Latest / Byways to Blessedness / Girl from Farris's-Edgar Rice Burroughs

Transcript

Girl from Farris's-Edgar Rice Burroughs · Byways to Blessedness

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter one of The Girl from Farists. This is a
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Recording by Joe Denoya Somerset, New Jersey, The Girl from
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Faris's but Edgar Rice Burroughs, Chapter one, Doherty makes a pinch.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Just what mister Doherty was doing in the alley back
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: of Farris's at two of the chill spring morning would
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: have puzzled those citizens of Chicago who knew mister Doherty best.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: To a casual observer, it might have appeared that mister
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Doherty was doing nothing more remarkable than leading against telephone pole,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: which in itself might have been easily explained had mister
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Dorugherty now been so palpably sober. But there are no
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: casual observers in the South Side Levee at two in
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: the morning. Those who are in any condition to observe
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: at all have the eyes of ferrets. This was not
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: the first of mister Dougherty's nocturnal visits to the vicinage
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: of Farris's. For almost a week, he had haunted the
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: neighborhood between midnight and dawn, for mister Doherty had determined
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: to get mister Ferris from the open doors of a
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: corner saloon. Came first of bechanal revelry, snatches of rebald song,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: horse laughter, the hysterical scream of a woman. But though
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: this place, too was Farris's, and the closing hour long past,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: mister Doherty deigned not to notice so minor an infraction
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: of the law. Hadn't Lieutenant Barnett filed some ninety odd
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: complaints against the saloon keeper's aldermen of the eighteenth Ward
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: for violation of the same ordinance, only to have them
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: all pigeonholed in the City Prosecutor's office. Hadn't he appeared
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: in person before the September grand jury, And hadn't the
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: State Attorney's office succeeded in bemboozling that August body into
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: the belief that they had nothing whatsoever to do with
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: the matter. And anyhow, what was an aldramatic drag compared
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: with that possessed by Abe Ferris. No, mister Doherty, had
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: you questioned him, would have assured you that he had
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: not been born so recently as yesterday, that he was
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: entirely dry behind the ears that if he had got
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: mister Ferris at all, he would get him good and plenty,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: for had he not only a week before learned that
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: mister Doherty was no longer in the good graces of
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: his commanding officer, refused to acknowledge mister Doherty's right to
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: certain little incidental emoluments upon which time undored custom had
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: placed the seal of lawful title. In other words, mister
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Doherty's words, Abe Farris had not come across. Not only
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: had he failed in this very necessary obligation, but he
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: had added insult to injury by requesting mister Doherty to
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: high himself to the celestial nudeer. And he made his
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: remarks in a loud, coarse tone of voice in the
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: presence of pockmarked Barkie, who had it in for mister
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Doherty because of a certain sixty weary, beardless days that
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: the pock marked one had spent at the bridewell on
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: mister Doherty's account. But the most maligned spleen becomes less
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: virulent with age, And so it was that mister Doherty
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: found his self appointed task becoming irksome to a degree
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: that threatened the stability of his machiavelian resolve. Furthermore, he
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: was becoming sleepy and thirsty. Tell with him, sighed mister
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Dougherty sadly, as he removed his weight from the supporting
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: pole to turn disconsolantly toward the mouth of the alley.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: At the third step, he turned to cast a parting,
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: venomous glance at the back of Faris's, But he took
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: no fourth step toward the alley's mouth. Instead, he dissolved
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: wraith like into the dense shadow between two barns, his
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: eyes never leaving the back of the building that he
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: had watched so assiduously and fruitlessly for the past several nights.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: In the back of Farris's is a rickety fire escape,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: a mute, decaying witness to the lack of poll under
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: which some former landlord labored toward. This was mister Dougherty's gaze,
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: directed for dimly discernible upon It was something that moved,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: moved slowly and cautiously downward. It required but a moment
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: from mister Dougherty's trained eye to transmit to his eager
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: brain all that he required to know, for the moment,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: at least of the slow moving shadow upon the shadowy ladder.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Then he darted across the alley toward the yard. In
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: the rear of Faris's, a girl was descending the fire escape.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: How frightened she was she alone knew, and that there
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: must have been something very dreadful to escape in the
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: building above her was apparent from the risk she took
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: at each step upon that loose and rusted fabric of
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: zagn iron. She was clothed in a flowered kimono over
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: which she had drawn a black silk underskirt. Around her
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: shoulders was an old red shawl, and she was shod
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: only in bedroom slippers, scarcely a suitable attire for street wear.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: But then people in the vicinity of twenty fourth Street
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: are not overly particted clear about such manners, especially those
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: who elect to leave their bed and board at two
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: of the morning by way of a back fire escape
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: at the first floor. The latter ended a common and
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: embarrassing habit of fire escape ladders, which are as likely
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: as not to terminate twenty feet above a stone areaway
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: or a picket fence, but the standpipe continued on to
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: the ground. A standpipe flat against the brick wall is
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: not an easy thing for a young lady in a
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: flowered kimono, and little else to negotiate. But this was
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: an unusual young lady, and great indeed must have been
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: the stress of circumstance which urged her on, for she
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: came down the standpipe with the ease of a cat,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: and at the bottom turned horrified to look into the
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: face of mister Doherty. With a little gasp of bewilderment,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: she attempted to dodge past him, but a huge pall
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: of a hand reached out and grasped her shoulder. Well, dearie,
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: said mister Doherty. Cut it out, replied the girl, and
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: let me loose. Who are you anyhow? For answer, mister
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: Doherty pulled back the lapel of his coat, disclosing a
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: shiny piece of metal pinned on his suspender. I ain't
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: done nothing, said the girl. Of course you ain't, agreed
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: mister Doherty. Don't I know that real ladies always climbed
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: down fire escapes at two o'clock in the the morning
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: just to prove that they ain't done nothing. Go to
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: pinch me, depend said the plainclothes man. What's the idea
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: of this nocturnal getaway? The girl hesitated, give it to
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: me straight, admised her captor. It'll go easier with you.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: I guess I might as well. She said. You see,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: I get a swell offer from the Beverly Club, and
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: that fat shneker. She gave a vindictive nod on her head.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Toward the back of Farris's resort. He gets it tipped
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: off to him some way, and it's all my clothes
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: locked up so as I can't get away. He wouldn't
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: let you out of his place, eh, asked mister Dorugherty,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Half to himself. He said, I owed him three hundred
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: dollars from board and clothes, and he was keeping you
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: a prisoner there against your will. Pard mister Doherty, Yes,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: said the girl. Mister Doherty grinned. This wasn't exactly the
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: magnitude of the method he had hoped to get mister Varas,
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: but it was better than nothing. The present grand jury
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: was even now tussling with the vice problem. Hours of
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: its valuable time are being taken up by reformers who
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: knew all about the general conditions with which every adult
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: citizen is familiar. But the tangible case is backed by
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: the sort of evidence that convicts were remarkable only on
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: account of their scarcity. Something see semed always to seal
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: the mouths of the principal witnesses the moment they entered
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: the grand jury room. But here was a case where
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: a personal spite and desire for revenge might combine to
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: make an excellent witness against the most notorious dive keeper
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: in the city. It was worth trying for. Come along,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: said mister Doherty. Oh don't, please, don't beg the girl.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: I ain't done nothing, honest, Sure you ain't, replied mister Doherty.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: I'm only going to have you held as a witness
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: against Farris. That'll get you even with him and give
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: you a chance to get out and take that swell
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: job at the Beverly Club. They wouldn't have me if
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: I peached on Farris, and you know it, why I
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: couldn't get a job in a house in town if
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: i'd done that. How would you like to be booked
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: from manslaughter? Asked the plain clothes man. What are you
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: giving me? Left the girl stow the kid? It ain't
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: no kid, replied mister Doherty, solemnly. The police knows a
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: lot about a guy that someone croaks up in Farris'
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: is in March, but we've been laying low for a
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: certain person as a suspective of passing him the drops.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: It gets tipped off to the inmates of Farris's, and
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: I being next spots her and she's making her get away.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: Are you, hep? The young lady was hep, most assuredly?
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Who would not be kept to the very palpable threat
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: contained in mister Doherty's pretty little fiction, and continued Doherty,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: When Faris finds out you've been trying to duck, he
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: won't do nothing to help you. The girl had known
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: of many who had gone to the pen on slighter
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: evidence than this. She knew that the police had been
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: searching for someone upon whom to fasten the murder of
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: a well known businessman who had not been murdered at all,
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: but who had had the lack of foresight to succumb
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: to an attack of acute endocarditis in the hallway of
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Ferris's place. The searching eyes of the plane clothes man
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: had not failed to detect the little shudder of horror
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: that had been the visible reaction in the girl to
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: the sudden recollections induced by mention of the unpleasant affair
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: and while he had no reason whatever to suspect her
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: or another of any criminal responsibility for the man's death,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: yet he made a mental note of the effect of
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: his words had upon her. Had she not been an
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: intimate of the house that time the thing occurred, And
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: was it not just possible that an excellent police case
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: might be worked up about her later, if the exigencies
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: of the service demanded a brilliant police coup to distract
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: the pubble's attention from some more important case in which
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: they had blundered. For a moment, the girl was silent.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: How badly he had frightened her with his threat, mister
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Dougherty had not the faintest conception, nor could he have
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: guessed the pitable beating of her heart would have been
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: able to conjecture the real cause of her alarm that
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: the policeman would assume criminal guilt in her should she
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: allow her perturbation to become too apparent. She well knew,
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: and so for the moment of her silence she struggled
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: to regain mastery of herself. Nor was she unsuccessful. It
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: wouldn't get you anything, she said. To follow that lay
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: for the report of the coroner's position shows that mister
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: that the man died of heart disease. But cutting out
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: all this foolishness, I'll swear complaining against Farris if you
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: want me to, if you think that it will get
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: you anything, though, and you could take it from me,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: who knows it's more likely you get a prairie beat
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: out bright and white. There's many a bull pull in
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: this box tonight out in the wilderness. Who thought he
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: could put one over on Abe Farris? And Farris is
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: still doing business at the old stand. As they talked,
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: they've been walking towards the street, and now Doroty crossed
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: over to the corner with the girl and pulled for
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: the wagon. What did it stand you to forget the
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: guy's name, he asked, after they had stood in silence
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: for a time awaiting the wagon's tardy arrival. They offered
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: me a hundred, she replied, and of course you didn't
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: take it, he ventured, grinning. The girl made no response.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: The newspapers were suffered an awful shock when they found
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: the old bloke was one of the biggest stockholders in
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: two State Street department stores. Continued mister Doherty, reminiscently. They
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: say his family routed the advertising manager of every paper
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: in the city out of bed at one o'clock in
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: the morning, and the three morning papers had to pull
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: out the story after they had gone up press with
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: it and stick in a column obituary telling all about
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: he had done for the city and his fellow man,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: with a cut of his mug and place of the
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: front page cartoon. Gee, it must be great to have
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: a drag like that, yes, said the girl in a
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: faint voice. Faintly in the distance, A gone clanged them
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: guys as year taking their time, observed mister Doherty. A
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: little crowd had gathered about the couple at the police box,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: only mildly curious, for an arrest is no uncommon thing
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: in that section of town, and when they discovered that
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: no one had been cut up or shot up, and
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: that the prisoner was scandlessly sober, they ceased even to
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: be mildly curious. By the time the wagon arrived, the
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: two were again alone at the station. The girl signed
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: a complaint against one Abe Farris, and was then locked
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: up to insure her appearance in court. The following morning.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: Officer Doherty warn't in hand fairly burned the pavement back
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: to Faris's It had been many a month since he
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: had made an arrest which gave him as sincere personal
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: pleasure as this one. He routed Farris out of bed
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: and hustled him into his clothes. This, he surmised, might
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: be the sole satisfaction that he would derive, since the
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: municipal court judge, before whom the preliminary hearing would come
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: later in the morning, might in all likelihood discharge the
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: defendant if the girl held out and proved a good witness.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: There was a slight chance that Faris would be held
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: to the grand jury, in which event he would derive
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: a certain amount of unpleasant notoriety. At a time when
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: public opinion was aroused by the vice question, and the
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: mayor in a most receptive mood from making political capital
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: by revocation of a few saloon licenses. All this would
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: prove balm to mister Doherty's injured sensibilities. Farris grumbled and threatened,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: but off to the station he went, without even an
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: opportunity to telephone for a bondsman that he procured one
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: an hour later. Was no fault in mister Doherty, who
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: employed his most persuasive English in an endeavor to convince
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: the sergeant that mister Ferris should be locked up forthwith
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: and given no access to a telephone until daylight. But
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: the sergeant had no particular grudge against mister Ferris, while,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: on the other hand, he was possessed of a large
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: family to whom his monthly paycheck was an item of
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: considerable importance, So did mister Ferris. He was affable courtesy personified.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: Thus it was the defendant went free while the injured
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: one remained behind prison bars. Ferris's first act was to
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: obtain permission to see the girl who had sworn to
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: the complaint against him. As he approached her cell, he
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: assumed the jocular suavity that he was far from feeling.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: What are you doing here, Maggie, he asked, by way
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: of an opening aske dothority. Didn't you know that you'd
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: get the worst of it if you went to buckin me,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: queried Ferris. I didn't want to do it, replied the girl.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: Although that's not saying that someone hadn't ought to do
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: it to you, good and proper. You gotta come in
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: to you, all right. It won't get you nothing. Maggie.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Maybe will give me my clothes, That's all I want.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: Why didn't you say so in the first place, then,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: and not go stirring up a lot of hell this way,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: asked Ferris in an injured tone. Ain't I always been
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: on the square with you? Sure you've been as straight
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: as a corkscrew with me? Didn't I keep the bulls
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: from guessing that you was the only girl in the
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: place that had any real reason for wanting to crocle
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: the old guy? Continued mister Ferris, ignoring the reverse English.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: On the girl's last statement, A little shiver ran through
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: the girl on a mention of the tragedy that was
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: still a fresh in her memory, her own life, tragedy
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: in which the death of the old man in the
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: hallway at Farris's had been but a minor incident. What
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: you got to tell the judge, asked Ferris, after a
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: moment's pause, the truth that you kept me there against
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: my will by locking my clothes up where I couldn't
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: get him. She replied, I was only kidding. You could
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: have had him any old time anyways. There wasn't no
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: call for you doing this. You got a funny way
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: of kidding, But even at that I didn't have any
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: idea of peaching on you? He made me, said the girl,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: who Doherty? The girl nodded, Sure, who else He's got
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: an in for you? Ferris turned away much relieved, and
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: an hour later a colored man delivered a package at
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: the station from Maggie Lynch. It contained the girl's clothes
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: and an envelope in which were five German laiden but
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: perfectly good ten dollar bills. The matron smiled as she
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: opened the envelope. Some fox, she said, Some fox is right,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: replied the girl. End of chapter one, chapter two of
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: The Girl from Farris's by A Garrice. This LibriVox recording
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. According by Joe Denoia Somerset,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: New Jersey, Chapter two and wires are pulled. The Reverend
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Theodore Person sat at breakfast with his right hand. He
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: dallied with Ice Candalope. The season was young for cacamas mellow.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: But who would desire a lean shepherd for a fat flock?
