stolen property. Them rube cops are immense!" + + +Demarest smiled slyly, as the detective, at a nod from his +superior, went toward the door. + +"No," he said, maliciously; "only the New York police recover +stolen goods." + +"Good-night!" quoth Cassidy, turning at the door, in admission of +his discomfiture over the thrust, while Burke himself grinned +wryly in appreciation of the gibe. + +Demarest grew grave again, as he put the question that was +troubling him most. + +"Is there any chance that young Gilder did shoot Griggs?" + +"You can search me!" the Inspector answered, disconsolately. "My +men were just outside the door of the room where Eddie Griggs was +shot to death, and none of 'em heard a sound. It's that infernal +silencer thing. Of course, I know that all the gang was in the +house." + +"But tell me just how you know that fact," Demarest objected very +crisply. "Did you see them go in?" + +"No, I didn't," the Inspector admitted, tartly. "But Griggs----" + +Demarest permitted himself a sneer born of legal knowledge. + +"Griggs is dead, Burke. You're up against it. You can't prove +that Garson, or Chicago Red, or Dacey, ever entered that house." + +The Inspector scowled over this positive statement. + +"But Griggs said they were going to," he argued. + +"I know," Demarest agreed, with an exasperating air of +shrewdness; "but Griggs is dead. You see, Burke, you couldn't in +a trial even repeat what he told you. It's not permissible +evidence." + +"Oh, the law!" the Inspector snorted, with much choler. "Well, +then," he went on belligerently, "I'll charge young Gilder with +murder, and call the Turner woman as a witness." + +The District Attorney laughed aloud over this project. + +"You can't question her on the witness-stand," he explained +patronizingly to the badgered police official. "The law doesn't +allow you to make a wife testify against her husband. And, +what's more, you can't arrest her, and then force her to go into +the witness-stand, either. No, Burke," he concluded +emphatically, "your only chance of getting the murderer of Griggs +is by a confession." + +"Then, I'll charge them both with the murder," the Inspector +growled vindictively. "And, by God, they'll both go to trial +unless somebody comes through." He brought his huge fist down on +the desk with violence, and his voice was forbidding. "If it's +my last act on earth," he declared, "I'm going to get the man who +shot Eddie Griggs." + +Demarest was seriously disturbed by the situation that had +developed. He was under great personal obligations to Edward +Gilder, whose influence in fact had been the prime cause of his +success in attaining to the important official position he now +held, and he would have gone far to serve the magnate in any +difficulty that might arise. He had been perfectly willing to +employ all the resources of his office to relieve the son from +the entanglement with a woman of unsavory notoriety. Now, thanks +to the miscarried plotting of Burke to the like end, what before +had been merely a vicious state of affairs was become one of the +utmost dreadfulness. The worst of crimes had been committed in +the house of Edward Gilder himself, and his son acknowledged +himself as the murderer. The District Attorney felt a genuine +sorrow in thinking of the anguish this event must have brought on +the father. He had, as well, sympathy enough for the son. His +acquaintance with the young man convinced him that the boy had +not done the deed of bloody violence. In that fact was a +mingling of comfort and of anxiety. It had been better, +doubtless, if indeed Dick had shot Griggs, had indicted a just +penalty on a housebreaker. But the District Attorney was not +inclined to credit the confession. Burke's account of the plot +in which the stool-pigeon had been the agent offered too many +complications. Altogether, the aspect of the case served to +indicate that Dick could not have been the slayer.... Demarest +shook his head dejectedly. + +"Burke," he said, "I want the boy to go free. I don't believe +for a minute that Dick Gilder ever killed this pet stool-pigeon +of yours. And, so, you must understand this: I want him to go +free, of course." + +Burke frowned refusal at this suggestion. Here was a matter in +which his rights must not be invaded. He, too, would have gone +far to serve a man of Edward Gilder's standing, but in this +instance his professional pride was in revolt. He had been +defied, trapped, made a victim of the gang who had killed his +most valued informer. + +"The youngster'll go free when he tells what he knows," he said +angrily, "and not a minute before." His expression lightened a +little. "Perhaps the old gentleman can make him talk. I can't. +He's under that woman's thumb, of course, and she's told him he +mustn't say a word. So, he don't." A grin of half-embarrassed +appreciation moved the heavy jaws as he glanced at the District +Attorney. "You see," he explained, "I can't make him talk, but I +might if circumstances were different. On account of his being +the old man's son, I'm a little cramped in my style." + +It was, in truth, one thing to browbeat and assault a convict +like Dacey or Chicago Red, but quite another to employ the like +violence against a youth of Dick Gilder's position in the world. +Demarest understood perfectly, but he was inclined to be +sceptical over the Inspector's theory that Dick possessed actual +cognizance as to the killing of Griggs. + +"You think that young Gilder really knows?" he questioned, +doubtfully. + +"I don't think anything--yet!" Burke retorted. "All I know is +this: Eddie Griggs, the most valuable crook that ever worked for +me, has been murdered." The official's voice was charged with +threatening as he went on. "And some one, man or woman, is going +to pay for it!" + +"Woman?" Demarest repeated, in some astonishment. + +Burke's voice came merciless. + +"I mean, Mary Turner," he said slowly. + +Demarest was shocked. + +"But, Burke," he expostulated, "she's not that sort." The +Inspector sneered openly. + +"How do you know she ain't?" he demanded. "Well, anyhow, she's +made a monkey out of the Police Department, and, first, last, and +all the time, I'm a copper. . . And that reminds me," he went +on with a resumption of his usual curt bluntness, "I want you to +wait for Mr. Gilder outside, while I get busy with the girl +they've brought down from Mary Turner's flat." + + + +CHAPTER XXI. AGGIE AT BAY. + +Burke, after the lawyer had left him, watched the door +expectantly for the coming of the girl, whom he had ordered +brought before him. But, when at last Dan appeared, and stood +aside to permit her passing into the office, the Inspector gasped +at the unexpectedness of the vision. He had anticipated the +coming of a woman of that world with which he was most familiar +in the exercise of his professional duties--the underworld of +criminals, some one beautiful perhaps, but with the brand of +viciousness marked subtly, yet visibly for the trained eye to +see. Then, even in that first moment, he told himself that he +should have been prepared for the unusual in this instance, since +the girl had to do with Mary Turner, and that disturbing person +herself showed in face and form and manner nothing to suggest +aught but a gentlewoman. And, in the next instant, the Inspector +forgot his surprise in a sincere, almost ardent admiration. + +The girl was rather short, but of a slender elegance of form that +was ravishing. She was gowned, too, with a chic nicety to arouse +the envy of all less-fortunate women. Her costume had about it +an indubitable air, a finality of perfection in its kind. On +another, it might have appeared perhaps the merest trifle garish. +But that fault, if in fact it ever existed, was made into a +virtue by the correcting innocence of the girl's face. It was a +childish face, childish in the exquisite smoothness of the soft, +pink skin, childish in the wondering stare of the blue eyes, now +so widely opened in dismay, childish in the wistful drooping of +the rosebud mouth. + +The girl advanced slowly, with a laggard hesitation in her +movements obviously from fear. She approached the desk, from +behind which the Inspector watched, fascinated by the fresh and +wholesome beauty of this young creature. He failed to observe +the underlying anger beneath the girl's outward display of alarm. +He shook off his first impression by means of a resort to his +customary bluster in such cases. + +"Now, then, my girl," he said roughly, "I want to know----" + +There came a change, wrought in the twinkling of an eye. The +tiny, trimly shod foot of the girl rose and fell in a wrathful +stamp. + +"How dare you!" The clear blue eyes were become darkened with +anger. There was a deepened leaf of red in either cheek. The +drooping lips drooped no longer, but were bent to a haughtiness +that was finely impressive. + +Before the offended indignation of the young woman, Burke sat +bewildered by embarrassment for once in his life, and quite at a +loss. + +"What's that?" he said, dubiously. + +The girl explained the matter explicitly enough. + +"What do you mean by this outrage?" she stormed. Her voice was +low and rich, with a charming roundness that seemed the very +hallmark of gentility. But, now, it was surcharged with an +indignant amazement over the indignity put upon her by the +representatives of the law. Then, abruptly, the blue eyes were +softened in their fires, as by the sudden nearness of tears. + +"What do you mean?" the girl repeated. Her slim form was tense +with wrath. "I demand my instant release." There was +indescribable rebuke in her slow emphasis of the words. + +Burke was impressed in spite of himself, in spite of his +accustomed cold indifference to the feelings of others as +necessity compelled him to make investigation of them. His +harsh, blustering voice softened perceptibly, and he spoke in a +wheedling tone, such as one might employ in the effort to +tranquillize a spoiled child in a fit of temper. + +"Wait a minute," he remonstrated. "Wait a minute!" He made a +pacifically courteous gesture toward one of the chairs, which +stood by an end of the desk. "Sit down," he invited, with an +effort toward cajoling. + +The scorn of the girl was superb. Her voice came icily, as she +answered: + +"I shall do nothing of the sort. Sit down, indeed!--here! Why, I +have been arrested----" There came a break in the music of her +tones throbbing resentment. A little sob crept in, and broke the +sequence of words. The dainty face was vivid with shame. "I--" +she faltered, "I've been arrested--by a common policeman!" + +The Inspector seized on the one flaw left him for defense against +her indictment. + +"No, no, miss," he argued, earnestly. "Excuse me. It wasn't any +common policeman--it was a detective sergeant." + +But his effort to placate was quite in vain. The ingenuous +little beauty with the child's face and the blue eyes so widely +opened fairly panted in her revolt against the ignominy of her +position, and was not to be so easily appeased. Her voice came +vibrant with disdain. Her level gaze on the Inspector was of a +sort to suggest to him anxieties over possible complications +here. + +"You wait!" she cried violently. "You just wait, I tell you, +until my papa hears of this!" + +Burke regarded the furious girl doubtfully. + +"Who is your papa?" he asked, with a bit of alarm stirring in +his breast, for he had no mind to offend any one of importance +where there was no need. + +"I sha'n't tell you," came the petulant retort from the girl. +Her ivory forehead was wrinkled charmingly in a little frown of +obstinacy. "Why," she went on, displaying new symptoms of +distress over another appalling idea that flashed on her in this +moment, "you would probably give my name to the reporters." Once +again the rosebud mouth drooped into curves of sorrow, of a great +self-pity. "If it ever got into the newspapers, my family would +die of shame!" + +The pathos of her fear pierced through the hardened crust of the +police official. He spoke apologetically. + +"Now, the easiest way out for both of us," he suggested, "is for +you to tell me just who you are. You see, young lady, you were +found in the house of a notorious crook." + +The haughtiness of the girl waxed. It seemed as if she grew an +inch taller in her scorn of the Inspector's saying. + +"How perfectly absurd!" she exclaimed, scathingly. "I was calling +on Miss Mary Turner!" + +"How did you come to meet her, anyhow?" Burke inquired. He +still held his big voice to a softer modulation