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: Certainly not the Reverend Theodore Person. A slender, well manicured
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: left hand supported an early edition of The Monarch or
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: the Mornings, a sheet which quite made up in volume
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: of sound and in color for any lack of similarity
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: in other respects to the lion of poetry and romance.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: On the table and his study were the two morning papers,
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: which the Reverend person read and quoted in public. The
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: monarch was for the privacy of his breakfast table. Across
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: from the divine sat his young assistant, who shared the
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: far more than comfortable bachelor apartments of his superior. The
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Reverend Purser laid down the paper with a sigh. Ah me,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: he said. His assistant looked up in polite interrogation. This
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: is indeed an ungrateful world, continued mister person, scooping a
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: delicious mouth roll from the melon's heart. Here is an
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: interview with an assistant state attorney in which he mentions
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: impractical reformers seeking free advertising and cheap notoriety. In view
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: of the talk I had with him yesterday, I cannot
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: but believe that he refers to me directly. It is
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: a sad commentary upon the moral perspective of the type
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: of rising young men of today which this person so
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: truly represents. That ulterior motives should be ascribed to every
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: noble and unselfish act to what indeed are we coming? Yes,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: agreed the assistant, whither are we drifting? But was it not? Ever?
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: Thus have not we of the cloth been ever martyrs
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: to the cause of truth and righteousness? Too? True? Side
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: the assistant, we have indeed. Yet, on the other hand,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: continued mister Person, there is an occasional note of encouragement
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: that makes the fighting of the battle worthwhile. For example,
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: suggests the assistant mister Person turned again to the monarch
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: of the mornings. Here is a quarter of a column
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: devoted to an interview with me on the result of
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: my investigation of conditions in supposedly respectable residence districts. The
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: article has been given that much greater prominence than that
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: according to the misleading statements of the assistant State Attorney.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: I am sure that thousands of people in this great
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: city are even this minute reading this noticeable heading. Let
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: us hope that it will bear fruit, however much one
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: may decry the unpleasant notoriety entailed. Mister Person held up
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: the newspaper toward his assistant, who read, in type half
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: inch high person Pillory's Police the ointment surrounding the fly,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: as it were, suggested. The assistant mister Person looked quickly
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: at the young man, but discovering no sign of levity
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: in his expression, handed the paper across the table to
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: him and resumed its attack upon a kenneop. A moment later,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: the telephone bell sounded from the extension at mister Person's elbow. Yes,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: inquired mister person. Hello, mister person. Yes, this is Doherty. Ah. Yes,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: good morning, officer, greeted mister person. Mister Doherty came right
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: to the point he knew when to beat about the
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: bush and went not to You've been trying to close
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: up Ferris's place for six months, but you ain't never
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: been able to get the goods on him. I got
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: him for you now, good, exclaimed mister person. Tell me
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: about it. Mister Doherty unburdened himself. The girl would be
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: in court this morning to appear against Ferris. He concluded,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: you'd better get to her quick before they do, and
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: stick until she's called. She'll need bolstering. I'll come down
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: right away, replied mister person. Good Bye, and thank you,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: and say, said Doherty, you can give it out that
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: you hip me off to the whole thing. I just
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: as soon not appear in it any more than I
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: can help. Just so, replied mister person, and hung up
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: the receiver. As he turned back, his assistant eyed him questioningly.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: My friend, mister Doherty has started something which he has
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: experienced difficulty and terminating, guessed mister Person truly. At a
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: quarter before ten, the clergyman entered the court room. He
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: had no difficulty in locating the girl he sought, though
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: the room was well filled with witnesses, friends and relatives
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: of the various prisoners who were to have their preliminary hearings,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: and the ivill carriers. I am the Reverend, mister Person,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: he said, with smiling lips as he took her hand.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: The girl looked him squarely in the eyes. I come
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: as a friend, continued mister Person. I wish to help you.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Tell me your story and we will see what can
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: be done. There were three young men with the clergyman.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: They had met him by appointment at the entrance to
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: the courtroom. The girl eyed them. Reporters, he asked, representatives
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: of the three largest papers. Replied, mister Person, you will
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: be quite famous by tomorrow morning, he added playfully. When
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: mister Person had introduced himself, a great hope had sprung
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: momentarily into the girl's heart. A longing of three months
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: at Farris's had all but stifled vain regrets seldom annoyed her.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: Now she had attained a degree of stoicism that three
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: months earlier would have seemed impossible. But with the contact
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: with one from the other world, which circumstances had forbidden
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: her ever again to hope to enter with the voicing
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: of a kind word, with the play of a smile
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: that was neither carnal nor condescending, came sudden welling of
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: the desire she had thought quite dead, the desire to
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: put behind her forever the life that she had been living.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: For an instant, a little girl had looked into the
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: eyes of the reverend mister Person, prepared to do and
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: be whatever mister Person, out of the fullness of brotherly love,
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: should counsel and guide her to do and be. But
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: mister Person saw only a woman of the town, and
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: to such were his words addressed with an argument which
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: he imagined would appeal strongly to her kind. And it
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: was a woman of the town who answered him with
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: a hard laugh. Nothing doing, she said. Mister Person was surprised.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: He was pained he had come to her as a
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: friend in need, yet offered to help her, and she
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: would not even confide in him. I had hoped that
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: you might wish to lead a better life, he said,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: and I came prepared to offer you every assistance in
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: securing a position where you might earn a respectable living.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: I can find a home for you until such a
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: position is forthcoming. Can you not see the horrors of
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: a life you have chosen? Can you not realize the
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: awful depths of degradation to which you have come, and
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: the still blacker abyss that yawns before you. If you
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: continue along the downward path, your beauty will fade quickly,
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: It's life blood sapped by the gnawing canker of vice
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: and shame. And then what will the world hold for you?
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Nought but a few horrible years of premature and hideous
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: old age. And the way to start a new and
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: better life, replied the girl in a level voice, is
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: to advertise my shame upon the front pages of three
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: great daily newspapers. That's your idea, mister person flushed very faintly,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: you misunderstand me entirely, he said. I abhor as much
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: as any human being can, the necessity which compels so
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: much publicity in these matters. But it is for the
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: greatest good of the greatest numbers that I labor, that
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: all of us should labor. If the public does not
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: know of the terrible conditions which prevail under their very noses,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: how can we expect it to rouse itself and take
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: action against these conditions. No great reforms ever accomplished except
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: upon the clamorous demand of the people. The police. In fact,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: all city officials know of these conditions, but they will
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: do nothing until they are forced to do it. Only
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: the people who will elect them and whose money pays them,
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: can force them. We must keep the horrors of the
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: underworld constantly before the voters and taxpayers until they rise
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: and demand that the festering sore in the very heart
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: of their magnificent city be cured forever. What are my
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: personal feelings or yours, compared with the great good to
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: the whole community that will result from the successful fruition
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: of the hopes of those of us who are fighting
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: this great battle against the devil and his minions. You
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: should rather joyfully embrace this opportunity to cast off the
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: bonds of hell, and by enlisting with a legion of
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: righteousness atone for all your sinful past by a self
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: sacrificing act in the interest of your fellow man. The
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: girl laughed, a rather unpleasant mirthless laughed my fellow man.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: She mimicked the preacher's oratorical style. It was my fellow
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: man who made me what I am. It was my
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: fellow man who has kept me so as, my fellow
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: man who wished me to blaze my degregation to the
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: world as a price freed. As she spoke, the vernacular
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: of the underworld with his coarse slang and vile English
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: slipped from her speech like a shabby disguise that has
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: been discarded, and she spoke again as she had spoken
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: in her other life before constant association with beasts and
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: criminals had left their mark upon her speech, as upon
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: her minded morals. But as the first flush of indignation passed,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: she slipped again into the now accustomed ruck. To hell
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: with you and your fellow men, she said, Now beat it,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: mister persons, dignity had suffered a most severe shock. He
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: glanced at three young men. They were grinning openly. He
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: realized the humiliating stories they would write for their respective papers,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: not at all the kind of stories he had been
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: picturing to himself, in which the reverend mister Person would
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: shine as a noble Christian reformer laboring for the salvation
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: of the sinner and uplift the community. They would make
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: horror jokes of the occurrence, and people would laugh at
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: the reverend mister Person. A stinging rebuke was upon his lips.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: He would make this woman realize the great gulf that
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: lay between the Reverend Person and such as she. He
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: would let her see the loathing with which a good
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: man viewed her and her kind. He opened his mouth
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: to speak, his better judgment came to his rescue. The
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: woman would doubtless make a scene. Her sort had a
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: decided pension for such things. She might even resort to
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: physical violence. In either event, the resultant newspaper stories would
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: be decidedly worse than the most glaring exaggerations which the
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: three young men might concoct from the present unfortunate occurrence.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: So the reverend mister Person has stifled his true emotions
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: with a sorrowful shake of his head, turned sadly from
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: his thankless task. And indeed, why should a shepherd waste
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: his valuable time upon a worthless sheep? That preferred to
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: stay astray. It was evident that he had lost sight
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: entirely of the greater good that would follow the conviction
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: of Faris, for he had not even mentioned the case
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: to the girl or attempted to encourage her to make
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: the most of this opportunity to bring the man to justice.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: Farris's case was called shortly after the clergyman left the courtroom.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: The man had an array of witnesses present just where
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: the girl had remained in his house on her own volision,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: as she could have left when she pleased. But the
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: girl's story, coupled with the very evident fact that she
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: was wholly indifferent as to the outcome of the case,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: resulted in the holding of Farris to the grand jury.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: It was what the resort keeper had anticipated, and as
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: he was again released on bail, he lost no time
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: in seeking out the head of a certain real estate
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: firm and laying before him a brief outline of the
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: terrible wrong that was being contemplated against mister Ferris, and
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: incidentally against present real estate rental values in the district
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: where mister Ferris held forth. You see, said mister Ferris,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: There're nothing to this thing anyway, it's just the case
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: of the girl being sore on me because I had
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: fired her, and she cooks up this story and gets
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: me pinched. It's a shame, and me giving her a
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: good home and a swell job which she didn't know
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: nobody in the burg. It's too bad, And mister Ferris
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: heaved an oily sigh. It's too damn bad when you
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: think of what it'll mean to the property owners down there.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: Why if the grand jury vote's a true bill against me,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: it'll start them fake reformers buzzing around thickest flies in
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: the whole district, and there won't be nothing to it
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: but a bunch of saloon licenses taken away by the
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: mayor and a string of houses closed up. And then
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: whe will you be? Why the best thing you do
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: for years will bit of rent them place to furriners
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: at six and eight dollars a month, And just look
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: at the swell rents you're getting for him. Now, Yes, sir,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: something's got to be done in the interest of property
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: values down there. For after we go, you couldn't get
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: thecent people to live in the neighborhood if you paid
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: to say nothing of getting rent from them. Why they
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: can't even use them for business purposes. Customers wouldn't dare
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: come into the neighborhood for fear someone would see them,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: and straight girls wouldn't work in no such locality. If
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: I was you, i'd get busy see your principles this
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: morning and get them to put it up straight to
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: the state Attorney that it ain't in the interest of
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: public morality to push this reform game no further. Why
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: look what it'll do. Close up the red light district
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: and you'll have them girls scattered all throughout the residence
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: districts wherever they can rent a little flat, maybe right
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: next door to you and your family. And then look
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: at what that'll do to property everywhere. It won't be
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: only the old levy values that'll slump, but here and
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: there through the residence districts, north, south and west, them
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: girls will get in and put whole blocks on the blink. Well,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: I guess you know as much about it as I do, anyway,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: so I'll blow along. I got to see my aldermen,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: And if I had the front that you and your
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: principles can put up, i'd see and hear mister Ferris,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: lean forward and whispered the name into the real estate
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: agent's ear. He can put to Cabastion in this whole
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: reform game if he wants to and take it from me.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: There ain't nobody that can't be made to want to
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: do anything on earth if you can find a way
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: to get them where they live. And mister Ferris slapped
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: his right hand trouser pocket until the coins therein rang merrily.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: The real estate agent pursed his lips and shook his head.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: You cannot reach that man in any such way as that,
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: he said, mister Ferris rising laughed. Oh splash, he said,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: and started for the door. Well, do what you can
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: on your end, and I'll work from the bottom up
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: and say, don't forget that. If you sugarcoat it, the
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: best of him will grab for it. Then he went
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: and had a talk with his aldermen, who in turn
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: saw someone else, who saw someone else, who saw another party.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: And the real estate agent saw several of his principles,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: And at luncheon he talked with many of his colleagues,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: who hastened forthwith to confer with the big men whose
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: property they handled. In a day or two, there began
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: to filter into the State's Attorney's office, by mail, by phone,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: and by personal call, a continuous stream of requests that
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: he moved with extreme caution in the fight against fights
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: which the reformers were urging him to initiate. The arguments
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: all were similar. They harped upon the danger of scattering
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: the vicious element throughout the city. They were pleased for
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: the safety of the wives and daughters of the petition
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: abolished a red light district, said one. And the criminals
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: and degenerates of the underworld will hunt our wives and
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: daughters as the wolves of the north Woods hunt their prey.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: There will be no safety from them upon the streets,
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: nor with in their own homes. Banish to women of
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: the levee, and a state of anarchy and rapeing will follow.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: For the sake of the good women of the city,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: I pray that you will stand firm against the fallacious
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: arguments of paid reformers and notoriety seekers. No one mentioned
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: property values. The pill had been properly coded. The state
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: attorney smiled mentally. He had been roughly estimating the political
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: influence of each petitioner. When an editorial appeared in one
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: of the leading dailies under the caption go slow, mister
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: State Attorney, in which all these arguments were rehashed, and
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: the suggestion made that another commission be appointed to investigate
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: and recommend a solution of the vice problem. He laughed aloud,
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: for did he not know that the uncles and aunts
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: and sisters in law of the great paper own nearly
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: a third of the real estate in the segregated district.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: But the State Attorney knew that no man knew what
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: would be the result of the adoption of the drastic
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: suggestions of the reformers. So it was an easy matter
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: for him to justify himself to himself when he waged
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: his bitter war of words against device and gave private
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: instruction to his assistance in the safety and seclusion of
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: his own office, instructions that did not always exactly harmonize
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: with the noble sediments enunciated in the typewritten statements passed
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: out and partially to the representatives of the press for publication.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: The State Attorney was far from being a corrupt man,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: But the vice problem had been the plaything of reformers
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: and politicians for years. It was as old as his sexes.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: It had never been solved, and the chances were that
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: it never would be. If he had spoken his mind,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: he would probably have admitted that he was afraid of
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: it entirely from sociological reasons and apart from his political aspect.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: But the State Attorney was in no position to speak
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: his true mind on many subjects. He hoped some day
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: to run for governor. And so it was that he
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: called an assistant to his office and poured words of
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: wisdom into his attentive ear. And what sort of a
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: bunch of you got this month? He concluded, Oh, just
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: about as usual. A couple of bank presidents, some retired capitalists,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: several department managers, and one farmer. There knew now, But
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: by the time that case reaches us, they'll be tired
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: of the grind and ready to jump through whenever I
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: tell him to. Thus spaked young Assistant State Attorney of
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: the Ancient and Honorable Grand Jury, end of chapter two,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: chapter three of The Girl from Paris's by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Joe Denoia Somerset, New Jersey, Chapter three, the Grand Jerry.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Two weeks had elapsed since mister Farris had been held
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: to the grand jury. He had been at liberty on bail.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: The girl against whom there had been no charge, had
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: been held virtually a prisoner in a home for erring women,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: that she might be available as a witness when needed.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: The grand Jury was returning after lunch for the afternoon session.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Something they had done the previous day had aroused the
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: Assistant State attorney's ire, so that he had felt justified
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: in punishing their foolish temerity with two calls that day
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: instead of one. A little group had gathered in front
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: of the jury room. They were discussing the cases passed
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: and speculating upon those to come. One and all were
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: wearied with the monotony of the duty the state had
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: imposed upon them. And the worst of it is, said
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: one of the younger members of the panel, it's also
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: utterly feudile. When I was summoned as grand juror, I
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: had a kind of feeling that the State had placed
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: a great responsibility upon my shoulders, that she had honored
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: me above other men and placed me in a position
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: where I might help to accomplish something really worthwhile. From
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: my fellow man. One of the bank presidents left, and
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: the reality you find is to be quite different. Eh, quite,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: I hear only one side of a great string of sordid,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: revolting stories, and I hear nothing more than the Assistant
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: State Attorney wishes me to hear. There are momentous questions
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: stirring the people of the city, but when we suggest
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: that we should investigate the conditions underlying them, we are
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: told that we are not an investigating body, that those
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: questions are none of our business unless they are brought
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: to our attention through the regular channel of the State
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: Attorney's office. We are told that the judge who charged
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: us to investigate these very conditions had never charged a
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: grand jury before, and while doubtless he meant well, he
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: didn't know what he was talking about. I understand, said
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: another juror, that we will get our chance at the
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: vice problem today through the regular channel. The abe faris
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: cases on the docket. Fie this afternoon. And what will
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: we do, asked the young man. We'll listen to answer
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: such questions as the assistants State Attorney sees fit to ask,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: and if we start asking embarrassing questions, he'll have the
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: sergeant at arms hustle the witness out of the jury room.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: Then will hem and hall and end up by doing
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: whatever the assistants state attorney wants us to do. We've
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: done it on every important case you watch. You're quite right, sir,
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: spoke of our retired capitalist. In theory, the grand jury
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: system is the bulwark of our liberty. It was in
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: fact when it was instituted in the twelfth or thirteenth century,
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: at a time when there were several hundred crimes punishable
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: by death, But now that there are only two, murder
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: and treason, it is a useless and wasteful relic of
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: a dead past. The court that is competent to hold
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: men to a grand jury is much more competent to
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: indict them than is the grand jury itself. In fact,
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: in cases where the punishment is less than death, the
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: court that now entertains the preliminary hearing might to better
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: advantage to both the accused and public past sentence at once,
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: and hears both sides. But all that I can do
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: is discharge the prisoner or hold him for the grand jury.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: After this there is the expense of holding the prisoner
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: in jail until the case comes to us, and then
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: all the expensive paraphernalia of a grand jury is required
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: to thresh over only one side of what has already
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: been thoroughly heard before trained the competent jurist. If we
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: vote a true bill, a third and expensive trial is necessitated. Personally,
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: said Ogden secor, the foreman of the jury. The whole
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: thing strikes me as a farce. The grand jury, while
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: not quite a tool the State attorney's office, is considered
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: by them a more or less harmless impediment to the
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: transaction of the business of their office, a burden to
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: be borne, but lightened in the most expeditious manner. I,
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: as foreman, am a dummy. The secretary is a dummy.
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: The sergeant at arms is a dummy. We look to
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: the assistants dated attorney for direction in our every move.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: We come from businesses in which we have never, in
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: all probability come in contact with criminal law, and are
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: expected to grasp the machinery of our new duties on
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: a moment's notice. Were it purely a matter of justice
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: to be dispensed, I have no doubt that we might
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: do quite as well as any court. But we are
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: up against a very different thing from justice. At every hand.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: We are trammeled by law. The Assistant State Attorney entered
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: the room. Sorry to have been late, gentlemen, he said,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: call the next case, mister Sargeant at arms, and the
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: routine of the jury room commenced half an hour after
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: the appointed time, although a quarm of the Grand jury
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: had been present for thirty five minutes. The last case
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: of the afternoon call was that against Abe Farris. There
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: were only two witnesses, Officer Doherty and the girl, Maggie Lynch.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: Doherty had suffered a remarkable change of heart since the
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: evening he stood in the alley back of Farris's. He
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: was chastened in spirit. His recollection of the affair was vague.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: After the Assistant State Attorney had ceased questioning him, several
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: of the jurors asked additional information. What sort of person
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: is the complaining witness? Officer asked the banker. Mister Doherty
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: looked about and grinned sheepishly. He would not have been
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: at a loss for word to describe her had a
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: fellow pliceman asked him this question. But this August body
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: of dignified businessmen seemed to call for a special brand
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: of denatured diction and the description of a spade. Oh,
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: he said, finally, she's just like the rest of them
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: down there on the town. Would you believe her story,
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: asked the banker. Doherty grinned and shrugged hard to say,
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: he replied, in your opinion. Officer asked the assistant state attorney.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: Have you any case against Farris? Could we get a conviction? No,
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: I don't think you could, answered the policeman. It was
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: the question he had been awaiting. That's all, Officer said
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: the assistant state attorney. Just a moment, mister, serjeant at arms,
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: before you called on the witness. A moment, please, Officer,
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: I want to ask another question before you go, spoke
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: up one of the jurymen. The assistant state attorney sighed
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: and looked bored. He had found this the most effective
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: means of silencing jurymen, as I understand it, you worked
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: this case up, Am I right? Asked the jurymen. Yes, sir,
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: if you had enough evidence three weeks ago to warrant
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: the arrest of Farris, why haven't you got enough now
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: to win sure conviction? Doerty looked uncomfortable. He fingered his
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: cap and turned an appealing look toward the assistant state attorney.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: That functionary came to his rescue. You see, mister Smith,
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: pardon me for interrupting, He said, The girl swore out
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: a warrant and it was necessary to make the arrest.
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: That's all, officer. He may go now, but insistently, mister Smith.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: It was quite apparent from the newspaper account at the
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: time that the girl was an unwilling complaintant that the
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: police officer worked up the case. In the meantime, Doherty,
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: only too anxious to do so, had left the grand
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: jury room. The sergeant at arms stood with his hand
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: upon the knob of the door, looking questionably at the
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: assistant state attorney. You did not care to question any
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: other witnesses, do you, asked the young gentleman of the jury.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: What other witnesses are there, asked mister Smith, only the girl,
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: replied the assistants state attorney. But you can see from
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: the officer's testimony that it is scarcely worth our while
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: to hear from the girl. You might as well take
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: a vote, mister foreman, he concluded, turning towards Ogden secor.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: All those in favor of a true bill raised their
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: right hands commanded mister Secor. Just a moment, mister Foreman
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: interrupted mister Smith. The assistants State Attorney scowled, insighed, then
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: settled back in his chair in a martyr like resignation.
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: Mister Smith was a thorn in the flesh. It seems
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: to me, mister Foreman, said mister Smith, that until we
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: have heard all the witnesses, we are in no position
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: to vote intelligently. I, for one, am in favor of
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: calling in the girl. Yes, yes, came from several of
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: the jurors. The sergeant at arms looked toward the assistants.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: Did Attorney for authority call the next witness, said Ogden Secor.
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: The serjeant at arms was surprised to receive a command
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: from the former of the jury, but the asistants did.
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: Attorney made no demur, so he opened the door. Next
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: witness he called, and the grand jury clerk, whose offices
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: just outside the grand jury room, beckoned to a girl
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: sat in the chair in a far corner, shielding her
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: face with her arm from the glaring eyes of two
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: press cameras. As she rose, two flashlights exploded simultaneously. Then
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: she hurried across the room and passed through the doorway
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: into the presence of the grand jury room. Ogden Seagor
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: had had not the faintest curiosity regarding her. From earliest boyhood.
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: He had learned to shudder at the very thought of
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: the hideous, painted creatures who plied their sickening vocation in
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: a part of town to which neither business, accident, nor
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: inclination had ever led him. For a city bred man
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: whose boyhood had been surrounded with every luxury, and whose
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: spending allowance had been practically unlimited, he was remarkably clean.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: His high ideals were still unsullied, and though a man's
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: man mentally and physically morally, he was almost a prude.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: It was with difficulty that he raised his eyes to
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: the girl's face as he administered the oath, and it
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: was with a distinct shock of surprised incredulity, but it
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: saw that she was neither painted nor hideous. Her brown
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: eyes fell the moment they met his. There was no
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: slightest sign of boldness in them, and when she turned
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: to face the jury as the assistant state Attorney began
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: questioning her, her attitude was merely of quiet self possession.
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: The young foreman could not reconcile a refinement of her appearance,
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: with the well modulated voice. With his preconceived ideas concerning
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: her kind, he had been prepared for a sort of
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: coarse animal beauty, perhaps, and he had fully expected gaudy
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: apparel and quantities of cheap jewelry. But instead he saw
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: a demure, quietly dressed girl who might have stepped fresh
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: from a convent. It was appalling to think that she
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: had been inmate of Faris's. As she answered the often
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: brutal questions of the Assistant State Attorney, Ogden Secor watched
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: her profile. He saw that the girl was actually suffering
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: under the ordeal. And he had thought that she would
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: welcome the notoriety and brazenly flaunt her shame in the
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: faces of the jurymen. And he too, as he studied
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: her face, that she was not merely ordinarily goodly. Hers
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: was a face that could have been commented upon anywhere
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: as exceptionally beautiful. He could not believe that the girl
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: before him had voluntarily chosen the career she had been following.