than that to +which it was habituated. + +Yet, the disdain of the girl seemed only to increase momently. +She showed plainly that she regarded this brass-buttoned official +as one unbearably insolent in his demeanor toward her. +Nevertheless, she condescended to reply, with an exaggeration of +the aristocratic drawl to indicate her displeasure. + +"I was introduced to Miss Turner," she explained, "by Mr. Richard +Gilder. Perhaps you have heard of his father, the owner of the +Emporium." + +"Oh, yes, I've heard of his father, and of him, too," Burke +admitted, placatingly. + +But the girl relaxed not a whit in her attitude of offense. + +"Then," she went on severely, "you must see at once that you are +entirely mistaken in this matter." Her blue eyes widened further +as she stared accusingly at the Inspector, who betrayed evidences +of perplexity, and hesitated for an answer. Then, the doll-like, +charming face took on a softer look, which had in it a suggestion +of appeal. + +"Don't you see it?" she demanded. + +"Well, no," Burke rejoined uneasily; "not exactly, I don't!" In +the presence of this delicate and graceful femininity, he +experienced a sudden, novel distaste for his usual sledge-hammer +methods of attack in interrogation. Yet, his duty required that +he should continue his questioning. He found himself in fact +between the devil and the deep sea--though this particular devil +appeared rather as an angel of light. + +Now, at his somewhat feeble remark in reply to her query, the +childish face grew as hard as its curving contours would permit. + +"Sir!" she cried indignantly. Her little head was thrown back in +scornful reproof, and she turned a shoulder toward the official +contemptuously. + +"Now, now!" Burke exclaimed in remonstrance. After all, he could +not be brutal with this guileless maiden. He must, however, make +the situation clear to her, lest she think him a beast--which +would never do! + +"You see, young lady," he went on with a gentleness of voice and +manner that would have been inconceivable to Dacey and Chicago +Red; "you see, the fact is that, even if you were introduced to +this Mary Turner by young Mr. Gilder, this same Mary Turner +herself is an ex-convict, and she's just been arrested for +murder." + +At the dread word, a startling change was wrought in the girl. +She wheeled to face the Inspector, her slender body swaying a +little toward him. The rather heavy brows were lifted slightly +in a disbelieving stare. The red lips were parted, rounded to a +tremulous horror. + +"Murder!" she gasped; and then was silent. + +"Yes," Burke went on, wholly at ease now, since he had broken the +ice thus effectually. "You see, if there's a mistake about you, +you don't want it to go any further --not a mite further, that's +sure. So, you see, now, that's one of the reasons why I must +know just who you are." Then, in his turn, Burke put the query +that the girl had put to him a little while before. "You see +that, don't you?" + +"Oh, yes, yes!" was the instant agreement. "You should have told +me all about this horrid thing in the first place." Now, the +girl's manner was transformed. She smiled wistfully on the +Inspector, and the glance of the blue eyes was very kind, subtly +alluring. Yet in this unbending, there appeared even more +decisively than hitherto the fine qualities in bearing of one +delicately nurtured. She sank down in a chair by the desk, and +forthwith spoke with a simplicity that in itself was somehow +peculiarly potent in its effect on the official who gave +attentive ear. + +"My name is Helen Travers West," she announced. + +Burke started a little in his seat, and regarded the speaker with +a new deference as he heard that name uttered. + +"Not the daughter of the railway president?" he inquired. + +"Yes," the girl admitted. Then, anew, she displayed a serious +agitation over the thought of any possible publicity in this +affair. + +"Oh, please, don't tell any one," she begged prettily. The blue +eyes were very imploring, beguiling, too. The timid smile that +wreathed the tiny mouth was marvelously winning. The neatly +gloved little hands were held outstretched, clasped in +supplication. "Surely, sir, you see now quite plainly why it +must never be known by any one in all the wide, wide world that I +have ever been brought to this perfectly dreadful place--though +you have been quite nice!" Her voice dropped to a note of musical +prayerfulness. The words were spoken very softly and very +slowly, with intonations difficult for a man to deny. "Please +let me go home." She plucked a minute handkerchief from her +handbag, put it to her eyes, and began to sob quietly. + +The burly Inspector of Police was moved to quick sympathy. +Really, when all was said and done, it was a shame that one like +her should by some freak of fate have become involved in the +sordid, vicious things that his profession made it obligatory on +him to investigate. There was a considerable hint of the paternal +in his air as he made an attempt to offer consolation to the +afflicted damsel. + +"That's all right, little lady," he exclaimed cheerfully. "Now, +don't you be worried--not a little bit. Take it from me, Miss +West.... Just go ahead, and tell me all you know about this +Turner woman. Did you see her yesterday?" + +The girl's sobs ceased. After a final dab with the minute +handkerchief, she leaned forward a little toward the Inspector, +and proceeded to put a question to him with great eagerness. + +"Will you let me go home as soon as I've told you the teensy +little I know?" + +"Yes," Burke agreed promptly, with an encouraging smile. And for +a good measure of reassurance, he added as one might to an +alarmed child: "No one is going to hurt you, young lady." + +"Well, then, you see, it was this way," began the brisk +explanation. "Mr. Gilder was calling on me one afternoon, and he +said to me then that he knew a very charming young woman, +who----" + +Here the speech ended abruptly, and once again the handkerchief +was brought into play as the sobbing broke forth with increased +violence. Presently, the girl's voice rose in a wail. + +"Oh, this is dreadful--dreadful!" In the final word, the wail +broke to a moan. + +Burke felt himself vaguely guilty as the cause of such suffering +on the part of one so young, so fair, so innocent. As a culprit, +he sought his best to afford a measure of soothing for this grief +that had had its source in his performance of duty. + +"That's all right, little lady," he urged in a voice as nearly +mellifluous as he could contrive with its mighty volume. "That's +all right. I have to keep on telling you. Nobody's going to +hurt you--not a little bit. Believe me! Why, nobody ever would +want to hurt you!" + +But his well-meant attempt to assuage the stricken creature's wo +was futile. The sobbing continued. With it came a plaintive +cry, many times repeated, softly, but very miserably. + +"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" + +"Isn't there something else you can tell me about this woman?" +Burke inquired in desperation before the plaintive outburst. He +hoped to distract her from such grief over her predicament. + +The girl gave no least heed to the question. + +"Oh, I'm so frightened!" she gasped. + +"Tut, tut!" the Inspector chided. "Now, I tell you there's +nothing at all for you to be afraid of." + +"I'm afraid!" the girl asserted dismally. "I'm afraid you +will--put me--in a cell!" Her voice sank to a murmur hardly +audible as she spoke the words so fraught with dread import to +one of her refined sensibilities. + +"Pooh!" Burke returned, gallantly. "Why, my dear young lady, +nobody in the world could think of you and a cell at the same +time--no, indeed!" + +Instantly, the girl responded to this bald flattery. She fairly +radiated appreciation of the compliment, as she turned her eyes, +dewy with tears, on the somewhat flustered Inspector. + +"Oh, thank you!" she exclaimed, with naive enjoyment. + +Forthwith, Burke set out to make the most of this favorable +opportunity. + +"Are you sure you've told me all you know about this woman?" he +questioned. + +"Oh, yes! I've only seen her two or three times," came the ready +response. The voice changed to supplication, and again the +clasped hands were extended beseechingly. + +"Oh, please, Commissioner! Won't you let me go home?" + +The use of a title higher than his own flattered the Inspector, +and he was moved to graciousness. Besides, it was obvious that +his police net in this instance had enmeshed only the most +harmless of doves. He smiled encouragingly. + +"Well, now, little lady," he said, almost tenderly, "if I let you +go now, will you promise to let me know if you are able to think +of anything else about this Turner woman?" + +"I will--indeed, I will!" came the fervent assurance. There was +something almost--quite provocative in the flash of gratitude +that shone forth from the blue eyes of the girl in that moment of +her superlative relief. It moved Burke to a desire for +rehabilitation in her estimation. + +"Now, you see," he went on in his heavy voice, yet very kindly, +and with a sort of massive playfulness in his manner," no one has +hurt you--not even a little bit, after all. Now, you run right +home to your mother." + +The girl did not need to be told twice. On the instant, she +sprang up joyously, and started toward the door, with a final +ravishing smile for the pleased official at the desk. + +"I'll go just as fast as ever I can," the musical voice made +assurance blithely. + +"Give my compliments to your father," Burke requested +courteously. "And tell him I'm sorry I frightened you." + +The girl turned at the door.... After all, too great haste might +be indiscreet. + +"I will, Commissioner," she promised, with an arch smile. "And I +know papa will be so grateful to you for all your kindness to +me!" + +It was at this critical moment that Cassidy entered from the +opposite side of the office. As his eyes fell on the girl at the +door across from him, his stolid face lighted in a grin. And, in +that same instant of recognition between the two, the color went +out of the girl's face. The little red lips snapped together in +a line of supreme disgust against this vicissitude of fate after +all her manoeuverings in the face of the enemy. She stood +motionless in wordless dismay, impotent before this disaster +forced on her by untoward chance. + +"Hello, Aggie!" the detective remarked, with a smirk, while the +Inspector stared from one to the other with rounded eyes of +wonder, and his jaw dropped from the stark surprise of this new +development. + +The girl returned deliberately to the chair she had occupied +through the interview with the Inspector, and dropped into it +weakly. Her form rested there limply now, and the blue eyes +stared disconsolately at the blank wall before her. She realized +that fate had decreed defeat for her in the game. It was after a +minute of silence in which the two men sat staring that at last +she spoke with a savage wrath against the pit into which she had +fallen after her arduous efforts. + +"Ain't that the damnedest luck!" + +For a little interval still, Burke turned his glances from the +girl to Cassidy, and then back again to the girl, who sat +immobile with her blue eyes steadfastly fixed on the wall. The +police official was, in truth, totally bewildered. Here was +inexplicable mystery. Finally, he addressed the detective curtly. + +"Cassidy, do you know this woman?" + +"Sure, I do!" came the placid answer. He went on to explain with +the direct brevity of his kind. "She's little Aggie Lynch--con' +woman, from Buffalo--two years for blackmail--did her time at +Burnsing." + +With this succinct narrative concerning the girl who sat mute and +motionless in the chair with her eyes fast on the wall, Cassidy +relapsed into silence, during which he stared rather perplexedly +at his chief, who seemed to be in the throes of unusual emotion. +As the detective expressed it in his own vernacular: For the +first time in his experience, the Inspector appeared to be +actually "rattled." + +For a little time, there was silence, the while Burke sat staring +at the averted face of the girl. His expression was that of one +who has just undergone a soul-stirring shock. Then, presently, +he set his features grimly, rose from his chair, and walked to a +position directly in the front of the girl, who still refused to +look in his direction. + +"Young woman----" he began, severely. Then, of a sudden he +laughed. "You picked the right business, all right, all