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: The assistant state Attorney had finished questioning her, he had
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: brought out only the simple story she had told Doherty.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: The night he had discovered her upon the fire escape.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: He had not been part of his plan to bring
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: out much of anything bearing on the case. When he
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: had finished, mister Smith rose, how did you happen to
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: be at Ferris's place at all? He asked? Did you
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: go there of your own volition? Yes, replied the girl.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: You knew the life that you would have to lead there. No,
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: I did not know what kind of place it was.
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: Tell us how you came there, then, said mister Smith.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: I would rather not, she replied, there's no bearing upon
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: the case. Would you go back there if Farris would
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: take you, asked another juryman. He will not take me.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: What do you intend doing? I shall have to go
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: to some other city where I am not known, and
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: there you will continue the same vocation. What else is
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: there for me, she asked? There are many good men
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: who would help you, said mister Smith. She shrugged, and
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: for the first time Gore caught a note of hardness
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: in her voice as she replied, there are no good men.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: She said. There was a finality to a statement that
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: put an end to further questioning. End of chapter three,
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: Chapter four of The Girl from Faris's by Edgar Riceborough's
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: This Liberox recording is in the public domain. Recording by
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: Joe Denoia, Somerset, New Jersey, Chapter four decency. That is all,
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: said the assistant state Attorney, with a wave toward the door.
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: The girl stepped down from the witness stand as she
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: passed him. A sudden impulse prompted Ogden seacrp To stop her.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: He couldnot have explained why he did so, but before
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: he realized it, he had asked the girl to wait
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: in the witness room without until he came a great
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: and sudden pity for her at will within her and
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: her last words. There are no good men to have
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: spoken to such a woman as she would have seemed
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: an utter impossibility to Ogden Secor a brief half hour before,
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: and now he had asked her to wait for him,
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: and in his mind was a determination to help her,
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: to save her from the hideous life she had chosen.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: Immediately after he had spoken the words, he regretted them.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: It was as though he had bound himself to personal
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: contact with a lever. He paled a little at the
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: thought of the ordeal which faced him, but he would
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: go through with it. As to that he was determined,
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: and if he could helped the girl to get a
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: better life, he would do so. Had he guessed the
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: interpretation of the girl put upon his request to speak
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: with her outside the jury room, he would have flushed
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: rather than paled to her. All men were hunters, all
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: women quarry. The jurors were discussing the wisdom of voting
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: a true bill. All seemed to harbor not the slightest
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: doubt that the girl had been held against her will.
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: In Ferris's place, had the vote been taken without discussion,
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: a true bill would have been the unanimous result. But
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: with the discussion came the inevitable recourse to the superior
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: legal judgment of the Assistant state Attorney. It is up
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: to you, gentlemen, he said, when one of the jurymen
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: asked his opinion. I did not wish to influence you
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: in any way. I am merely here to help you.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: But inasmuch as you ask, I might say for your
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: information that this case is identical with many others we
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: have handled. During the session of the Grand Jury, the
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: police advise us there is insufficient evidence to convict. If
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: we vote a true bill, the taxpayers will be compelled
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: to pay for an expensive trial at the end of
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: which the defendant will be discharged, and that will be
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: the end of it. While should we vote a no bill,
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: the case may again be brought before the Grand jury,
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: should the police at any time in the future on
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: earth further evidence. Remember, gentlemen, if you vote a true
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: bill now, this case can never again come before the
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: grand jury, and in my humble opinion, you will be
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: virtually playing into Faras's hands and insuring him immunity. It
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: is up to you. The foreman took the vote, the
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: majority favored no bill, and that was the end of
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: the particular case of the people versus ab Farris. Property
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: interests throughout the city have been protected and real estate
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: values remain unchanged. It was the last case on call
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: for that day, and as the jurors hurried out to
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: attend to their neglected businesses, Ogden Secor found himself tiring
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: at his desk in the hope that there might be
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: none present to witness his interview with the girl from Farris's.
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: There was also a growing hope that the girl herself
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: would tire of waiting and depart before he left the
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: jury room. The others had gone before he emerged and it.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: It was with a feeling of relief that he realized
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: that this was true, for as he passed through the doorway,
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: he saw the trim figure of a young girl sitting
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: in the far corner of the outer room. Her eyes
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: were on the doorway leading to the grand jury room,
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: and as Secor came out, she rose and stood waiting him.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: He came directly toward her, and as his eyes rested
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: upon her face, he ceased to regret that he had
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: asked her to wait. Surely there could be no intentional
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: evil in the owner of such a face. He was
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: confident that it would be an easy manner to guide
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: her into a decent life. As he reached her, he
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: found that it was to be rather an embarrassing conversation
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: to open. For a moment he hesitated. It was the
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: girl who first spoke. What do you wish of me?
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: She asked, although she was quite sure that she knew
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: precisely what he wished. While she had waited for him,
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: she had quite fully determined her course of action. She
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: was convinced that the swell job at the Beverly Club
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: would not be for her. Even though the grand jury
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: failed to indict Farris. A thousand times during the past
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: bitter months, she had threshed out the problem of her life.
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: A thousand times. She had determined to seek other employment
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: when she could leave Farris's, and a thousand times she
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: had realized that her life was already ruined past herds,
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: and that never again could she live among decent people,
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: with the constant fear hanging over her, that the horrible
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: secret of her past might at any moment be discovered. Better,
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: far better. She thought to continue in that life until
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: death released her. But here, she felt, was to be
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: an easier way for a few years, at least. Sooner
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: or later this man would tire of her, But in
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: the meantime she would have a good living. It would
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: be much better than either Faris's or the Beverly Club.
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: Possibly she could save enough money to ensure the balance
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: of her life against want. She had heard of women
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: like herself who had done this very thing, and so
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: she waited now for the proposal which she was confident
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: mister Augden Secoor was about to make. She knew nothing
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: about this young man, not even his name, nor did
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: she care more about him than to know that he
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: had ample funds with which to defray the cost of
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: an expensive plaything. Miss Lynch said, Augden Seacorp. I find
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: the things I wanted to say to you most difficult
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: to say. I scarcely know how to commence. I should
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: hate to offend you. No chance, she replied, you know
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: what I am. There's your answer. Go ahead, get the
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: proposition out of your system. Though her words were light,
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: she was a trifle nonplused at his method of approach.
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: There was a distinct note of deference in his voice
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: that she had long been unused to from men. Could
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: it be possible that she had mistaken in his intentions?
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: But what else under the sun could he want of her?
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: You see, continued mister Secor. I couldn't help but know
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: something of your life from your testimony in there. Yet,
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: though I heard it from your own lips, I find
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: it difficult to believe that it is true. It doesn't
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: seem possible that you can prefer such a life, And
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: I wanted to ask if I might not be of
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: service to you in some way to help you live differently.
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: The girl noted the clean, strong face of the young
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: man before her, the clear eyes, the healthy skin. There
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: was no indication of dissipation or evil habits. She had
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: not spoken to such a man since she came to
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: the city. She had not believed that any clean men
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: lived in the city that she had so loathed. She
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: was still inclined, however, to be a trifle skeptical. Yet
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: she gave him the benefit of the doubt and her reply,
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: I'm afraid it is too late, she said. It is
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: never too late, he replied, you would not say that
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: if you knew what my early training had been. I
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: was taught to believe that God expected two things of
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: a woman, to be virtuous, and to become a wife
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: and mother. If she were not virtuous, the second thing
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: became a crime in her For a woman such as I,
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: to marry and bare children were a crime a thousand
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: times more hideous than loss of virtue. There was no
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: place on earth for such as I, and no hell
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: of sufficient horror in the hereafter. As far as this
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: life of the next concerned, I am absolutely and irrevocably lost.
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: I appreciate your kind attentions, but I fear there is
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: nothing to be done. The girl's words brought secor up
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: with such a sudden and most unpleasant jolt, for he
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: realized the thing she had said voiced precisely his own
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: views in the matter, or rather what had been his
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: lifelong views up into a few moments before. For the
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: first time in his life, he felt that there was
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: something rather unfair, inhuman and cruel in a sentence that
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: the world passed on its unfortunate sisters. I know precisely
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: how you feel, he said at length, making no attempt
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: to lighten the gravity of her sin, for I too
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: have been taught to believe that same thing. But now
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: that I come to deal with this specific case, I
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: found that the old theory was of value only in
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: the abstract. It isn't human, and it isn't good sense.
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: There's no reason why you shouldn't lead a decent life
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: if you wish to. In fact that you haven't recently
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: done so was all the more reason that you should
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: commence now. It can't make things any better if you
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: go on as you have been, But as far as you,
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: yourself are concerned, and those you come in contact with,
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: it will be very much better. Indeed, if you live
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: as you should live during the balance of your life.
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: Why do you want to help me, asked the girl
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: Suddenly she had discovered that she had quite unexpectedly lost
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: sight of the motives which she believed had prompted the
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: young man to seek this interview. There have been nothing,
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: either in his words or manner, to support her suspicions.
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: Yet with her knowledge of men, it was difficult for
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: her to dismiss them. Secor hesitated a moment before replying
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: a half smile upon his lips. That is a difficult question,
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: he said. I never did anything of the sort before,
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: and I don't know why I have attempted it now.
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: If I tried to explain the psychology of it, I
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: should appear rather ridiculous. I fear I should like to know,
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: said the girl, if for no other reason than to
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: learn that I hadn't made a good guess as to
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: what you wanted. She had determined to prove her point
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: for her own satisfaction. And what did you think was
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: my reason? Asked Secor. She looked him straight in the eyes,
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: and without a smile, I said, quite simply to make
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: a date with me. To say that young mister Secor
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: was shocked would have been to put it too mildly
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: by far, But his expression gave no hint of the
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: disappointment and disgust that surged through him. And if that
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: were my reason, he asked, would you have accepted my
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: odd invitation? Why not? When she was about to add,
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: isn't your money as good as anybody's? But she found
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: herself faltering in her suspicion of this young man, and
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: a sudden sense of shame sent the red blood mantling
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: to her cheek. For a moment, he stood, looking straight
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: into her eyes until hers dropped suddenly in confusion. I
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: am sorry, he said, that you should have misconstrued my intentions.
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: His voice held a faint note of sadness and not
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: a little of disappointment. But as you have I should
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: try to give you my real reasons, at the risk
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: of appearing silly. I wish you would, she said. I
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: didn't want to think the other, but after my experience
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: with men, it was hard to believe that one of
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: them could go out of his way to perform an
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: unselfish act where a woman was concerned, A woman such
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: as I, she added, in a very faint whisper, I
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: wanted to help you, said to Secor, from the moment
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: that I saw your face and heard your voice in
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: the jury room. I couldn't believe that a girl like
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: you belonged in the underworld. It was not because of
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: the fact that you are a very beautiful girl, but
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: that your face and expression reflect a sweetness of character
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: that seemed entirely out of place in the life you
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: had been leading. There must have been a sudden, subconscious
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: appeal to the protective instinct that is supposed to have
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: been very strong and primitive man. And no other way
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: can I account for the immediate desire I had to
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: save you. Those are my reasons. If you can call
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: them reasons for asking me to wait here for me,
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: you will doubtless find them as ridiculous as they now
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: seemed to me. The girl's lips trembled, and she attempted
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: to speak, and the tears came to her eyes, so
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: that she had to turn away to hide her emotion.
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: It had been long, indeed, Sinceavan had spoken to her
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: and of her in this way. Her whole heart went
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: out to this stranger because of those few kindly words,
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: such words as her poor soul had been starving for
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: the want of during the long, hard months of her
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: living death. What do you wish me to do? She asked,
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: after she had regained control of her voice. Let me
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: help you find employment. That is all that you will
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: accept from any man. It is all that any decent
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: man should offer you, he replied. I will do whatever
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: you wish. She said simply. I'm going away tomorrow, he
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: went on, to be gone for several weeks. In the meantime,
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: I'll give you the name and address of a man
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: who can and will help you to at least temporary employment.
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: Keep in touch with him, and when I return, will
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: see what is best to be done and what sort
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: of work you are best qualified for. As he had spoke,
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: he had written a name and address up on a
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: leaf of his memorandum book. He tore the sheet out
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: and handed it to her without looking at it. She
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: slipped it into her handbag. And now goodbye and good luck,
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: he said, extending his hand to her. He must not
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: shake hands with it with me. She said, don't say that,
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: he replied, forget what you have been. You are that
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: no longer. I am wanting to shake hands with an
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: entirely new girl. And to prove that you intend to
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: be a new girl, you must let me, he smiled.
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: The clean, wholesome smile that made his strong, young face
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: doubly attractive. There was no refusing, ogden secor anything that
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: he asked when he smiled, and so the girl placed
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: her hand in his. This is the ratification of your pledge,
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: he said, I shall never doubt for a moment that
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: you keeping it until I returned. Then and bowing, he
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: left her there a new hope and a great happiness
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: in her heart. If one good man could forgive her
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: her past, there must be others. Possibly the world would
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: not be so hard upon her after all, Maybe there
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: was a chance for her to live as she wanted
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: to live, and to find the happiness that she so
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: craved and which she had thought was lost forever. Suddenly
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: she recalled that she did not know the name of
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: the man who had just left her. Well, that could
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: be easily ascertained. She had the name and address of
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: his friend. She would go to him at once and
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: take any employment that he can find for her. She
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: would work for a bare living if necessary, rather than
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: go back to the old life. She would do anything
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: for the man who had spoken to her. As this
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: young stranger had spoken eagerly, she opened her handbag and
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: withdrew the little slip of paper. As she read the name,
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: a cold wave of disappointment and bitterness chilled and blighted
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: the new happiness and hope that had filled her being.
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: The name on the paper was Reverend Theodora Person. End
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: of chapter four, chapter five of The Girl from Faris's
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: by Edgeraysborough's. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: Recording by Joe Denoia, Somerset, New Jersey, Chapter five, A
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: Friend in Need. It was a very disheartened girl or
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: found her way out of the Criminal Court building and
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: across the Dearborn Street bridge to the Loop. She was
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: wondering if her new friend were of the same type
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: of reformer as the reverend mister Person, would he want
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: her to narrate the story of her rescue for the
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: Sunday Editions upon his return. Then it occurred to her
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: that she would not see him when he came back
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: to the city, for she had no idea who he
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: might be, and she certainly would not go to the
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: Reverend mister Person to find out. It began to look
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: as if though she had made a false start after
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: all on her road to a new life at Lake
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: in Dearborn she stopped to purchase an evening paper, and
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: in the entrance to the nearby building she sought among
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: the wan as for a likely boarding house. She found
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: the dress far out on the south side, and a
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: moment later bordered the cottage Grove Avenue car at Wabash Avenue.
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: As she rode south, she tried to reach some definite
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: decision as to her future. She could go back to
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: the old life, and the young man would never no.
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: The chances are that he would not care if he
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: did know his act had been prompted by but the
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: passing kindness of a moment. If he ever thought of
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: her again, it would be but to inquire of his friend,
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: the reverend mister Person if she had applied to him
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: for aid, and finding that she had not, he would
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: promptly forget all about the incident. As she speculated upon
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: her future, her eyes wandered aimlessly over the printed page
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: of close set want ads in the paper in her hand.
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: Presently a notice caught her attention. Wanted neat girl for
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: general office work, small wages to start experience unnecessary apply
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: Kesner Building. Why not try it? She thought, He'll never know,
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: of course, But he was on the square. He wanted
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: to help me, and I can't believe that he is
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: like person. He wanted to give me a chance to
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: be the kind of girl he thought I looked like,
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: and why shouldn't I be? I can do that much, surely,
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: when all my inclamations lie in that direction. I haven't
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: wanted to be bad. God knows, and I guess I've
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: been a fool to think that I had to keep
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: on that way just because I had started. At twenty
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: fourth Street, a pimply faced young man boarded the car.
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: As he walked forward toward a front platform, a lighted
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: cigarette and his nicotine stained fingers, he turned to stare
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: into the face of every woman in the car. When
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: he came opposite the girl from Farris's, he stopped with
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: a broad grin upon his unclean face. Why hello there, mag,
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: he cried, When did you get out? And with the words,
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: he plumped into the seat at her side. This afternoon, Eddie,
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: she replied, quietly. Where to now, he asked, Mama, way
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: uptown to find a boarding place. Got a new job already,
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: he asked, Surprised, I'm cutting that out, Eddie, she said,
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: I'm going to be on the square after this, forget it,
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: he grinned. On the dead. Who's keeping you? He persisted, myself?
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: May beverly asked me to look you up, he remarked.
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: She says you promised to come there. I didn't think
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: she'd want me after that. Faris business, replied the girl.
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: The young man laughed, huh, what does she care? She
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: ain't gotten a love for Ferris. And besides, a chicken
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: with an angel face like yours can get anywhere in
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: the burg, but on the dead mag you're a boob
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: not to get your hoax onto some rich kazimbat. I
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: know a gink right now. I ought to pass me
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: out five hundred bones any time for a squad like you.
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: Say the word, I'll split it with you. The girl
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: looked at the man for a moment, and then turned
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: and gazed out the window. That's right, thinking over, said Eddie.
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: It's a good proposition, and that I ain't no dream.
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: He's not exactly pretty, but he's there with a bundle
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: of kale that would choke the Panama. He'd said, you
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: have in a swell apartment, plaster sparklers all over you,
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: and give you a year after next Model eight lunger
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: and a shuffer. You'd be the only cheese on Mish Boulevard.
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: The girl knew that ed was not romancing. And here
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: she had been thinking that she could not even get
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: into the Beverley Club. Here was easy money, riches, even
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: just for the taken, and she would be no worse
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: for it than she already was. She looked again at
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: the man beside her, and as she looked, she found
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: herself comparing him with the young man she had last
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: talked with. He too had come to her with an offer.
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: She glanced at the wannad lying face up in the
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: paper on her lap. Five dollars a week, she mused,
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: six at the most, What's that, asked Eddie. I didn't
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: get you. Eddie was smiling at her. She saw his smile,
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: but beyond it, she saw the smile of that other
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: young man. Eddie would have felt pain. Could he have
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: read the unvoiced comparison that shot into the girl's mind
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: as he looked at Eddie's yellow tooth on a wholesome smirk, Well,
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: asked Eddie. At last, shall I frame up a date? No,
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: said the girl, I think I've got a swell job already. Goodbye, Eddie.
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: Here's where I get off. She found the boarding house.
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: After paying a week's board in advance, returned to the loop,
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: seeking the Kesner Building on the eighteenth floor. She had
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: found the room number given in the wantad. There will
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: be fifteen other applicants already, said the man to whom
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: she had been directed by a typist near the door
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: to the office. But I haven't decided that any one
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: in particular. Yet there will be as many more and
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: tomorrow morning. Have you had any experience? No, the advertisement
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: said it was unnecessary. She replied, yes, of course, but
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: with so many applicants, I would naturally prefer to choose
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: an experienced girl. What have you been doing? The girl
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: hesitated nothing, she said finally, I've just come from the country.
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: What's your name, Lathrop, June Lathrom, she answered, giving him
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: her true name, for with her decision to commence life anew,
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: she had also decided to do so under her true colors.
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: There will be nothing in her future, determined that could
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: bring odium upon her father's name. Well, Miss Lathrop, said
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: he to be frank, you're the most likely looking of
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: the applicants so far, most of them have had experience,
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: but that doesn't count much against natural intelligence. And unless
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: I'm way off, you've got that. I'll tell you what.
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: You come back here tomorrow morning about nine thirty, and
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: if no one I liked better, I'd shown up by
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: that time. The job's yours. Good afternoon. For three months,
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: June left folded and enclosed circulars on the eighteenth floor
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: of the Kesner Building at the princely salary of six
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: dollars a week, as her board and room at the
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: place she had first elected cost her seven dollars a week.
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: It required but a rudimentary knowledge of hire mathematics to
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: convince her that she would either have to change positions
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: or boarding houses. She chose the latter alternative. The change
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: brought her into a neighborhood perilously closed to the red
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: light district. Several times she saw women she had known
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: in that other life. They passed her upon the street,
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: clothed in clinging silk and starred with many a scintillating gem.
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: June was careful to see that they did not have
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: a chance to recognize her. Our clothes were becoming a
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: trifle shabby, but they were neat and were warm with
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: indefinite air that some women can impart to rax. Not
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: once that she regretted the steps she had taken. For
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: the first time in months, she felt a growing interest
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: in life and a quiet contentment that was almost happiness,
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: as near to happiness, at least as she ever expected
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: to attain. She often smiled sadly to herself and recalling
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: upon how slight a thing the turning in her life
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: had hinged the clean smile and kindly interest of a stranger,
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: a man whose name even she did not know. Early
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: in her career, upon the eighteenth floor of the Kesner Building,
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: June had discovered that the road to higher wages paralleled
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: the acquirement of special training. Anyone could fold and enclose circulars.
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: There were always thousands of girls to be employed at
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: a moment's notice for this class of work. But even
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: here she discovered expertness demanded and received the highest wages,
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: so she made it a point to become expert. At
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: the end of the second month, she could handle a
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: greater volume of work in a day than any other
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: girl in the department, and with a lower percentage of errors.
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: Her wages were advanced to seven dollars, and she was
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: entrusted with the more important work of the department, and
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: the same room with her were several typists, and on
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: the floor below many stenographers. June discovered that the poorest
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: paid typist aren't a dollar a week more than she,
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: or at least received that much more. She determined to
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: become a typist, and with that end in view, practiced
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: during the noon hour each day under the guidance of
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: one of the regular typists. From her she learned that
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: some of the sonographers downstairs received as much as seventy
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: five dollars a month, almost three times her wage. That evening,
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: June enrolled in night school, where she could study stenography.
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: The venture necessitated the curtailment of expenses. It meant walking
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: to and from her work and finding a still cheap
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: room than that she had. Her new lodgings were near
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: the Loop. Here she had a tiny guest ove where
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: she cooked her slender meals two a day. Some days
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: at night she practiced and studied. In a month, she
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: could take ordinary dictation and transcribe ninety percent of it
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: quite as it had been dictated without being aware of it.
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: She had become some forty percent more efficient than most
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: stenographers ever become. Yet she felt that she was far
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: from the proficiency required to obtain or hold a position.
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: Then the blow fell her careful attention to her work
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: and the circularizing department. Her expertness lost her position for her.
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: It happens every day in the departments of big businesses
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: in every city. A slack season came, expenses must be curtailed.
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: The head of the house conferred with the manager of
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: her department. The payroll was the first item to be
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: considered in reducing expenses. It always is. Likewise, it was
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: the last thing. How many girls can you spare at
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: this season of the year, mister Brown asked the head
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: of the house. We can cut the force in two,
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: replied mister Brown, not because he thought so, but because
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: he thought the head of the house would like to
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: have him say it. Mister Brown had been up against
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: the same thing twice a year since he had assumed
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: the management of the department. He had found it far
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: easier to coincide with the wishes of his superior, especially
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: when the hysteria of retrenchment was abroad. Later, he could
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: employ other girls to bring this department up to a
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: respectable working basis. After the head of the house had
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: transferred his attention in hysteria to another department or another
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: field of endeavor. The head of the house glanced down
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: the payroll, a copy of which mister Brown had handed him. Hmm,
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: he said, seven dollars. Seven dollars is too much for
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: this class of work, mister Brown. When I started this business,
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: I had but one employee, a girl. She and I
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: did all the work. I used to work eighteen and
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: twenty hours a day, and if I had made seven
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: dollars a week clear the first year, I should have
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: been delighted. She worked nearly every night in Saturday afternoons
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: as well, and did it for three dollars a week.
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: You're paying your help altogether too much. I see you
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: have three girls in this department who are receiving seven
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: dollars a week. We will start with them. And he
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: made three little exes, one before the name of each
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: of the three. So June lost her job. When mister
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: Brown told her that he would not need her after
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: the following Saturday day, she was dumbfounded. Hasn't my work
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: been satisfactory, she asked, Yes, replied mister Brown, and then
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: as well as he could he explained the necessity for
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: cutting down the force, but just why it was necessary
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: to lay off his most efficient help he did not
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: attempt to explain that night, and from many days thereafter,
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: June scanned the want columns of the papers. She wrote
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: in reply to blind ads, letters that never received the response.
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: She called in answer to those that gave an adel,
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: But there was always something they wanted that she had lacked.
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: Quite often the positions were filled before she applied, and
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: then she discovered that she must wait upon the corner
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: near the office of the afternoon newspaper from which she
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: obtained her leads, seized one of the first copies that
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: came out to the street, and hastened to the addresses
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: of the more likely appearing ads if she were to
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: be in time to obtain a first hearing. In this
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: way she managed during the ensuing three or four months
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: to pick up half a dozen temporary positions at wages
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: ranging from five to nine dollars a week, but fully
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: half the time she was idle. She had been compelled
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: to give up to night school, but she still practiced
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: stenography at home. In her afternoons when she was out
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: of employment, she spent at the employment bureaus of various
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: typewriter companies, gaining speed on machines of different makes. She
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: had not sufficient confidence as yet to apply for a
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: position as typists. She was too inexperienced to know that
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: this is the sole asset of the majority of typists.
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: Four months after she lost her position in the Kesner building,
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: she was working in the bindery department of a small
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: job printing establishment at four dollars a week. Her clothes
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: were by this time far too shabby for her to
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: hope to obtain an office position, nor was there any
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: immediate likelihood that she would be able to save sufficient
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: money from her wages ever to purchase other clothing. But
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: even now she retained her courage, the hope was rapidly succumbing.
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: Poor and insufficient food had left its mark upon her pallid,
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: emaciated cheeks and dark ringed eyes. She had made no
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: friends among her coworkers. The good girl she avoided from
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: a sense of shame in her past. The others, with
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: their cheap immoralities, disgusted her. She would be one thing
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: or the other, all good or all bad. But she
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: could not abide those who sailed on their false colors,
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: assuming the respectability they did not have. She still retained
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: sufficient beauty to make her noticeable among other girls. It
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: was her sole possession of value. One day, she had
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: an opportunity to catch it. The man who ran a
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: print shop often walked through the bindery, inspecting her work.