right!" +he said, with a certain enthusiasm. He laughed aloud until his +eyes were only slits, and his ample paunch trembled vehemently. + +"Well," he went on, at last, "I certainly have to hand it to you, +kid. You're a beaut'!" + +Aggie sniffed vehemently in rebuke of the gross partiality of +fate in his behalf. + +"Just as I had him goin'!" she said bitterly, as if in +self-communion, without shifting her gaze from the blank surface +of the wall. + +Now, however, Burke was reminded once again of his official +duties, and he turned quickly to the attentive Cassidy. + +"Have you got a picture of this young woman?" he asked +brusquely. And when Cassidy had replied in the negative, he +again faced the adventuress with a mocking grin--in which +mockery, too, was a fair fragment for himself, who had been so +thoroughly within her toils of blandishment. + +"I'd dearly love to have a photograph of you, Miss Helen Travers +West," he said. + +The speech aroused the stolid detective to a new interest. + +"Helen Travers West?" he repeated, inquiringly. + +"Oh, that's the name she told me," the Inspector explained, +somewhat shamefacedly before this question from his inferior. +Then he chuckled, for he had sense of humor sufficient to triumph +even over his own discomfiture in this encounter. "And she had +me winging, too!" he confessed. "Yes, I admit it." He turned to +the girl admiringly. "You sure are immense, little one +--immense!" He smiled somewhat more in his official manner of +mastery. "And now, may I have the honor of asking you to accept +the escort of Mr. Cassidy to our gallery." + +Aggie sprang to her feet and regarded the Inspector with eyes in +which was now no innocence, such as had beguiled him so recently +from those ingenuous orbs. + +"Oh, can that stuff!" she cried, crossly. "Let's get down to +business on the dot--and no frills on it! Keep to cases!" + +"Now you're talking," Burke declared, with a new appreciation of +the versatility of this woman--who had not been wasting her time +hitherto, and had no wish to lose it now. + +"You can't do anything to us," Aggie declared, strongly. There +remained no trace of the shrinking violet that had been Miss +Helen Travers West. Now, she revealed merely the business woman +engaged in a fight against the law, which was opposed definitely +to her peculiar form of business. + +"You can't do anything to me, and you know you can't!" she went +on, with an almost convincing tranquillity of assertion. "Why, +I'll be sprung inside an hour." There came a ripple of laughter +that reminded the Inspector of the fashion in which he had been +overcome by this woman's wiles. And she spoke with a certitude +of conviction that was rather terrifying to one who had just +fallen under the stress of her spells. + +"Why, habeas corpus is my lawyer's middle name!" + +"On the level, now," the Inspector demanded, quite unmoved by the +final declarations, "when did you see Mary Turner last?" + +Aggie resorted anew to her practices of deception. Her voice held +the accents of unimpeachable truth, and her eyes looked +unflinchingly into those of her questioner as she answered. + +"Early this morning," she declared. "We slept together last +night, because I had the willies. She blew the joint about +half-past ten." + +Burke shook his head, more in sorrow than in anger. + +"What's the use of your lying to me?" he remonstrated. + +"What, me?" Aggie clamored, with every evidence of being deeply +wounded by the charge against her veracity. "Oh, I wouldn't do +anything like that--on the level! What would be the use? I +couldn't fool you, Commissioner." + +Burke stroked his chin sheepishly, under the influence of +memories of Miss Helen Travers West. + +"So help me," Aggie continued with the utmost solemnity, "Mary +never left the house all night. I'd swear that's the truth on a +pile of Bibles a mile high!" + +"Have to be higher than that," the Inspector commented, grimly. +"You see, Aggie Lynch, Mary Turner was arrested just after +midnight." His voice deepened and came blustering. "Young +woman, you'd better tell all you know." + +"I don't know a thing!" Aggie retorted, sharply. She faced the +Inspector fiercely, quite unabashed by the fact that her vigorous +offer to commit perjury had been of no avail. + +Burke, with a quick movement, drew the pistol from his pocket and +extended it toward the girl. + +"How long has she owned this gun?" he said, threateningly. + +Aggie showed no trace of emotion as her glance ran over the +weapon. + +"She didn't own it," was her firm answer. + +"Oh, then it's Garson's!" Burke exclaimed. + +"I don't know whose it is," Aggie replied, with an air of boredom +well calculated to deceive. "I never laid eyes on it till now." + +The Inspector's tone abruptly took on a somber coloring, with an +underlying menace. + +"English Eddie was killed with this gun last night," he said. +"Now, who did it?" His broad face was sinister. "Come on, now! +Who did it?" + +Aggie became flippant, seemingly unimpressed by the Inspector's +savageness. + +"How should I know?" she drawled. "What do you think I am--a +fortune-teller?" + +"You'd better come through," Burke reiterated. Then his manner +changed to wheedling. "If you're the wise kid I think you are, +you will." + +Aggie waxed very petulant over this insistence. + +"I tell you, I don't know anything! Say, what are you trying to +hand me, anyway?" + +Burke scowled on the girl portentously, and shook his head. + +"Now, it won't do, I tell you, Aggie Lynch. I'm wise. You +listen to me." Once more his manner turned to the cajoling. +"You tell me what you know, and I'll see you make a clean +get-away, and I'll slip you a nice little piece of money, too." + +The girl's face changed with startling swiftness. She regarded +the Inspector shrewdly, a crafty glint in her eyes. + +"Let me get this straight," she said. "If I tell you what I know +about Mary Turner and Joe Garson, I get away?" + +"Clean!" Burke ejaculated, eagerly. + +"And you'll slip me some coin, too?" + +"That's it!" came the hasty assurance. "Now, what do you say?" + +The small figure grew tense. The delicate, childish face was +suddenly distorted with rage, a rage black and venomous. The +blue eyes were blazing. The voice came thin and piercing. + +"I say, you're a great big stiff! What do you think I am?" she +stormed at the discomfited Inspector, while Cassidy looked on in +some enjoyment at beholding his superior being worsted. Aggie +wheeled on the detective. "Say, take me out of here," she cried +in a voice surcharged with disgust. "I'd rather be in the cooler +than here with him!" + +Now Burke's tone was dangerous. + +"You'll tell," he growled, "or you'll go up the river for a +stretch." + +"I don't know anything," the girl retorted, spiritedly And, if I +did, I wouldn't tell--not in a million years!" She thrust her +head forward challengingly as she faced the Inspector, and her +expression was resolute. "Now, then," she ended, "send me up--if +you can!" + +"Take her away," Burke snapped to the detective. + +Aggie went toward Cassidy without any sign of reluctance. + +"Yes, do, please!" she exclaimed with a sneer. "And do it in a +hurry. Being in the room with him makes me sick! She turned to +stare at the Inspector with eyes that were very clear and very +hard. In this moment, there was nothing childish in their gaze. + +"Thought I'd squeal, did you?" she said, evenly. Yes, I +will"--the red lips bent to a smile of supreme scorn--"like +hell!" + + + +CHAPTER XXII. THE TRAP THAT FAILED. + +Burke, despite his quality of heaviness, was blest with a keen +sense of humor, against which at times his professional labors +strove mutinously. In the present instance, he had failed +utterly to obtain any information of value from the girl whom he +had just been examining. On the contrary, he had been befooled +outrageously by a female criminal, in a manner to wound deeply +his professional pride. Nevertheless, he bore no grudge against +the adventuress. His sense of the absurd served him well, and he +took a lively enjoyment in recalling the method by which her +plausible wiles had beguiled him. He gave her a real respect for +the adroitness with which she had deceived him--and he was not +one to be readily deceived. So, now, as the scornful maiden went +out of the door under the escort of Cassidy, Burke bowed +gallantly to her lithe back, and blew a kiss from his thick +fingertips, in mocking reverence for her as an artist in her way. +Then, he seated himself, pressed the desk call-button, and, when +he had learned that Edward Gilder was arrived, ordered that the +magnate and the District Attorney be admitted, and that the son, +also, be sent up from his cell. + +"It's a bad business, sir," Burke said, with hearty sympathy, to +the shaken father, after the formal greetings that followed the +entrance of the two men. "It's a very bad business." + +"What does he say?" Gilder questioned. There was something +pitiful in the distress of this man, usually so strong and so +certain of his course. Now, he was hesitant in his movements, +and his mellow voice came more weakly than its wont. There was a +pathetic pleading in the dulled eyes with which he regarded the +Inspector. + +"Nothing!" Burke answered. "That's why I sent for you. I +suppose Mr. Demarest has made the situation plain to you." + +Gilder nodded, his face miserable. + +"Yes," he has explained it to me," he said in a lifeless voice. +"It's a terrible position for my boy. But you'll release him at +once, won't you?" Though he strove to put confidence into his +words, his painful doubt was manifest. + +"I can't," Burke replied, reluctantly, but bluntly. "You ought +not to expect it, Mr. Gilder." + +"But," came the protest, delivered with much more spirit, "you +know very well that he didn't do it!" + +Burke shook his head emphatically in denial of the allegation. + +"I don't know anything about it--yet," he contradicted. + +The face of the magnate went white with fear. + +"Inspector," he cried brokenly, "you--don't mean--" + +Burke answered with entire candor. + +"I mean, Mr. Gilder, that you've got to make him talk. That's +what I want you to do, for all our sakes. Will you?" + +"I'll do my best," the unhappy man replied, forlornly. + +A minute later, Dick, in charge of an officer, was brought into +the room. He was pale, a little disheveled from his hours in a +cell. He still wore his evening clothes of the night before. +His face showed clearly the deepened lines, graven by the +suffering to which he had been subjected, but there was no +weakness in his expression. Instead, a new force that love and +sorrow had brought out in his character was plainly visible. The +strength of his nature was springing to full life under the +stimulus of the ordeal through which he was passing. + +The father went forward quickly, and caught Dick's hands in a +mighty grip. + +"My boy!" he murmured, huskily. Then, he made a great effort, +and controlled his emotion to some extent. "The Inspector tells +me," he went on, "that you've refused to talk--to answer his +questions." + +Dick, too, winced under the pain of this meeting with his father +in a situation so sinister. But he was, to some degree, +apathetic from over-much misery. Now, in reply to his father's +words, he only nodded a quiet assent. + +"That wasn't wise under the circumstances," the father +remonstrated hurriedly. "However, now, Demarest and I are here +to protect your interests, so that you can talk freely." He went +on with a little catch of anxiety in his voice. "Now, Dick, tell +us! Who killed that man? We must know. Tell me." + +Burke broke in impatiently, with his blustering fashion of +address. + +"Where did you get----?" + +But Demarest raised a restraining hand. + +"Wait, please!" he admonished the Inspector. "You wait a bit." +He went a step toward the young man. "Give the boy a chance," he +said, and his voice was very friendly as he went on speaking. +"Dick, I don't want to frighten you, but your position is really +a dangerous one. Your only chance is to speak with perfect +frankness. I pledge you my word, I'm telling the truth, Dick." +There was profound concern in the lawyer's thin face, and his +voice, trained to oratorical arts, was emotionally persuasive. +"Dick, my boy, I want you to forget that I'm the District +Attorney, and remember only that I'm an old friend of yours, and +of your father's, who is trying very hard to help you. Surely, +you can trust me. Now, Dick, tell me: Who shot Griggs?" + +There came a long pause. Burke's face was avid with desire for +knowledge, with the keen expectancy of the hunter on the trail, +which was characteristic of him in his professional work. The +District Attorney himself was less vitally eager, but his +curiosity, as well as his wish to escape from an embarrassing +situation, showed openly on his alert countenance. The heavy +features of the father were twisting a little in nervous spasms, +for to him this hour was all anguish, since his only son was in +such horrible plight. Dick alone seemed almost tranquil, though +the outward calm was belied by the flickering of his eyelids and +the occasional involuntary movement of the lips. Finally he +spoke, in a cold, weary voice. + +"I shot Griggs," he said. + +Demarest realized subtly that his plea had failed, but he made ar +effort to resist the impression, to take the admission at its +face value. + +"Why?" he demanded. + +Dick's answer came in the like unmeaning tones, and as wearily. + +"Because I thought he was a burglar." + +The District Attorney was beginning to feel his professional +pride aroused against this young man who so flagrantly repelled +his attempts to learn the truth concerning the crime that had +been committed. He resorted to familiar artifices for entangling +one questioned. + +"Oh, I see!" he said, in a tone of conviction. "Now, let's go +back a little. Burke says you told him last night that you had +persuaded your wife to come over to the house, and join you +there. Is that right?" + +"Yes." The monosyllable was uttered indifferently. "And, +while the two of you were talking," Demarest continued in a +matter-of-fact manner. He did not conclude the sentence, but +asked instead: "Now, tell me, Dick, just what did happen, won't +you?" + +There was no reply; and, after a little interval, the lawyer +resumed his questioning. + +"Did this burglar come into the room?" + +Dick nodded an assent. + +"And he attacked you?" + +There came another nod of affirmation. + +"And there was a struggle?" + +"Yes," Dick said, and now there was resolution in his answer. + +"And you shot him?" Demarest asked, smoothly. + +"Yes," the young man said again. + +"Then," the lawyer countered on the instant, "where did you get +the revolver?" + +Dick started to answer without thought: + +"Why, I grabbed it----" Then, the significance of this crashed on +his consciousness, and he checked the words trembling on his +lips. His eyes, which had been downcast, lifted and glared on +the questioner. "So," he said with swift hostility in his voice, +"so, you're trying to trap me, too!" He shrugged his shoulders in +a way he had learned abroad. "You! And you talk of friendship. +I want none of such friendship." + +Demarest, greatly disconcerted, was skilled, nevertheless, in +dissembling, and he hid his chagrin perfectly. There was only +reproach in his voice as he answered stoutly: + +"I am your friend, Dick." + +But Burke would be no longer restrained. He had listened with +increasing impatience to the diplomatic efforts of the District +Attorney, which had ended in total rout. Now, he insisted on +employing his own more drastic, and, as he believed, more +efficacious, methods. He stood up, and spoke in his most +threatening manner. + +"You don't want to take us for fools, young man," he said, and +his big tones rumbled harshly through the room. "If you shot +Griggs in mistake for a burglar, why did you try to hide the +fact? Why did you pretend to me that you and your wife were +alone in the room--when you had *THAT there with you, eh? Why +didn't you call for help? Why didn't you call for the police, as +any honest man would naturally under such circumstances?" + +The arraignment was severely logical. Dick showed his +appreciation of the justice of it in the whitening of his face, +nor did he try to answer the charges thus hurled at him. + +The father, too, appreciated the gravity of the situation. His +face was working, as if toward tears. + +"We're trying to save you," he pleaded, tremulously. + +Burke persisted in his vehement system of attack. Now, he again +brought out the weapon that had done Eddie Griggs to death. + +"Where'd you get this gun?" he shouted. + +Dick held his tranquil pose. + +"I won't talk any more," he answered, simply. "I must see my +wife first." His voice became more aggressive. "I want to know +what you've done to her." + +Burke seized on this opening. + +"Did she kill Griggs?" he questioned, roughly. + +For once, Dick was startled out of his calm. + +"No, no!" he cried, desperately. + +Burke followed up his advantage. + +"Then, who did?" he demanded, sharply. "Who did?" + +Now, however, the young man had regained his self-control. He +answered very quietly, but with an air of finality. + +"I won't say any more until I've talked with a lawyer whom I can +trust." He shot a vindictive glance toward Demarest. + +The father intervened with a piteous eagerness. + +"Dick, if you know who killed this man, you must speak to protect +yourself." + +Burke's voice came viciously. + +"The gun was found on you. Don't forget that." + +"You don't seem to realize the position you're in," the father +insisted, despairingly. "Think of me, Dick, my boy. If you +won't speak for your own sake, do it for mine." + +The face of the young man softened as he met his father's +beseeching eyes. + +"I'm sorry, Dad," he said, very gently. "But I--well, I can't!" + +Again, Burke interposed. His busy brain was working out a new +scheme for solving this irritating problem. + +"I'm going to give him a little more time to think things over," +he said, curtly. He went back to his chair. "Perhaps he'll get +to understand the importance of what we've been saying pretty +soon." He scowled at Dick. "Now, young man," he went on briskly, +"you want to do a lot of quick thinking, and a lot of honest +thinking, and, when you're ready to tell the truth, let me know." + +He pressed the button on his desk, and, as the doorman appeared, +addressed that functionary. + +"Dan, have one of the men take him back. You wait outside." + +Dick, however, did not move. His voice came with a note of +determination. + +"I want to know about my wife. Where is she?" + +Burke disregarded the question as completely as if it had not +been uttered, and went on speaking to the doorman with a +suggestion in his words that was effective. + +"He's not to speak to any one, you understand." Then he +condescended to give his attention to the prisoner. "You'll know +all about your wife, young man, when you make up your mind to +tell me the truth." + +Dick gave no heed to the Inspector's statement. His eyes were +fixed on his father, and there was a great tenderness in their +depths. And he spoke very softly: + +"Dad, I'm sorry!" + +The father's gaze met the son's, and the eyes of the two locked. +There was no other word spoken. Dick turned, and followed his +custodian out of the office in silence. Even after the shutting +of the door behind the prisoner, the pause endured for some +moments. + +Then, at last, Burke spoke to the magnate. + +"You see, Mr. Gilder, what we're up against. I can't let him +go--yet!" + +The father strode across the room in a sudden access of rage. + +"He's thinking of that woman," he cried out, in a loud voice. +"He's trying to shield her." + +"He's a loyal kid, at that," Burke commented, with a grudging +admiration. "I'll say that much for him." His expression grew +morose, as again he pressed the button on his desk. "And now," +he vouchsafed, "I'll show you the difference." Then, as the +doorman reappeared, he gave his order: "Dan, have the Turner +woman brought up." He regarded the two men with his bristling +brows pulled down in a scowl. "I'll have to try a different game +with her," he said, thoughtfully. "She sure is one clever little +dame. But, if she didn't do it herself, she knows who did, all +right." Again, Burke's voice took on its savage note. "And some +one's got to pay for killing Griggs. I don't have to explain why +to Mr. Demarest, but to you, Mr. Gilder. You see, it's this way: +The very foundations of the work done by this department rest on +the use of crooks, who are willing to betray their pals for coin. +I told you a bit about it last night. Now, you understand, if +Griggs's murder goes unpunished, it'll put the fear of God into +the heart of every stool-pigeon we employ. And then where'd we +be? Tell me that!" + +The Inspector next called his stenographer, and gave explicit +directions. At the back of the room, behind the desk, were three +large windows, which opened on a corridor, and across this was a +tier of cells. The stenographer was to take his seat in this +corridor, just outside one of the windows. Over the windows, the +shades were drawn, so that he would remain invisible to any one +within the office, while yet easily able to overhear every word +spoken in the room. + +When he had completed his instructions to the stenographer, Burke +turned to Gilder and Demarest. + +"Now, this time," he said energetically, "I'll be the one to do +the talking. And get this: Whatever you hear me say, don't you +be surprised. Remember, we're dealing with crooks, and, when +you're dealing with crooks, you have to use crooked ways." + +There was a brief period of silence. Then, the door opened, and +Mary Turner entered the office. She walked slowly forward, +moving with the smooth strength and grace that were the proof of +perfect health and of perfect poise, the correlation of mind and +body in exactness. Her form, clearly revealed by the clinging +evening dress, was a curving group of graces. The beauty of her +face was enhanced, rather than lessened, by the pallor of it, for +the fading of the richer colors gave to the fine features an +expression more spiritual, made plainer the underlying qualities +that her accustomed brilliance might half-conceal. She paid +absolutely no attention to the other two in the room, but went +straight to the desk, and there halted, gazing with her softly +penetrant eyes of deepest violet into the face of the Inspector. + +Under that intent scrutiny, Burke felt a challenge, set himself +to match craft with craft. He was not likely to undervalue the +wits of one who had so often flouted him, who, even now, had +placed him in a preposterous predicament by this entanglement +over the death of a spy. But he was resolved to use his best +skill to disarm her sophistication. His large voice was +modulated to kindliness as he spoke in a casual manner. + +"I just sent for you to tell you that you're free." + +Mary regarded the speaker with an impenetrable expression. Her +tones as she spoke were quite as matter-of-fact as his own had +been. In them was no wonder, no exultation. + +"Then, I can go," she said, simply. + +"Sure, you can go," Burke replied, amiably. + +Without any delay, yet without any haste, Mary glanced toward +Gilder and Demarest, who were watching the scene closely. Her +eyes were somehow appraising, but altogether indifferent. Then, +she went toward the outer door of the office, still with that +almost lackadaisical air. + +Burke waited rather impatiently until she had nearly reached the +door before he shot his bolt, with a fine assumption of +carelessness in the announcement. + +"Garson has confessed!" + +Mary, who readily enough had already guessed the essential +hypocrisy of all this play, turned and confronted the Inspector, +and answered without the least trace of fear, but with the +firmness of knowledge: + +"Oh, no, he hasn't!" + +Her attitude exasperated Burke. His voice roared out wrathfully. + +"What's the reason he hasn't?" + +The music in the tones of the answer was a vocal rebuke. + +"Because he didn't do it." She stated the fact as one without a +hint of any contradictory possibility. + +"Well, he says he did it!" Burke vociferated, still more loudly. + +Mary, in her turn, resorted to a bit of finesse, in order to +learn whether or not Garson had been arrested. She spoke with a +trace of indignation. + +"But how could he have done it, when he went----" she began. + +The Inspector fell a victim to her superior craft. His question +came eagerly. + +"Where did he go?" + +Mary smiled for the first time since she had been in the room, +and in that smile the Inspector realized his defeat in the first +passage of this game of intrigue between them. + +"You ought to know," she said, sedately, "since you have arrested +him, and he has confessed." + +Demarest put up a hand to conceal his smile over the police +official's chagrin. Gilder, staring always at this woman who had +come to be his Nemesis, was marveling over the beauty