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: On several occasions, he stopped and spoke to June about
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: the job that she happened to be engaged upon. He
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: was a middle aged man, rather good looking. There was
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: little or no indication of dissipation upon his face, and
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: yet June knew that he was a hunter. She had
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: heard snatches of conversation among the other girls, conversation that
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: made her blush hardened as she thought she was. One afternoon,
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: the four women told her that the boss wanted to
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: see her in his office. She hastened to respond to
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: the summons. Her employer smiled pleasantly. As she entered sit down,
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: he said, indicated the chair before his desk. June did
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: as he bit. How long have you been with us,
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: he asked, two weeks? She replied, I've been noticing your work,
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: and you, said the man, I think you're not getting
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: enough wages. I believe we can fix it. Up so
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: that you can earn ten dollars a week? How would
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: doth strike you? The girl's eyes narrowed, but the man
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: did not notice. I should be glad if I can
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: earn ten dollars a week, she replied, Well, suppose you
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: take dinner with me tonight and we'll talk it over.
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: I'm too busy just now, Well what do you say?
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: June looked him straight in the eyes, and then she laughed.
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: She thought of the apartment on Michigan Avenue, the eight
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: cylinder touring car, the chauffeur, the diamonds, all that she
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: had refused seven months ago. You poor boob, she said, he,
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: poor cheap boob. You. The man turned scarlet. He tried
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: to say something, but the words stuck in his throat.
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: June rose from her chair. Give me my time, please.
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: I've heard that there were men like you. Before I
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: went to work, I thought they were all like you.
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: But in all the offices I have worked, and I've
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: worked in a lot of them, you're the first man
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: that ever made a raw crack of me like that.
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: If you had had the nerve to come right out
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: and say what you wanted of me, I might have
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: at least had the little respect for you, but to
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: try to work that rotten old cradle robbing dinner game
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: on me, and offered me ten dollars a week and
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: work all day in the binary to boot. Give me
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: my four dollars and let me get out of here.
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: For two weeks, June saw other positions in vain. Her
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: money was gone and she owed for a week's room rent.
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: She had no food or prospects of food. She had
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: not eaten for twenty four hours, and then, as fate
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: would have it, she met Eddie on the street. Eddie
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: of the pimply face, the unclean nails and the stained fingers.
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: For the love of Mike, exclaimed Eddie, you surest thing
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: you know? Eddie, replied the girl, laughing, the sweetest looking
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: chicken on the line in rags, He said, what's the idea?
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: Meg got a job as one of them new she
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: cops and doing a little gumshoe work in disguise. No, Eddie,
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: I'm out of a job. Sudden enlightenment dawned upon Eddie's countenance.
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: Being on a square hasn't gotten you much, eh, No, Eddie,
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: it hasn't got me anything except an awful appetite and
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: nothing to satisfy it with. The young man looked into
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: her face searchingly. You're hungry, mag She didn't deny it.
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: He grasped her by the arm. You come along with me,
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: he commanded. I know a joint round the corner where
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: we can feed you up. Swell on four bits and
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: that's all I got just now. The girl drew back. No, Eddie,
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: she said, I can't sponge. Forget it, he cried, Do
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: you suppose I'll see an old pal hungry when I
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: got the price, not me? And then, as she still demurred,
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: his expression changed. Oh, he said, I forgot. You're on
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: the square now, so you'll be ashamed to be seen
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: with a dip like me. That's it. Well, I don't know,
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: but you're right. You can't be too careful. It's not it, Eddie,
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: and you know it, she cried. But I've been trying
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: so hard to make good. I haven't asked anybody for help,
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: and I've been on the square all the time. I
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: hate to have to fall back on charity now, charity nothing,
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 1: he exploded. You'd do as much for me if I
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: was down and out. Come along now we'll get you
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: the price you can feed me up in return, if
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: you feel that way about it. So they went together
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: to the joint around the corner, where they can get
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 1: a swell feed for two and fifty cents. What do
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: you think of this virtue? Lay by this time, asked Eddie,
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: after they had partially satisfied the cravings of the inner
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: man and woman. I guess it's his own reward, all right, enough,
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: replied the girl. Eddie was silent for the moment. Do
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: you remember me telling you about the old bloke the
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: last time I seen you? He asked presently, Yes, that
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: proposition is still open. She reached across the table and
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: laid her hand upon his stained fingers. Don't, Eddie, she said,
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: I'm trying hard to fight a temptation to go back
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: where there's plenty of easy money and good clothes and
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: enough to eat. I want to be on the square, though, Eddie,
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: so don't make it harder for me. He patted her hand.
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: You're the real goods, mag he said. I thought you
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: were just four flushed in that time he told me
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: you'd quit the gay life. But I guess it takes
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: more than four flush for a girl like you to
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: wear them clothes and starve the boots just for the
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: sake of being decent. I won't say nothing more about
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: the proposition, but if I can help you any other way.
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: Why you got my number? Gee, he continued, wish I
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: had your nerve. I tried a dozen times to quit
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: and be decent. Put the easy money down here, always
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: got me that and the coke. Tell me all you've
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: been doing since I've seen you, and what's went wrong?
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: You couldn't get a job. She related her experiences, closing
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: with the account of the print shop man. The cheapskate exclaimed, Eddie,
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: give me his number and I'll hug down his way
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: tomorrow and touch him for always gotten his jeans. He'll
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: teach him a lesson. No, Eddie, that wouldn't be setting
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: me a very good example of being decent, would it.
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: The man laughed? But say, he said, why is it
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: you don't go after a swell steno job. You say
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: they told you down at the typewriter joint that you
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: was the real cheese and ought to hold any job
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: you can cop off. Yes, I know they did, she replied,
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: but they intimated that they couldn't send me out an
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: answer to a call as I got better clothes. You
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: can't buy much on four hours a week, Eddie, especially
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: if you only get the four some weeks. Eddie sat
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: for a moment in deep thought. Then he rose and
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: reached for his hat. You sit tight there for about
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: ten minutes, Maggie said, And I'll be right back. I
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: got some business up the street. I want to see
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: you again when I come back. You won't duck, will you.
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: I'll wait for you, Eddie. The man stopped at the
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: cashier's desk and paid the two checks. Then he hurried
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: out into the brilliantly lighted street. It was fifteen minutes
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: before he returned, and when he took his place at
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: the table opposite her, the girl did not know that
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: he no longer wore a diamond stickpin, a watch of gold,
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: and the diamond ring. Here, he said, shoving a roll
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: of bills across the table at her. Here's a stake
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: for them, swill clothes. You need to land a decent job.
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: End of chapter five, chapter six of The Girl from
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: Faris's by Garrice Boroughs. This LibriVox recording is in the
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: public domain. Recording by Joe Denoia Somerset, New Jersey, Chapter six,
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: Sea Corps Fiance long before mister Ogden's Seacorp returned to
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: the city after his Grand Jury's service had terminated, then
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: released him to attend to his own affairs. He had
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: completely forgotten the girl from Paris's and the promise of
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: assistance to her. It was fully a month after his
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: return that he was reminded of the affair by the
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: sight of the Reverend mister Person at the home of
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: Sea Corps Fiance, where both had dropped in late afternoon.
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: By the way, mister Person said, secor did a girl
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: I sent to you for assistance? Ever reply? She was
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: the girl from Faris's in that case that was brought
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: before the Grand Jury of which I was the foremant. No,
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: said the Reverend mister Person. She did not come to me.
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: I went to her the very day that Ferris was
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: arrested and offered to help her. But I found her
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: entirely unresponsive to my advances. In fact, she seemed totally depraved,
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: and though I labored with her, I was finally forced
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: at the conclusion that she was one of those hopelessly
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: lost women which nothing but death can remove from the
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: evil life. They cling to by preference. Strange, said mister Secor.
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: She completely deceived me. I could have sworn that she
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: was not innately vicious, and that of giving the chance,
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: she might easily have been helped to a better way
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: of living. No, said the reverend mister Person. I did
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: my poor, weak best, but it was all to no avail.
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 1: Too bad, said mister Secor, and that would have been
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: the end of it, had not been planning the perpetration
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: of an odd trick upon him. Sophia Wells entered at
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: that moment, and both men arose to greet her. I
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: have come to beg again, Wells, said mister Person. To
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: find in our society for the uplift of erring women
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: is sadly indeed of funds. The secretary's salary is a
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: month in arrears, the stenotiffer and the two investigators have
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: not been paid in two weeks, and the rent is
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: several days overdue. Well Well, murmured Miss Wells sympathetically. That
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: is too bad. We must certainly do something at once.
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: How much do you need and what can you rely
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: upon from other sources? We need about two hundred dollars
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: at once, replied the clergyman, and some arrangement would be
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: very advantageous that would share us a permanent income of
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty or three hundred dollars per month.
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: I will subscribe fifty dollars toward the emergency fund at once,
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: said Miss Wells. She looked expectantly towards mister Secorp. What
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: is the nature of the work done by the society?
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: Asked that gentleman. The name of the society is self explanatory,
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: returned mister person A Society for the Uplift of Erring Women. Roughly,
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: mister Seacord inquired, how does it function? Our investigators call
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: upon the women whose cases come to our attention, usually
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: through municipal court records, and endeavor to prevail upon them
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: to attend our Monday Evening Uplift Circle. The meetings are
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: held in the church every Monday, except during July and August.
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: Here we enjoy a short song service followed by prayer,
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: and then the women listen to helpful talks by the
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: noble women who are sacrificing their Monday evenings to their
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: poor fallen sisters. Do many of the women you seek
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: to aid to tend these meetings? Asked mister Secor, Unfortunately
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: no admitted mister person, possibly five or six on an average.
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: I should say. The unfortunate part of it is that
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: they seem so little real desire to embrace the opportunity
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: we're offering them to begin life. Anew that seldom, if ever,
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: the same women attend our uplift circle a second time.
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: You have no conception, mister Secor, how discouraging his labor
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: of this nature. The utter indifference and ingratitude of those
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 1: we would help is the first and greatest obstacle of
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: our work. Just how would you help them, practically, inquired,
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: mister Secor. By contact with good women, by the beauties
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: of scripture, by helpful suggestions, an example, by impressing upon
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: them their degradation. By do you find remunerative employment for them?
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 1: Ask for, mister Secor, we have not gone thus far
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: as yet, and that is the ultimate object, of course,
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: I should think that it would be the primary object.
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: Between meetings, they go back and earn their livings in
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 1: the old way. If you accomplished anything, it is undone
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 1: at once. It is difficult to find people who will
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: employ these women. Once we explain this sort of people,
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: they are replied mister person, but that we hope to
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: be able to do when we have sufficient funds to
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: employ more assistance. You have placed none of them in
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 1: decent employment, then asked mister Seacor not as yet. It
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: takes time to accomplish great reforms. Rome was not. Yes,
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: of course, interrupted mister Secork. But looking at the matter
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: from a purely business standpoint, I cannot see how you
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: are going to raise sufficient funds to carry on any
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 1: work until you have accomplished something practical with what we have.
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 1: If four or five paid workers, with the assistance of
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: any number of volunteers, have been unable to affect the
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: regeneration of not a single woman in the six or
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: eight months that the society has been organized, I should
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 1: consider it a rather risky investment to subscribe any considerable
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: amount for the continuation of the work. I don't wish
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: to discourage you, continued mister Seacork kindly, but charities to
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: be effective must be treated just as one would treat
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: a business proposition. If a given charity is not producing results,
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 1: it would be better to divert our money to other channels.
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: There are several well managed charities I understand that are
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: doing considerable practical good. Then you think that the Society
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: for the Uplift of very Women is poorly managed, asked
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: mister Person, A trifle acridly. It may be, and it
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: may not. There are some things which cannot be done
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: in practical things. This may be one of them. Or
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: the methods of the Society may be faulty. Of course,
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 1: I am in no position to judge, nor do I
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: wish to criticize. I can assure you that my cousin,
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: Miss Peebles, is a very conscientious woman, said mister Person,
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: and is doing a noble work intelligently. Oh, said mister Seacor,
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: I ask your pardon. I did not know that the
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 1: secretary of Society is your cousin. She is, continued mister Person.
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: And the other active workers in the society are relatives
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 1: of the good women who are aiding us in our
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: thankless task. You mean by active workers those who are
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: on salary, not being financially able to devote their time
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: to the work gratuitously, explained mister Person. I think said
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: that the Society is doing a very noble work under
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: adverse conditions, and that we should do all in our
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: power to help it. Financially as well as to give
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: it our moral support. It is very easy Ogden to criticize.
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: I am sorry, said mister Seacorr if I seem to
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: disparage the work of the Society, But knowing as I do,
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 1: that is rather a pet of yours, Sophia. I wanted
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 1: to do something really worthwhile for it if my money
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: would do any good. There is no value in throwing
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: money away for sentiment when there are so many places
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: where it can be used for practical advantage. I should
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: like very much to talk with Miss Peebles, and if
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 1: I find it there is a good foundation for the
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 1: belief that fallen women can be really saved or benefited
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: through your organization, I shall be most happy to subscribe
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: towards an endowment fund and influence my friends to do likewise.