and verve +of the one so hating him as to plan the ruin of his life and his +son's. + +Burke was frantic over being worsted thus. To gain a diversion, +he reverted to his familiar bullying tactics. His question burst +raspingly. It was a question that had come to be constant within +his brain during the last few hours, one that obsessed him, that +fretted him sorely, almost beyond endurance. + +"Who shot Griggs?" he shouted. + +Mary rested serene in the presence of this violence. Her answer +capped the climax of the officer's exasperation. + +"My husband shot a burglar," she said, languidly. And then her +insolence reached its culmination in a query of her own: "Was his +name Griggs?" It was done with splendid art, with a splendid +mastery of her own emotions, for, even as she spoke the words, +she was remembering those shuddering seconds when she had stood, +only a few hours ago, gazing down at the inert bulk that had been +a man. + +Burke betook himself to another form of attack. + +"Oh, you know better than that," he declared, truculently. "You +see, we've traced the Maxim silencer. Garson himself bought it up +in Hartford." + +For the first time, Mary was caught off her guard. + +"But he told me----" she began, then became aware of her +indiscretion, and checked herself. + +Burke seized on her lapse with avidity. + +"What did he tell you?" he questioned, eagerly. + +Now, Mary had regained her self-command, and she spoke calmly. + +"He told me," she said, without a particle of hesitation, "that +he had never seen one. Surely, if he had had anything of the +sort, he would have shown it to me then." + +"Probably he did, too!" Burke rejoined, without the least +suspicion that his surly utterance touched the truth exactly. +"Now, see here," he went on, trying to make his voice affable, +though with small success, for he was excessively irritated by +these repeated failures; "I can make it a lot easier for you if +you'll talk. Come on, now! Who killed Griggs?" + +Mary cast off pretense finally, and spoke malignantly. + +"That's for you to find out," she said, sneering. + +Burke pressed the button on the desk, and, when the doorman +appeared, ordered that the prisoner be returned to her cell. + +But Mary stood rebellious, and spoke with a resumption of her +cynical scorn. + +"I suppose," she said, with a glance of contempt toward Demarest, +"that it's useless for me to claim my constitutional rights, and +demand to see a lawyer?" + +Burke, too, had cast off pretense at last. + +"Yes," he agreed, with an evil smirk, "you've guessed it right, +the first time." + +Mary spoke to the District Attorney. + +"I believe," she said, with a new dignity of bearing, "that such +is my constitutional right, is it not, Mr. Demarest?" + +The lawyer sought no evasion of the issue. For that matter, he +was coming to have an increasing respect, even admiration, for +this young woman, who endured insult and ignominy with a spirit +so sturdy, and met strategem with other strategem better devised. +So, now, he made his answer with frank honesty. + +"It is your constitutional right, Miss Turner." + +Mary turned her clear eyes on the Inspector, and awaited from +that official a reply that was not forthcoming. Truth to tell, +Burke was far from comfortable under that survey. + +"Well, Inspector?" she inquired, at last. + +Burke took refuge, as his wont was when too hard pressed, in a +mighty bellow. + +"The Constitution don't go here!" It was the best he could do, +and it shamed him, for he knew its weakness. Again, wrath surged +in him, and it surged high. He welcomed the advent of Cassidy, +who came hurrying in with a grin of satisfaction on his stolid +face. + +"Say, Chief," the detective said with animation, in response to +Burke's glance of inquiry, "we've got Garson." + +Mary's face fell, though the change of expression was almost +imperceptible. Only Demarest, a student of much experience, +observed the fleeting display of repressed emotion. When the +Inspector took thought to look at her, she was as impassive as +before. Yet, he was minded to try another ruse in his desire to +defeat the intelligence of this woman. To this end, he asked +Gilder and the District Attorney to withdraw, while he should +have a private conversation with the prisoner. As she listened to +his request, Mary smiled again in sphinx-like fashion, and there +was still on her lips an expression that caused the official a +pang of doubt, when, at last, the two were left alone together, +and he darted a surreptitious glance toward her. Nevertheless, +he pressed on his device valiantly. + +"Now," he said, with a marked softening of manner, "I'm going to +be your friend." + +"Are you?" Mary's tone was non-committal. + +"Yes," Burke declared, heartily. "And I mean it! Give up the +truth about young Gilder. I know he shot Griggs, of course. But +I'm not taking any stock in that burglar story--not a little bit! +No court would, either. What was really back of the killing?" +Burke's eyes narrowed cunningly. "Was he jealous of Griggs? +Well, that's what he might do then. He's always been a worthless +young cub. A rotten deal like this would be about his gait, I +guess.... Tell me, now: Why did he shoot Eddie Griggs?" + +There was coarseness a-plenty in the Inspector's pretense, but it +possessed a solitary fundamental virtue: it played on the heart +of the woman whom he questioned, aroused it to wrath in defense +of her mate. In a second, all poise fled from this girl whose +soul was blossoming in the blest realization that a man loved her +purely, unselfishly. Her words came stumblingly in their haste. +Her eyes were near to black in their anger. + +"He didn't kill him! He didn't kill him!" she fairly hissed. +"Why, he's the most wonderful man in the world. You shan't hurt +him! Nobody shall hurt him! I'll fight to the end of my life for +Dick Gilder!" + +Burke was beaming joyously. At last--a long last! --his finesse +had won the victory over this woman's subtleties. + +"Well, that's just what I thought," he said, with smug content. +"And now, then, who did shoot Griggs? We've got every one of the +gang. They're all crooks. See here," he went on, with a sudden +change to the respectful in his manner, "why don't you start +fresh? I'll give you every chance in the world. I'm dead on the +level with you this time." + +But he was too late. By now, Mary had herself well in hand +again, vastly ashamed of the short period of self-betrayal caused +by the official's artifice against her heart. As she listened to +the Inspector's assurances, the mocking expression of her face +was not encouraging to that astute individual, but he persevered +manfully. + +"Just you wait," he went on cheerfully, "and I'll prove to you +that I'm on the level about this, that I'm really your friend.... +There was a letter came for you to your apartment. My men +brought it down to me. I've read it. Here it is. I'll read it +to you!" + +He picked up an envelope, which had been lying on the desk, and +drew out the single sheet of paper it contained. Mary watched +him, wondering much more than her expression revealed over this +new development. Then, as she listened, quick interest touched +her features to a new life. In her eyes leaped emotions to make +or mar a life. + +This was the letter: + +"I can't go without telling you how sorry I am. There won't +never be a time that I won't remember it was me got you sent up, +that you did time in my place. I ain't going to forgive myself +ever, and I swear I'm going straight always. + "Your true friend, "HELEN +MORRIS." + +For once, Burke showed a certain delicacy. When he had finished +the reading, he said nothing for a long minute--only, sat with +his cunning eyes on the face of the woman who was immobile there +before him. And, as he looked on her in her slender elegance of +form and gentlewomanly loveliness of face, a loveliness +intelligent and refined beyond that of most women, he felt borne +in on his consciousness the fact that here was one to be +respected. He fought against the impression. It was to him +preposterous, for she was one of that underworld against which he +was ruthlessly at war. Yet, he could not altogether overcome his +instinct toward a half-reverent admiration.... And, as the letter +proved, she had been innocent at the outset. She had been the +victim of a mistaken justice, made outcast by the law she had +never wronged.... His mood of respect was inevitable, since he +had some sensibilities, though they were coarsened, and they +sensed vaguely the maelstrom of emotions that now swirled in the +girl's breast. + +To Mary Turner, this was the wonderful hour. In it, the +vindication of her innocence was made complete. The story was +there recorded in black and white on the page written by Helen +Morris. It mattered little--or infinitely much!--that it came +too late. She had gained her evil place in the world, was a +notorious woman in fact, was even now a prisoner under suspicion +of murder. Nevertheless, she felt a thrill of ecstasy over this +written document--which it had never occurred to her to wrest +from the girl at the time of the oral confession. Now that it had +been proffered, the value of it loomed above almost all things +else in the world. It proclaimed undeniably the wrong under +which she had suffered. She was not the thief the court had +adjudged her. Now, there's nobody here but just you and me. Come +on, now--put me wise!" + +Mary was again the resourceful woman who was glad to pit her +brain against the contriving of those who fought her. So, at +this moment, she seemed pliant to the will of the man who urged +her thus cunningly. Her quick glance around the office was of a +sort to delude the Inspector into a belief that she was yielding +to his lure. + +"Are you sure no one will ever know?" she asked, timorously. + +"Nobody but you and me," Burke declared, all agog with +anticipation of victory at last. "I give you my word!" + +Mary met the gaze of the Inspector fully. In the same instant, +she flashed on him a smile that was dazzling, the smile of a +woman triumphant in her mastery of the situation. Her face was +radiant, luminous with honest mirth. There was something simple +and genuine in her beauty that thrilled the man before her, the +man trying so vindictively to trap her to her own undoing. For +all his grossness, Burke was of shrewd perceptions, and +somewhere, half-submerged under the sordid nature of his calling, +was a love of things esthetic, a responsiveness to the appeals of +beauty. Now, as his glance searched the face of the girl who was +bubbling with mirth, he experienced an odd warming of his heart +under the spell of her loveliness--a loveliness wholly feminine, +pervasive, wholesome. But, too, his soul shook in a premonition +of catastrophe, for there was mischief in the beaming eyes of +softest violet. There was a demon of mockery playing in the +curves of the scarlet lips, as she smiled so winsomely. + +All his apprehensions were verified by her utterance. It came in +a most casual voice, despite the dancing delight in her face. +The tones were drawled in the matter-of-fact fashion of statement +that leads a listener to answer without heed to the exact import +of the question, unless very alert, indeed.... This is what she +said in that so-casual voice: + +"I'm not speaking loud enough, am I, stenographer?" + +And that industrious writer of shorthand notes, absorbed in his +task, answered instantly from his hidden place in the corridor. + +"No, ma'am, not quite." + +Mary laughed aloud, while Burke sat dumfounded. She rose swiftly, +and went to the nearest window, and with a pull at the cord sent +the shade flying upward. For seconds, there was revealed the busy +stenographer, bent over his pad. Then, the noise of the +ascending shade, which had been hammering on his consciousness, +penetrated, and he looked up. Realization came, as he beheld the +woman laughing at him through the window. Consternation beset +him. He knew that, somehow, he had bungled fatally. A groan of +distress burst from him, and he fled the place in ignominious +rout. + +There was another whose spirit was equally desirous of +flight--Burke! Yet once again, he was beaten at his own game, his +cunning made of no avail against the clever interpretation of +this woman whom he assailed. He had no defense to offer. He did +not care to meet her gaze just then, since he was learning to +respect her as one wronged, where he had regarded her hitherto +merely as of the flotsam and jetsam of the criminal class. So, he +avoided her eyes as she stood by the window regarding him +quizzically. In a panic of confusion quite new to him in his +years of experience, he pressed the button on his desk. + +The doorman appeared with that automatic precision which made him +valuable in his position, and the Inspector hailed the ready +presence with a feeling of profound relief. + +"Dan, take her back!" he said, feebly. + +Mary was smiling still as she went to the door. But she could +not resist the impulse toward retort. + +"Oh, yes," she said, suavely; "you were right on the level with +me, weren't you, Burke? Nobody here but you and me!" The words +came in a sing-song of mockery. + +The Inspector had nothing in the way of answer--only, sat +motionless until the door closed after her. Then, left alone, his +sole audible comment was a single word--one he had learned, +perhaps, from Aggie Lynch: + +"Hell!" + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. THE CONFESSION. + +Burke was a persistent man, and he had set himself to getting the +murderer of Griggs. Foiled in his efforts thus far by the +opposition of Mary, he now gave himself over to careful thought +as to a means of procedure that might offer the best +possibilities of success. His beetling brows were drawn in a +frown of perplexity for a full quarter of an hour, while he +rested motionless in his chair, an unlighted cigar between his +lips. Then, at last, his face cleared; a grin of satisfaction +twisted his heavy mouth, and he smote the desk joyously. + +"It's a cinch it'll get 'im!" he rumbled, in glee. + +He pressed the button-call, and ordered the doorman to send in +Cassidy. When the detective appeared a minute later, he went +directly to his subject with a straightforward energy usual to +him in his work. + +"Does Garson know we've arrested the Turner girl and young +Gilder?" And, when he had been answered in the negative: "Or +that we've got Chicago Red and Dacey here?" + +"No," Cassidy replied. "He hasn't been spoken to since we made +the collar.... He seems worried," the detective volunteered. + +Burke's broad jowls shook from the force with which he snapped +his jaws together. + +"He'll be more worried before I get through with him!" he +growled. He regarded Cassidy speculatively. "Do you remember the +Third Degree Inspector Burns worked on McGloin? Well," he went +on, as the detective nodded assent, "that's what I'm going to do +to Garson. He's got imagination, that crook! The things he don't +know about are the things he's afraid of. After he gets in here, +I want you to take his pals one after the other, and lock them up +in the cells there in the corridor. The shades on the corridor +windows here will be up, and Garson will see them taken in. The +fact of their being there will set his imagination to working +overtime, all right." + +Burke reflected for a moment, and then issued the final +directions for the execution of his latest plot. + +"When you get the buzzer from me, you have young Gilder and the +Turner woman sent in. Then, after a while, you'll get another +buzzer. When you hear that, come right in here, and tell me that +the gang has squealed. I'll do the rest. Bring Garson here in +just five minutes.... Tell Dan to come in." + +As the detective went out, the doorman promptly entered, and +thereat Burke proceeded with the further instructions necessary +to the carrying out of his scheme. + +"Take the chairs out of the office, Dan," he directed, "except +mine and one other--that one!" He indicated a chair standing a +little way from one end of his desk. "Now, have all the shades +up." He chuckled as he added: "That Turner woman saved you the +trouble with one." + +As the doorman went out after having fulfilled these commands, +the Inspector lighted the cigar which he had retained still in +his mouth, and then seated himself in the chair that was set +partly facing the windows opening on the corridor. He smiled +with anticipatory triumph as he made sure that the whole length +of the corridor with the barred doors of the cells was plainly +visible to one sitting thus. With a final glance about to make +certain that all was in readiness, he returned to his chair, and, +when the door opened, he was, to all appearances, busily engaged +in writing. + +"Here's Garson, Chief," Cassidy announced. + +"Hello, Joe!" Burke exclaimed, with a seeming of careless +friendliness, as the detective went out, and Garson stood +motionless just within the door. + +"Sit down, a minute, won't you?" the Inspector continued, +affably. He did not look up from his writing as he spoke. + +Garson's usually strong face was showing weak with fear. His +chin, which was commonly very firm, moved a little from uneasy +twitchings of his lips. His clear eyes were slightly clouded to +a look of apprehension, as they roved the room furtively. He +made no answer to the Inspector's greeting for a few moments, but +remained standing without movement, poised alertly as if sensing +some concealed peril. Finally, however, his anxiety found +expression in words. His tone was pregnant with alarm, though he +strove to make it merely complaining. + +"Say, what am I arrested for?" he protested. "I ain't done +anything." + +Even now, Burke did not look up, and his pen continued to hurry +over the paper. + +"Who told you you were arrested?" he remarked, cheerfully, in +his blandest voice. + +Garson uttered an ejaculation of disgust. + +"I don't have to be told," he retorted, huffily. "I'm no college +president, but, when a cop grabs me and brings me down here, I've +got sense enough to know I'm pinched." + +The Inspector did not interrupt his work, but answered with the +utmost good nature. + +"Is that what they did to you, Joe? I'll have to speak to +Cassidy about that. Now, just you sit down, Joe, won't you? I +want to have a little talk with you. I'll be through here in a +second." He went on with the writing. + +Garson moved forward slightly, to the single chair near the end +of the desk, and there seated himself mechanically. His face thus +was turned toward the windows that gave on the corridor, and his +eyes grew yet more clouded as they rested on the grim doors of +the cells. He writhed in his chair, and his gaze jumped from the +cells to the impassive figure of the man at the desk. Now, the +forger's nervousness increased momently it swept beyond his +control. Of a sudden, he sprang up, and stepped close to the +Inspector. + +"Say," he said, in a husky voice, "I'd like--I'd like to have a +lawyer." + +"What's the matter with you, Joe?" the Inspector returned, +always with that imperturbable air, and without raising his head +from the work that so engrossed his attention. "You know, you're +not arrested, Joe. Maybe, you never will be. Now, for the love +of Mike, keep still, and let me finish this letter." + +Slowly, very hesitatingly, Garson went back to the chair, and +sank down on it in a limp attitude of dejection wholly unlike his +customary postures of strength. Again, his fear-fascinated eyes +went to the row of cells that stood silently menacing on the +other side of the corridor beyond the windows. His face was +tinged with gray. A physical sickness was creeping stealthily on +him, as his thoughts held insistently to the catastrophe that +threatened. His intelligence was too keen to permit a belief +that Burke's manner of almost fulsome kindliness hid nothing +ominous--ominous with a hint of death for him in return for the +death he had wrought. + +Then, terror crystallized. His eyes were caught by a figure, the +figure of Cassidy, advancing there in the corridor. And with the +detective went a man whose gait was slinking, craven. A +cell-door swung open, the prisoner stepped within, the door +clanged to, the bolts shot into their sockets noisily. + +Garson sat huddled, stricken--for he had recognized the victim +thrust into the cell before his eyes.... It was Dacey, one of his +own cronies in crime--Dacey, who, the night before, had seen him +kill Eddie Griggs. There was something concretely sinister to +Garson in this fact of Dacey's presence there in the cell. + +Of a sudden, the forger cried out raucously: + +"Say, Inspector, if you've got anything on me, I--I would----" +The cry dropped into unintelligible mumblings. + +Burke retained his manner of serene indifference to the other's +agitation. Still, his pen hurried over the paper; and he did not +trouble to look up as he expostulated, half-banteringly. + +"Now, now! What's the matter with you, Joe? I told you that I +wanted to ask you a few questions. That's all." + +Garson leaped to his feet again resolutely, then faltered, and +ultimately fell back into the chair with a groan, as the +Inspector went on speaking. + +"Now, Joe, sit down, and keep still, I tell you, and let me get +through with this job. It won't take me more than a minute +more." + +But, after a moment, Garson's emotion forced hint to another +appeal. + +"Say, Inspector----" he began. + +Then, abruptly, he was silent, his mouth still open to utter the +words that were now held back by horror. Again, he saw the +detective walking forward, out there in the corridor. And with +him, as before, was a second figure, which advanced slinkingly. +Garson leaned forward in his chair, his head thrust out, watching +in rigid suspense. Again, even as before, the door swung wide, +the prisoner slipped within, the door clanged shut, the bolts +clattered noisily into their sockets. + +And, in the watcher, terror grew--for he had seen the face of +Chicago Red, another of his pals, another who had seen him kill +Griggs. For a time that seemed to him long ages of misery, +Garson sat staring dazedly at the closed doors of the tier of +cells. The peril about him was growing--growing, and it was a +deadly peril! At last, he licked his dry lips, and his voice +broke in a throaty whisper. + +"Say, Inspector, if you've got anything against me, why----" + +"Who said there was anything against you, Joe?" Burke rejoined, +in a voice that was genially chiding. "What's the matter with you +to-day, Joe? You seem nervous." Still, the official kept on +with his writing. + +"No, I ain't nervous," Garson cried, with a feverish effort to +appear calm. "Why, what makes you think that? But this ain't +exactly the place you'd pick out as a pleasant one to spend the +morning." He was silent for a little, trying with all his +strength to regain his self-control, but with small success. + +"Could I ask you a question?" he demanded finally, with more +firmness in his voice. + +"What is it?" Burke said. + +Garson cleared his throat with difficulty, and his voice was +thick. + +"I was just going to say--" he began. Then, he hesitated, and +was silent, at a loss. + +"Well, what is it, Joe?" the Inspector prompted. + +"I was going to say--that is--well, if it's anything about Mary +Turner, I don't know a thing--not a thing!" + +It was the thought of possible peril to her that now, in an +instant, had caused him to forget his own mortal danger. Where, +before, he had been shuddering over thoughts of the death-house +cell that might be awaiting him, he now had concern only for the +safety of the woman he cherished. And there was a great grief in +his soul; for it was borne in on him that his own folly, in +disobedience to her command, had led up to the murder of +Griggs--and to all that might come of the crime. How could he +ever make amends to her? At least, he could be brave here, for +her sake, if not for his own. + +Burke believed that his opportunity was come. + +"What made you think I wanted to know anything about her?" he +questioned. + +"Oh, I can't exactly say," Garson replied carelessly, in an +attempt to dissimulate his agitation. "You were up to the house, +you know. Don't you see?" + +"I did want to see her, that's a fact," Burke admitted. He kept +on with his writing, his head bent low. "But she wasn't at her +flat. I guess she must have taken my advice, and skipped out. +Clever girl, that!" + +Garson contrived to present an aspect of comparative +indifference. + +"Yes," he agreed. "I was thinking of going West, myself," he +ventured. + +"Oh, were you?" Burke exclaimed; and, now, there was a new note +in his voice. His hand slipped into the pocket where was the +pistol, and clutched it. He stared at Garson fiercely, and spoke +with a rush of the words: + +"Why did you kill Eddie Griggs?" + +"I didn't kill him!" The reply was quick enough, but it came +weakly. Again, Garson was forced to wet his lips with a dry +tongue, and to swallow painfully. "I tell you, I didn't kill +him!" he repeated at