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: That is very kind of you, mister Seagor, said mister Person,
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: relaxing as he sent it a substantial donation. Where is
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: the office of the Society, asked mister Seacor. I shall
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: make it a point to see Miss Pebles tomorrow. The
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: office is in the church, said mister Person. You will
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 1: find miss Peoples there about eleven o'clock. She's usually there
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: between eleven and twelve d I thought, from your reference
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 1: to rent, remarked mister Seacor, that the society probably had
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: a downtown office. No, replied mister Person. We felt that,
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: as long as the Society would have to pay rent,
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: be better to give this rent to the church rather
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 1: than to outsiders. And we have made the amount very
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 1: much smaller than the society could have obtained similar space
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 1: for in the loop, Oh, said mister Seacor. I see, well, then,
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 1: if possible, I should call upon miss Peoples tomorrow, but
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 1: do not tell her to expect, for I may find
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: business engagements will prevent my seeing her before the first
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: of the week. I hope not, mister Person said, for
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 1: I'm sure that miss Peoples can explain the work and
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: scope with a society much more interestingly than I, And
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: in my poor weak way, we might look up that
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: girl from varus Is, again, suggested mister Seacoor, and see
• 1:13:43
  Speaker 1: what missus Peeples can do for her. She is too degraded.
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: I am afraid ever to respond to the kind offices
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 1: of good men and women. I think that she prefers
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: her present life, sad as it may seem to us.
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: Poor thing I tried so hard to win her to godliness.
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: But I must be going now. I am so very
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: glad to have met you again, mister Seacor, that we
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: not hope to see you often are at our little
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: church gatherings. In my poor weak way, I shall endeavor
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: to make you welcome just a moment, mister Person, said
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: Miss Wells, until I make out a check for the
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: Uplift Society. After the reverend mister Person had departed with
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: his check, sophiad turned to Seacor. Isn't he splendid? She exclaimed,
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: So noble and sincere in his desire to better his
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: fellow man, so magnanimous in his practical relations with the
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: poor creatures of the underworld. Rather nice chap to have
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 1: for a cousin, I should say, for one in quest
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: of remunerative employment with short hours, replied mister Seacor, with
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: a trace of dryness. Miss Wells looked at her fiance sharply.
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: How perfectly unkind ogden, she exclaimed, Really, I've never had
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: thought it from you. Mister Person is one of nature's
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: own noblemen. All right, Sophie, we won't quarrel, but mister Person,
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: although I must say that his attitude toward the girl
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: I spoke to him about is a decent sample of
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: his magnanimous practicality or whatever you called it. I'm afraid
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 1: it won't carry him very far in that class of work,
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 1: and you won't help him, she asked, if you wish
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 1: me to yes, he replied, but if you were not interested,
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: I should feel that I'd rather contribute my money directly
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 1: to the support of the indigen cousin and his church,
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: rather than through the medium of the society for the
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: uplift of very women. He'd get it all then, and
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have to whack up with the indigent relatives of
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: the noble women who sacrifice their Monday evenings except our
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 1: in July and August, to the uplift of their flesh
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: fortunate sisters. You are entirely horrid to day, Ogden, pouted
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 1: Miss Wells. You do not like mister person. Bless you child.
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 1: I don't know him. I've met him here perhaps half
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 1: a dozen times here and in the newspapers. About all
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: I've noticed about him is the poor weak way he
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: has of getting into print. Miss Wells flushed. She had
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: heard the criticism of her hero before you are just
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: like father, she said. He can't or won't understand how
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: much mister Person shrinks from the unpleasant notoriety his great
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: reform work forces upon him. Like you, Father seems to
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 1: imagine that he courts publicity, while as a matter of fact,
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 1: he suffers it solely because he cannot avoid it, and
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: because he knows that only by bringing the conditions of
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: vice that exists in the city clearly before the people
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: can they be awakened to the gravity of the issue
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: which confronts them. I think the fact that he goes
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: on and on, regardless of the frequency with which the
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: newspapers drag his name into publicity, is one of the
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: finest things about him. It proves conclusively his sincerity and
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: his manly courage. All Right, Sophie replied secor with one
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 1: of his pleasant smiles. If he succeeds in saving a
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 1: single woman during his lifetime, he will not have lived
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 1: in vain, and there's every reason to hope for the best.
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: Mister Person is still a very young man. The talk
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: drifted then from mister Person in reform to more personal
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 1: and intimate matters. They discussed their plans for the future
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 1: Seacorp broached the subject of a wedding date for the
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 1: hundredth time, and for the hundredth time, so Fia Well's
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: connom bring herself to be very definite in the matter.
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: She fully intended to marry ogden Secor. She had not
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: worked laboriously a whole year to that man with any
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 1: intention of relinquishing her prize now that she had won it.
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: But miss Wells was in no great haste to wed.
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: She loved Seacor as well as she knew how. He
• 1:16:53
  Speaker 1: was quite good looking, had plenty of wealth in a
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 1: social position second to none in the city. Had he
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 1: had nothing but the soul position, miss Wells could not
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: have found in her heart to give him up. But
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: with such a combination of assets, he was by far
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: the best catch in many a season. She had come
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: from a small Indiana town where her father had made
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 1: several fortunes in the automobile industry, saving them all and
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: investing them wisely. She did not need to marry for money,
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: though an alliance that would combine the wealth that would
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: one day be hers with that of a wealthy husband
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: was not to be ignored. What she did need was
• 1:17:23
  Speaker 1: a stepping stone. The social position she craved, but could
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 1: not attain on the strength of her own name. Both
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 1: she and her mother considered Ogden Secor an ideal steppingstone,
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 1: though neither had ever mentioned such a thing to the other.
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, the wells Is were extremely
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 1: nice people, refined, educated, cultured. Much nicer if the truth
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 1: could have found a champion of sufficient bravery to admit
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 1: it than many of the families to whose homes the
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 1: feminine contingent of the Wells household craved entry, But their
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 1: name was unknown in this new environment. They had never
• 1:17:53
  Speaker 1: graced a special brand of ham. It had never been
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: intimately related, and for generations with the filth and crime
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: of the politics the municipalit, it did not blazon itself
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: before the public eye from above the doorways of one
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 1: hundred and ten cent lunch counters. No, the Wells were new, unknown,
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 1: They did not belong what they meant to Ogden siccur
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: had always known nice girls, pretty girls, rich girls. He
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 1: did not succumb to the wiles of Sophia Wells at
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: first sight, for she had nothing due to offer him.
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 1: But she had had that way with her which some
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: even have of suggesting to a man a manner of
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: priororship over them a something that appeals to the protective
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: instinct of the male. It is done insiduously. You cannot
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: put your finger on the single act that typifies it.
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 1: Yet before long the man comes to feel, without thinking
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 1: about it, perhaps that the woman belongs to him in
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: a way. Then she plays her trump card. Just when
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 1: she has him resting easily and comfortably in the belief
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: that she looks to him for advising guidance, she traps
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: him into an attempt to exercise the power he thinks
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 1: is his. Then she pulls him over merrily and does
• 1:18:53
  Speaker 1: precisely as she pleases. What is the result, take away
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: from a man by force something that he has come
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 1: to believe he possessed, and you created a burning desire
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 1: for the thing, though maybe before he would not have
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: given a nickel for it. So when Ogden Secord discovered
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: that miss Wells admitted not his proprietorship over her, he
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 1: immediately craved a real proprietorship, and the result was he
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 1: discovered that he loved her. They had been engaged now
• 1:19:15
  Speaker 1: for three months, but the wedding days seemed as far
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 1: in the future as ever. Miss Wells was having excellent
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: time as the fiancee of mister Auden Seacor. Already she
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 1: had tasted of the fruits of conquest. Doors had opened
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: to her that had previously been impregnable. She was in
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: no haste to relinquish her freedom. The sudden death of
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: the elder Sea Cort early in the spring had, of course,
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 1: necessitated a delay in the wedding plans. For both miss
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: and missus Wells desired of pretentious ceremony. It seemed now
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: that a year at least must elapsed before the marriage
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 1: could take place. As for mister Seacor, he attempted to
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 1: persuade his betrothed to slip away with him and be
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: quietly married in some nearby town. Her father and mother
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: could accompany them, and everything would be regular and lovely.
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: He hated the idea of the circus, as he called
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: the affair the two women were planning, but they would
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 1: not list to him. Several times during the winter, Secor
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: met with the Reverend, mister Person and Miss Wells. The
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 1: more he saw of him, the less he liked him,
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 1: and the more he let Miss Wells see that he
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: disliked her parson, the more loyal she became. To him,
• 1:20:13
  Speaker 1: won would think that you were engaged to person instead
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 1: of to me, complained mister Secor. On one occasion. He's
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: becoming a regular pest. I can scarcely ever find an
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 1: opportunity to see you alone. Does he know that we
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 1: are engaged? Has he any sense? He is a great
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 1: deal of sense, Ogden, she replied, And he knows that
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: we are engaged. He also knows that you do not
• 1:20:30
  Speaker 1: like him. He's told me so. Then why did he
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 1: persist in hanging around while I am here, Sophie? He demanded.
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: I think he must to show his friendliness towards you
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: and to win your friendship. I think he is perfectly
• 1:20:41
  Speaker 1: sweet and noble of him, a sort of martyrdom to
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: brotherly love. As it were carefully edited, mister Seguar's reply
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 1: would read, oh pivol Ogden, how can you? She cried,
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 1: I didn't know you had such an uncharitable strain in
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: your make up. Clay feet will out, he laughed, good naturedly.
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 1: But really, Sophie, I'm sorry I was nasty. Forgive me,
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 1: and I'll do my best to let your parson in
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: my poor weak way. You'll have to let him out in,
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 1: she replied, for we are bound to see a great
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 1: deal of him in the work I am trying to do.
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: His assistance is invaluable. I am sure that the three
• 1:21:11
  Speaker 1: of us can accomplish a great deal of good in
• 1:21:13
  Speaker 1: this city. Could we but work in harmony wholeheartedly for
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 1: the uplift? Anything to make you happy, Sophie, he said,
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: and then the conversation turned to other things. When he left,
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: she watched him as he walked to the curb and
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: entered his car. Miss Wells was very proud of her fiance.
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: She noted his splendid carriage, his strong face, and well
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: set head, and then she sighed. She wished that he
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 1: understood her hopes and aspirations and was in sympathy with him,
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 1: as was well mister Person, for example, he understood. She
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 1: found herself quite unexpectedly wondering why feet had not given
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 1: mister Person a fat bank account and an old and
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 1: socially honored name. How much more he could have accomplished?
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 1: Thus bucklerd for the fight end of chapter six, chapter
• 1:22:01
  Speaker 1: seven of The Girl from Faris's by Eggeris Boroughs. This
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Joe Denoia, Somerset,
• 1:22:09
  Speaker 1: New Jersey, chapter seven, June's employer. Late in December, mister
• 1:22:14
  Speaker 1: Seacor was called to New York on a matter of business.
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 1: I'll be gone two or three weeks, Stickler, he said
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 1: to his office manager, and it'll be an excellent time
• 1:22:21
  Speaker 1: to break in Miss Smith's successor. She'll be with us
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 1: until the first of January, and that'll give her time
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 1: to coach whoever you employ in her stead. Be sure
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 1: you get a young woman of intelligence and have her
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 1: well versed in her duties before I return. I won't
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 1: want to have to suffer the sorrow's incident to breaking
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 1: in a new sonatra for myself with a bunch of
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 1: accumulated matter piling up and waiting for me. Yes, sir,
• 1:22:41
  Speaker 1: replied mister Stickler. I'll see that you have a second
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 1: Miss Smith, if this one to be found in the city.
• 1:22:45
  Speaker 1: Too bad she had to go and get married just
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 1: when she was becoming invaluable. Very inconsiderate of her, Stickler,
• 1:22:51
  Speaker 1: I'm sure, said Secor, laughing. So mister Stickler inserted want
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 1: ads in three papers and telephone to the employment departments
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 1: of three typewriter manufacturers. As it so hap and that
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 1: the following day, June Leathrup, decently clothed with the money
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 1: from Eddie's jewelry, walked into one of these departments asking
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 1: for an assignment. The woman in charge looked up with
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 1: a smile. Why, good morning, miss Lathrup, she said, Where
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: in the world have you been? I thought we'd lost
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 1: you entirely. She had never before realized what a really
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 1: beautiful girl, Miss Lathrop was a few months since, she
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: had explained to her as kindly a way as possible,
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 1: that would be impossible for her to place her in
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 1: the class of offices to which they catered unless she
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: could become better clothed. She had not seen her again
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 1: after the interview until now, and she had often wondered
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 1: if she had offended the girl. Oh, I've been doing
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 1: temporary work about town, answered June, but now I want
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 1: a chance at a permanent position. Haven't you something you
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 1: can send me out on? Something really good? I've just
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 1: the thing, miss Lathrup, replied the woman, Fingering through a
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 1: number of index cards in a little box on her desk,
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 1: Presently she found what she sought, and for a moment
• 1:23:47
  Speaker 1: was busy transcribing the contents of the card to a
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 1: blank form. Here, she said, Finally, go to this number
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 1: in the railway Exchange and ask from mister Stickler. He
• 1:23:56
  Speaker 1: wants a girl of more experience than you have had.