last, with more force. + +Burke sneered his disbelief. + +"You killed him last night--with this!" he cried, viciously. On +the instant, the pistol leaped into view, pointed straight at +Garson. "Why?" the Inspector shouted. "Come on, now! Why?" + +"I didn't, I tell you!" Garson was growing stronger, since at +last the crisis was upon him. He got to his feet with lithe +swiftness of movement, and sprang close to the desk. He bent his +head forward challengingly, to meet the glare of his accuser's +eyes. There was no flinching in his own steely stare. His +nerves had ceased their jangling under the tautening of +necessity. + +"You did!" Burke vociferated. He put his whole will into the +assertion of guilt, to batter down the man's resistance. "You +did, I tell you! You did!" + +Garson leaned still further forward, until his face was almost +level with the Inspector's. His eyes were unclouded now, were +blazing. His voice came resonant in its denial. The entire pose +of him was intrepid, dauntless. + +"And I tell you, I didn't!" + +There passed many seconds, while the two men battled in silence, +will warring against will. ... In the end, it was the murderer +who triumphed. + +Suddenly, Burke dropped the pistol into his pocket, and lolled +back in his chair. His gaze fell away from the man confronting +him. In the same instant, the rigidity of Garson's form relaxed, +and he straightened slowly. A tide of secret joy swept through +him, as he realized his victory. But his outward expression +remained unchanged. + +"Oh, well," Burke exclaimed amiably, "I didn't really think you +did, but I wasn't sure, so I had to take a chance. You +understand, don't you, Joe?" + +"Sure, I understand," Garson replied, with an amiability equal to +the Inspector's own. + +Burke's manner continued very amicable as he went on speaking. + +"You see, Joe, anyhow, we've got the right party safe enough. +You can bet on that!" + +Garson resisted the lure. + +"If you don't want me----" he began suggestively; and he turned +toward the door to the outer hall. "Why, if you don't want me, +I'll--get along." + +"Oh, what's the hurry, Joe?" Burke retorted, with the effect of +stopping the other short. He pressed the buzzer as the agreed +signal to Cassidy. "Where did you say Mary Turner was last +night?" + +At the question, all Garson's fears for the woman rushed back on +him with appalling force. Of what avail his safety, if she were +still in peril? + +"I don't know where she was," he exclaimed, doubtfully. He +realized his blunder even as the words left his lips, and sought +to correct it as best he might. "Why, yes, I do, too," he went +on, as if assailed by sudden memory. "I dropped into her place +kind of late, and they said she'd gone to bed--headache, I +guess.... Yes, she was home, of course. She didn't go out of the +house, all night." His insistence on the point was of itself +suspicious, but eagerness to protect her stultified his wits. + +Burke sat grim and silent, offering no comment on the lie. + +"Know anything about young Gilder?" he demanded. "Happen to know +where he is now?" He arose and came around the desk, so that he +stood close to Garson, at whom he glowered. + +"Not a thing!" was the earnest answer. But the speaker's fear +rose swiftly, for the linking of these names was +significant--frightfully significant! + +The inner door opened, and Mary Turner entered the office. +Garson with difficulty suppressed the cry of distress that rose +to his lips. For a few moments, the silence was unbroken. Then, +presently, Burke, by a gesture, directed the girl to advance +toward the center of the room. As she obeyed, he himself went a +little toward the door, and, when it opened again, and Dick +Gilder appeared, he interposed to check the young man's rush +forward as his gaze fell on his bride, who stood regarding him +with sad eyes. + +Garson stared mutely at the burly man in uniform who held their +destinies in the hollow of a hand. His lips parted as if he were +about to speak. Then, he bade defiance to the impulse. He +deemed it safer for all that he should say nothing--now!... And +it is very easy to say a word too many. And that one may be a +word never to be unsaid--or gainsaid. + +Then, while still that curious, dynamic silence endured, Cassidy +came briskly into the office. By some magic of duty, he had +contrived to give his usually hebetudinous features an expression +of enthusiasm. + +"Say, Chief," the detective said rapidly, "they've squealed!" + +Burke regarded his aide with an air intolerably triumphant. His +voice came smug: + +"Squealed, eh?" His glance ran over Garson for a second, then +made its inquisition of Mary and of Dick Gilder. He did not give +a look to Cassidy as he put his question. "Do they tell the same +story?" And then, when the detective had answered in the +affirmative, he went on speaking in tones ponderous with +self-complacency; and, now, his eyes held sharply, craftily, on +the woman. + +"I was right then, after all--right, all the time! Good enough!" +Of a sudden, his voice boomed somberly. "Mary Turner, I want you +for the murder of----" + +Garson's rush halted the sentence. He had leaped forward. His +face was rigid. He broke on the Inspector's words with a gesture +of fury. His voice came in a hiss: + +"That's a damned lie!... I did it!" + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. ANGUISH AND BLISS. + +Joe Garson had shouted his confession without a second of +reflection. But the result must have been the same had he taken +years of thought. Between him and her as the victim of the law, +there could be no hesitation for choice. Indeed, just now, he +had no heed to his own fate. The prime necessity was to save +her, Mary, from the toils of the law that were closing around +her. For himself, in the days to come, there would be a ghastly +dread, but there would never be regret over the cost of saving +her. Perhaps, some other he might have let suffer in his +stead--not her! Even, had he been innocent, and she guilty of the +crime, he would still have taken the burden of it on his own +shoulders. He had saved her from the waters--he would save her +until the end, as far as the power in him might lie. It was thus +that, with the primitive directness of his reverential love for +the girl, he counted no sacrifice too great in her behalf. Joe +Garson was not a good man, at the world esteems goodness. On the +contrary, he was distinctly an evil one, a menace to the society +on which he preyed constantly. But his good qualities, if few, +were of the strongest fiber, rooted in the deeps of him. He +loathed treachery. His one guiltiness in this respect had been, +curiously enough, toward Mary herself, in the scheme of the +burglary, which she had forbidden. But, in the last analysis, +here his deceit had been designed to bring affluence to her. It +was his abhorrence of treachery among pals that had driven him to +the murder of the stool-pigeon in a fit of ungovernable passion. +He might have stayed his hand then, but for the gusty rage that +swept him on to the crime. None the less, had he spared the man, +his hatred of the betrayer would have been the same.... And the +other virtue of Joe Garson was the complement of this--his own +loyalty, a loyalty that made him forget self utterly where he +loved. The one woman who had ever filled his heart was Mary, and +for her his life were not too much to give. + +The suddenness of it all held Mary voiceless for long seconds. +She was frozen with horror of the event. + +When, at last, words came, they were a frantic prayer of protest. + +"No, Joe! No! Don't talk--don't talk!" + +Burke, immensely gratified, went nimbly to his chair, and thence +surveyed the agitated group with grisly pleasure. + +"Joe has talked," he said, significantly. + +Mary, shaken as she was by the fact of Garson's confession, +nevertheless retained her presence of mind sufficiently to resist +with all her strength. + +"He did it to protect me," she stated, earnestly. + +The Inspector disdained such futile argument. As the doorman +appeared in answer to the buzzer, he directed that the +stenographer be summoned at once. + +"We'll have the confession in due form," he remarked, gazing +pleasedly on the three before him. + +"He's not going to confess," Mary insisted, with spirit. + +But Burke was not in the least impressed. He disregarded her +completely, and spoke mechanically to Garson the formal warning +required by the law. + +"You are hereby cautioned that anything you say may be used +against you." Then, as the stenographer entered, he went on with +lively interest. "Now, Joe!" + +Yet once again, Mary protested, a little wildly. + +"Don't speak, Joe! Don't say a word till we can get a lawyer for +you!" + +The man met her pleading eyes steadily, and shook his head in +refusal. + +"It's no use, my girl," Burke broke in, harshly. "I told you I'd +get you. I'm going to try you and Garson, and the whole gang for +murder--yes, every one of you.... And you, Gilder," he continued, +lowering on the young man who had defied him so obstinately, +"you'll go to the House of Detention as a material witness." He +turned his gaze to Garson again, and spoke authoritatively: "Come +on now, Joe!" + +Garson went a step toward the desk, and spoke decisively. + +"If I come through, you'll let her go--and him?" he added as an +afterthought, with a nod toward Dick Gilder. + +"Oh, Joe, don't!" Mary cried, bitterly. "We'll spend every +dollar we can raise to save you!" + +"Now, it's no use," the Inspector complained. "You're only +wasting time. He's said that he did it. That's all there is to +it. Now that we're sure he's our man, he hasn't got a chance in +the world." + +"Well, how about it?" Garson demanded, savagely. "Do they go +clear, if I come through?" + +"We'll get the best lawyers in the country," Mary persisted, +desperately. "We'll save you, Joe--we'll save you!" + +Garson regarded the distraught girl with wistful eyes. But there +was no trace of yielding in his voice as he replied, though he +spoke very sorrowfully. + +"No, you can't help me," he said, simply. "My time has come, +Mary.... And I can save you a lot of trouble." + +"He's right there," Burke ejaculated. "We've got him cold. So, +what's the use of dragging you two into it?" + +"Then, they go clear?" Garson exclaimed, eagerly. "They ain't +even to be called as witnesses?" + +Burke nodded assent. + +"You're on!" he agreed. + +"Then, here goes!" Garson cried; and he looked expectantly toward +the stenographer. + +The strain of it all was sapping the will of the girl, who saw +the man she so greatly esteemed for his service to her and his +devotion about to condemn himself to death. She grew +half-hysterical. Her words came confusedly: + +"No, Joe! No, no, no!" + +Again, Garson shook his head in absolute refusal of her plea. + +"There's no other way out," he declared, wearily. "I'm going +through with it." He straightened a little, and again looked at +the stenographer. His voice came quietly, without any +tremulousnesss. + +"My name is Joe Garson." + +"Alias?" Burke suggested. + +"Alias nothing!" came the sharp retort. "Garson's my monaker. I +shot English Eddie, because he was a skunk, and a stool-pigeon, +and he got just what was coming to him." Vituperation beyond the +mere words beat in his voice now. + +Burke twisted uneasily in his chair. + +"Now, now!" he objected, severely. "We can't take a confession +like that." + +Garson shook his head--spoke with fiercer hatred. "because he was +a skunk, and a stool-pigeon," he repeated. "Have you got it?" +And then, as the stenographer nodded assent, he went on, less +violently: "I croaked him just as he was going to call the bulls +with a police-whistle. I used a gun with smokeless powder. It +had a Maxim silencer on it, so that it didn't make any noise." + +Garson paused, and the set despair of his features lightened a +little. Into his voice came a tone of exultation indescribably +ghastly. It was born of the eternal egotism of the criminal, +fattening vanity in gloating over his ingenuity for evil. +Garson, despite his two great virtues, had the vices of his +class. Now, he stared at Burke with a quizzical grin crooking +his lips. + +"Say," he exclaimed, "I'll bet it's the first time a guy was ever +croaked with one of them things! Ain't it?" + +The Inspector nodded affirmation. There was sincere admiration +in his expression, for he was ready at all times to respect the +personal abilities of the criminals against whom he waged +relentless war. + +"That's right, Joe!" he said, with perceptible enthusiasm. + +"Some class to that, eh?" Garson demanded, still with that +gruesome air of boasting. "I got the gun, and the Maxim-silencer +thing, off a fence in Boston," he explained. "Say, that thing +cost me sixty dollars, and it's worth every cent of the money.... +Why, they'll remember me as the first to spring one of them +things, won't they?" + +"They sure will, Joe!" the Inspector conceded. + +"Nobody knew I had it," Garson continued, dropping his braggart +manner abruptly. + +At the words, Mary started, and her lips moved as if she were +about to speak. + +Garson, intent on her always, though he seemed to look only at +Burke, observed the effect on her, and repeated his words +swiftly, with a warning emphasis that gave the girl pause. + +"Nobody knew I had it--nobody in the world!" he declared. "And +nobody had anything to do with the killing but me." + +Burke put a question that was troubling him much, concerning the +motive that lay behind the shooting of Griggs. + +"Was there any bad feeling between you and Eddie Griggs?" + +Garson's reply was explicit. + +"Never till that very minute. Then, I learned the truth about +what he'd framed up with you." The speaker's voice reverted to +its former fierceness in recollection of the treachery of one +whom he had trusted. + +"He was a stool-pigeon, and I hated his guts! That's all," he +concluded, with brutal candor. + +The Inspector moved restlessly in his chair. He had only +detestation for the slain man, yet there was something morbidly +distasteful in the thought that he himself had contrived the +situation which had resulted in the murder of his confederate. +It was only by an effort that he shook off the vague feeling of +guilt. + +"Nothing else to say?" he inquired. + +Garson reflected for a few seconds, then made a gesture of +negation. + +"Nothing else," he declared. "I croaked him, and I'm glad I done +it. He was a skunk. That's all, and it's enough. And it's all +true, so help me God!" + +The Inspector nodded dismissal to the stenographer, with an air +of relief. + +"That's all, Williams," he said, heavily. "He'll sign it as soon +as you've transcribed the notes." + +Then, as the stenographer left the room, Burke turned his gaze on +the woman, who stood there in a posture of complete dejection, +her white, anguished face downcast. There was triumph in the +Inspector's voice as he addressed her, for his professional pride +was full-fed by this victory over his foes. But there was, too, +an undertone of a feeling softer than pride, more generous, +something akin to real commiseration for this unhappy girl who +drooped before him, suffering so poignantly in the knowledge of +the fate that awaited the man who had saved her, who had loved +her so unselfishly + +"Young woman," Burke said briskly, "it's just like I told you. +You can't beat the law. Garson thought he could--and now----!" +He broke off, with a wave of his hand toward the man who had just +sentenced himself to death in the electric-chair. + +"That's right," Garson agreed, with somber intensity. His eyes +were grown clouded again now, and his voice dragged leaden. +"That's right, Mary," he repeated dully, after a little pause. +"You can't beat the law!" + +There followed a period of silence, in which great emotions were +vibrant from heart to heart. Garson was thinking of Mary, and, +with the thought, into his misery crept a little comfort. At +least, she would go free. That had been in the bargain with +Burke. And there was the boy, too. His eyes shot a single swift +glance toward Dick Gilder, and his satisfaction increased as he +noted the alert poise of the young man's body, the strained +expression of the strong face, the gaze of absorbed yearning with +which he regarded Mary. There could be no doubt concerning the +depth of the lad's love for the girl. Moreover, there were manly +qualities in him to work out all things needful for her +protection through life. Already, he had proved his devotion, +and that abundantly, his unswerving fidelity to her, and the +force within him that made these worthy in some measure of her. + +Garson felt no least pang of jealousy. Though he loved the woman +with the single love of his life, he had never, somehow, hoped +aught for himself. There was even something almost of the +paternal in the purity of his love, as if, indeed, by the fact of +restoring her to life he had taken on himself the responsibility +of a parent. He knew that the boy worshiped her, would do his +best for her, that this best would suffice for her happiness in +time. Garson, with the instinct of love, guessed that Mary had +in truth given her heart all unaware to the husband whom she had +first lured only for the lust of revenge. Garson nodded his head +in a melancholy satisfaction. His life was done: hers was just +beginning, now.... But she would remember him --oh, yes, always! +Mary was loyal. + +The man checked the trend of his thoughts by a mighty effort of +will. He must not grow maudlin here. He spoke again to Mary, +with a certain dignity. + +"No, you can't beat the law!" He hesitated a little, then went +on, with a certain curious embarrassment. "And this same old law +says a woman must stick to her man." + +The girl's eyes met his with passionate sorrow in their misty +deeps. Garson gave a significant glance toward Dick Gilder, then +his gaze returned to her. There was a smoldering despair in that +look. There were, as well, an entreaty and a command. + +"So," he went on, "you must go along with him, Mary.. . . +Won't you? It's the best thing to do." + +The girl could not answer. There was a clutch on her throat just +then, which would not relax at the call of her will. + +The tension of a moment grew, became pervasive. Burke, accustomed +as he was to scenes of dramatic violence, now experienced an +altogether unfamiliar thrill. As for Garson, once again the surge +of feeling threatened to overwhelm his self-control. He must not +break down! For Mary's sake, he must show himself stoical, quite +undisturbed in this supreme hour. + +Of a sudden, an inspiration came to him, a means to snap the +tension, to create a diversion wholly efficacious. He would turn +to his boasting again, would call upon his vanity, which he knew +well as his chief foible, and make it serve as the foil against +his love. He strove manfully to throw off the softer mood. In a +measure, at least, he won the fight--though always, under the +rush of this vaunting, there throbbed the anguish of his heart. + +"You want to cut out worrying about me," he counseled, bravely. +"Why, I ain't worrying any, myself--not a little bit! You see, +it's something new I've pulled off. Nobody ever put over +anything like it before." + +He faced Burke with a grin of gloating again. + +"I'll bet there'll be a lot of stuff in the newspapers about +this, and my picture, too, in most of 'em! What?" + +The man's manner imposed on Burke, though Mary felt the torment +that his vainglorying was meant to mask. + +"Say," Garson continued to the Inspector, "if the reporters want +any pictures of me, could I have some new ones taken? The one +you've got of me in the Gallery is over ten years old. I've +taken off my beard since then. Can I have a new one?" He put +the question with an eagerness that seemed all sincere. + +Burke answered with a fine feeling of generosity. + +"Sure, you can, Joe! I'll send you up to the Gallery right now." + +"Immense!" Garson cried, boisterously. He moved toward Dick +Gilder, walking with a faint suggestion of swagger to cover the +nervous tremor that had seized him. + +"So long, young fellow!" he exclaimed, and held out his hand. +"You've been on the square, and I guess you always will be." + +Dick had no scruple in clasping that extended hand very warmly in +his own. He had no feeling of repulsion against this man who had +committed a murder in his presence. Though he did not quite +understand the other's heart, his instinct as a lover taught him +much, so that he pitied profoundly--and respected, too. + +"We'll do what we can for you," he said, simply. + +"That's all right," Garson replied, with such carelessness of +manner as he could contrive. Then, at last, he turned to Mary. +This parting must be bitter, and he braced himself with all the +vigors of his will to combat the weakness that leaped from his +soul. + +As he came near, the girl could hold herself in leash no longer. +She threw herself on his breast. Her arms wreathed about his +neck. Great sobs racked her. + +"Oh, Joe, Joe!" The gasping cry was of utter despair. + +Garson's trembling hand patted the girl's shoulder very softly, a +caress of infinite tenderness. + +"That's all right!" he murmured, huskily. "That's all right, +Mary!" There was a short silence; and then he went on speaking, +more firmly. "You know, he'll look after you." + +He would have said more, but he could not. It seemed to him that +the sobs of the girl caught in his own throat. Yet, presently, he +strove once again, with every reserve of his strength; and, +finally, he so far mastered himself that he could speak calmly. +The words were uttered with a subtle renunciation that was this +man's religion. + +"Yes, he'll take care of you. Why, I'd like to see the two of +you with about three kiddies playing round the house." + +He looked up over the girl's shoulder, and beckoned with his head +to Dick, who came forward at the summons. + +"Take good care of her, won't you?" + +He disengaged himself gently from the girl's embrace, and set her +within the arms of her husband, where she rested quietly, as if +unable to fight longer against fate's decree. + +"Well, so long!" + +He dared not utter another word, but turned blindly, and went, +stumbling a little, toward the doorman, who had appeared in +answer to the Inspector's call. + +"To the Gallery," Burke ordered, curtly. + +Garson went on without ever a glance back.... His strength was at +an end. + + * * * * * + +There was a long silence in the room after Garson's passing. It +was broken, at last, by the Inspector, who got up from his chair, +and advanced toward the husband and wife. In his hand, he +carried a sheet of paper, roughly scrawled. As he stopped before +the two, and cleared his throat, Mary withdrew herself from +Dick's arms, and regarded the official with brooding eyes from +out her white face. Something strange in her enemy's expression +caught her attention, something that set new hopes alive within +her in a fashion wholly inexplicable, so that she waited with a +sudden, breathless eagerness. + +Burke extended the sheet of paper to the husband. + +"There's a document," he said gruffly. "It's a letter from one +Helen Morris, in which she sets forth the interesting fact that +she pulled off a theft in the Emporium, for which your Mrs. +Gilder here did time. You know, your father got your Mrs. Gilder +sent up for three years for that same job--which she didn't do! +That's why she had such a grudge against your father, and against +the law, too!" + +Burke chuckled, as the young man took the paper, wonderingly. + +"I don't know that I blame her much for that grudge, when all's +said and done.... You give that document to your father. It sets +her right. He's a just man according to his lights, your father. +He'll do all he can to make things right for her, now he knows." + +Once again, the Inspector paused to chuckle. + +"I guess she'll keep within the law from now on," he continued, +contentedly, "without getting a lawyer to tell her how.... Now, +you two listen. I've got to go out a minute. When I get back, I +don't want to find anybody here--not anybody! Do you get me?" + +He strode from the room, fearful lest further delay might involve +him in sentimental thanksgivings from one or the other, or +both--and Burke hated sentiment as something distinctly +unprofessional. + + * * * * * + +When the official was gone, the two stood staring mutely each at +the other through long seconds. What she read in the man's eyes +set the woman's heart to beating with a new delight. A bloom of +exquisite rose grew in the pallor of her cheeks. The misty light +in the violet eyes shone more radiant, yet more softly. The +crimson lips curved to strange tenderness.... What he read in her +eyes set the husband's pulses to bounding. He opened his arms in +an appeal that was a command. Mary went forward slowly, without +hesitation, in a bliss that forgot every sorrow for that blessed +moment, and cast herself on his breast. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Within the Law by Marvin Dana + |