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 1: But I really believe that you are fully competed to
• 1:24:00
  Speaker 1: fill a position satisfactorily, and I have told him so
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 1: in this note. I have asked him to give you
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 1: a trial. I don't know how I can thank you enough,
• 1:24:07
  Speaker 1: cried the girl. I shall make good for I must
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 1: make good. Good luck then called woman. As June left
• 1:24:12
  Speaker 1: in the Railway Exchange building, June found the sweet number
• 1:24:15
  Speaker 1: she sought. The door of the main office was open,
• 1:24:17
  Speaker 1: and she did not see the lettering upon it. As
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 1: she entered. She wondered what the nature of the business
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 1: might be, but that it was profitable was evidenced by
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 1: the thick carpet upon the floor of the outer office
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 1: and by the simple elegance of the desks at which
• 1:24:28
  Speaker 1: a number of clerks were working. At the information desk,
• 1:24:31
  Speaker 1: June asked her mister Stickler, presenting her note of introduction
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: to the office boy in charge. He was a tall,
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 1: sumber youth of sixteen who looked fully twenty one. He
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 1: eyed June from beneath stern brows, and then slunk silently
• 1:24:42
  Speaker 1: towards the mahogany door upon the opposite side of the
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 1: general office. Here he turned cautiously to cast a sudden,
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 1: veiled look of suspicion in the girl's direction. How perfectly weird,
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 1: she thought, He makes me feel as though I were
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 1: a sneak thief. Three minutes later, June turned with a
• 1:24:56
  Speaker 1: little jump to find the young man standing just behind her,
• 1:24:58
  Speaker 1: scowling down upon her in them most malevolent manner. He
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: had left the private office by another door and entered
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 1: the reception hall from the main corridor of the building. Oh,
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: she exclaimed, you startled me. The youth almost smiled. Come,
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 1: he whispered, follow me, and on silent feet he led
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 1: her toward the private office across the room. Here she
• 1:25:15
  Speaker 1: was ushered into the presence of mister Stickler, a bald
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 1: headed man with a thick neck and close set eyes.
• 1:25:20
  Speaker 1: At sight of the girl's face, mister Stickler beamed pleasantly.
• 1:25:24
  Speaker 1: Good morning, he said, have a chair, you come well recommended.
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: I see missus Carson has failed to furnish us with
• 1:25:30
  Speaker 1: the most competent help we have had. She tells me
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: that you have a little practical experience, but she is
• 1:25:34
  Speaker 1: positive he can do our work most satisfactorily if it's
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 1: not too technical. I'm sure I can, replied June. There's
• 1:25:41
  Speaker 1: nothing about it, but we can be learned quickly if
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: you set yourself to it, replied mister Stickler kindly. He
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 1: had interviewed a dozen applicants already and he was tiring
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: of the job. This was the first who had been
• 1:25:50
  Speaker 1: good to look at, and good looks were a primary
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: requisite to employ under mister Stickler. June's face had won
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 1: more than half the battle for her. Would you mind
• 1:25:58
  Speaker 1: taking little dictation now and transcribing it for me as
• 1:26:00
  Speaker 1: a sort of test, you know? He asked, Not at all.
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: I should be very glad to she replied. Good, He exclaimed.
• 1:26:06
  Speaker 1: There are many applicants who will not take a test.
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: They say it is unfair. It is as fair for
• 1:26:10
  Speaker 1: one as another. She replied, I cannot see how you
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: were to judge as to my qualifications in any other way.
• 1:26:16
  Speaker 1: Mister Stickler drew a notebook and pencil from his desk,
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 1: and Juden removed her wraps and gloves. For five minutes,
• 1:26:22
  Speaker 1: he dictated continuously and rather rapidly. But he enunciated his
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 1: words distinctly, and not once did Judne find it necessary
• 1:26:27
  Speaker 1: to stop him or asked for a repetition. When he
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 1: had finished, he sat back in his chair and smiled
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: at her. He had purposely made a test unusually hard,
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 1: for he had decided that the girl would do. She
• 1:26:37
  Speaker 1: was too good looking to be lost, and so he
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 1: wanted to excuse in case she fell down to the test.
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 1: If he had made it exceptionally difficult, it would not
• 1:26:44
  Speaker 1: prove that she was incoonfidence should she make numerous errors,
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 1: For even an easy test is a nerve wracking experience,
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 1: and the best of sonographers often fall down through nervousness.
• 1:26:53
  Speaker 1: Of course, if the result proved that she was absolutely hopeless,
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 1: he could not employ her. But if she showed the
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 1: slightest indication of ability, you would give her a trial.
• 1:27:01
  Speaker 1: You think you got it, he asked, why, of course,
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 1: she replied, surprised good. I made it as hard as
• 1:27:06
  Speaker 1: I could. If you can transcribe that with less than
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 1: ten percent errors, you'll be doing speedilidly. For one entirely
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 1: unaccustomed to my dictation and the terms I used, Where
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 1: can I find a machine, she asked. Mister Stickler touched
• 1:27:17
  Speaker 1: a bell. Miss Smith, he said to the young lady
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 1: who entered in response to his summons, This is miss Lethrop.
• 1:27:22
  Speaker 1: She had just taken a test. Will you let her
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 1: use your machine please to transcribe for a few minutes. Certainly,
• 1:27:28
  Speaker 1: come with me, miss Lathrop, and she led June to
• 1:27:30
  Speaker 1: a small room off the private office. In ten minutes,
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: June knocked upon mister Stickler's door. Come in, he called,
• 1:27:36
  Speaker 1: and he saw who was stuck, he asked, with a smile,
• 1:27:39
  Speaker 1: No indeed, I finished. Well, well that's fine, let me
• 1:27:42
  Speaker 1: see it. June handed him a typewritten sheet, standing before
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 1: him as he scanned it. Excellent, he said when he
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 1: finished reading it. Excellent, not in error. I think I
• 1:27:50
  Speaker 1: need look no further, missus Lathrup. If we can arrange
• 1:27:53
  Speaker 1: the question of wages satisfactorily be seated. Please, Now, what
• 1:27:56
  Speaker 1: do you believe would satisfy you to start? I'd rather
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 1: leave that to you, said June. Miss Smith has been
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 1: with us for five years, said mister Stickler. She's leaving
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 1: us on the first to be married. We pay her
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 1: twenty five dollars a week. On the first. She had
• 1:28:09
  Speaker 1: been raised to thirty, as she remained, would you care
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 1: to start at twenty with every assurance of an increase
• 1:28:14
  Speaker 1: as soon as you're familiar with our work. Nine dollars
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 1: a week was the largest wage June had ever received
• 1:28:19
  Speaker 1: since she left Ferris's, and that before a single week
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: in a temporary position, would she except twenty. She tried
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 1: not to look too eager. With difficulty, she seemed to hesitate,
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: as though weighing in her mind the possibilities of the
• 1:28:30
  Speaker 1: future against the present small pittance that had been offered her.
• 1:28:33
  Speaker 1: Mister Stickler eyed her steadily. The hours are not bad,
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 1: he commenced, I do not care anything about the hours.
• 1:28:38
  Speaker 1: She replied. Mister Stickler had it on his tongues, and
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 1: to raise it to twenty five. There were few girls
• 1:28:43
  Speaker 1: applying for the position who did not ask what the
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 1: hours were at the first opportunity they had. Here was
• 1:28:48
  Speaker 1: an exceptionally rapid and accurate scenographer who cared nothing about hours.
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 1: She indeed was defined, and further, she was the finest
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 1: looking girl he had ever seen in his life. But
• 1:28:57
  Speaker 1: before he had an opportunity, June spoke, I think it
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: will be satisfactory. She said, When shall you want me?
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: When can you come any time? Eight thirty tomorrow morning,
• 1:29:07
  Speaker 1: Thank you, said June. I'll be here promptly. Good day,
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 1: Good day, Miss LeVert. In the reception hall, the fertive
• 1:29:12
  Speaker 1: eyed office's boy shot a keen glance at the young
• 1:29:14
  Speaker 1: woman through half closed lids as he looked up for
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: some loose printed sheets over which he had been bent
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 1: in close study. He saw her glance at the name
• 1:29:21
  Speaker 1: of the door, which was now visible to her. As
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: she approached the doorway. He saw her give a sudden
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 1: start and pale, as though she had seen a dead man.
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 1: Her hands went suddenly to her breast, and she stood
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 1: wide eyed, gazing in horror at the neat black lettering
• 1:29:33
  Speaker 1: of the name. Then she caught the boy's eyes upon her,
• 1:29:35
  Speaker 1: and with a little effort, she regained her composure and
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 1: walked calmly from the office John Seacor and Co. She
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 1: murmured to himself, my God, I can never do it.
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 1: But she did, and the next morning found her at
• 1:29:45
  Speaker 1: work in the mahogany furnished in her office of John
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 1: Seacor and Cow. The girl could not recall that she
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 1: had spent such another night of indecision and anguish for
• 1:29:52
  Speaker 1: many a long month, until with the close approach of dawn,
• 1:29:55
  Speaker 1: she had determined dislifle the sorrow and loathing the thought
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 1: of constant employment in that office induced, and take the
• 1:30:00
  Speaker 1: position The twenty dollars a week meant to her possibly
• 1:30:03
  Speaker 1: life itself, as well as the means of pursuing the
• 1:30:06
  Speaker 1: straight and narrow path upon which the young man smiled
• 1:30:08
  Speaker 1: had set her feet. She had often wondered about him,
• 1:30:10
  Speaker 1: and if she should ever see him again, some days
• 1:30:13
  Speaker 1: she would like to thank him, she felt, for what
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 1: he had done for her. Doubtless he had forgotten both
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 1: her and the incident. She rather hoped he had. With
• 1:30:21
  Speaker 1: her first week's pay, June Parsley repaid Eddie the Dip
• 1:30:23
  Speaker 1: the money he had loaned her for this purpose. She
• 1:30:26
  Speaker 1: met him at a little joint around the corner where
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 1: one can feed up swell on two bits. Eddie was
• 1:30:31
  Speaker 1: apparently as delighted with June's success as she herself, and
• 1:30:34
  Speaker 1: that his pleasure was sincere was evidenced by the genuine disinclination.
• 1:30:37
  Speaker 1: He showed to accept a return to his money, but
• 1:30:39
  Speaker 1: the girl insisted, and at last Eddie took the bills reluctantly.
• 1:30:42
  Speaker 1: In the far corner of the dingy restaurant, a heavy
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 1: man sat alone at a little table. He had been
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 1: buried in the evening paper as the two had entered,
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 1: so he had not noticed them. When finally he looked up,
• 1:30:51
  Speaker 1: running his shrewd eyes quickly about the room, he recognized
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 1: Eddie the Dipp, who sat facing him upon the further
• 1:30:56
  Speaker 1: side of the eating place, near the cashier's desk. No
• 1:30:59
  Speaker 1: changed expression, and marked his recognition immediately. He resumed his paper,
• 1:31:02
  Speaker 1: turning in his chair so that while appearing to be reading,
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: he might surreptitiously watch the newcomers through the fly specked
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 1: mirror that circled the room above the wains gun. He
• 1:31:10
  Speaker 1: had no further interest in them than that of semi
• 1:31:11
  Speaker 1: official curiosity, and having recognized the man, he wished to
• 1:31:14
  Speaker 1: discover the identity of his companion. It was not until
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 1: the two rose to leave that the girl turned her
• 1:31:19
  Speaker 1: head so that the man in the far corner caught
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 1: a view of her features. At sight of them, he
• 1:31:22
  Speaker 1: pursed his lips into a silent whistle of surprise. Then
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: Eddie to Dip pay the checks, and the two passed
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 1: out into a brilliantly lighted street. The man at the
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 1: table drew a notebook from his pocket, and with a
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: stub of pencil wrote laboriously two names, the date, the hour,
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 1: and the place. Then he resumed his demolition of a
• 1:31:38
  Speaker 1: large platter of ham and eggs. Outside the restaurant, Eddie
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 1: bade June good night. You run along now, kid, He said,
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 1: it wouldn't help you none to be seen with me.
• 1:31:46
  Speaker 1: The girl objected, though she knew well the truth of
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 1: his statemen. He alone in all the great city, had
• 1:31:51
  Speaker 1: evidence disinterested friendship in her, and had given her real
• 1:31:53
  Speaker 1: and substantial aid when she most needed it. Her sense
• 1:31:56
  Speaker 1: of gratitude and loyalty was strong, and she would rather
• 1:31:59
  Speaker 1: have missed almost anything to have hurt the young man's feelings. Doubtless,
• 1:32:02
  Speaker 1: Eddie guessed the truth of her sentiments, for he was
• 1:32:04
  Speaker 1: firm in his insistence that she run along home. You've
• 1:32:08
  Speaker 1: been so good to me, Eddie, she said, I forget it,
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 1: admonaged the dip. What's money for anyway? It's not the
• 1:32:13
  Speaker 1: money I was thinking about, she replied, though of course
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: I could have done nothing without it. It's that you
• 1:32:18
  Speaker 1: were willing to believe that I wanted to be on
• 1:32:20
  Speaker 1: the square that I could be, and were willing to
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 1: help me without, she hesitated, without expecting anything in return.
• 1:32:27
  Speaker 1: Have I ever done anything to you, mag he asked
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 1: with a laugh. That gives you any license to class
• 1:32:31
  Speaker 1: me with them Commonwealth Avenue or Lakeshore Drive guys. The
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 1: following Monday morning, June sat at her desk in the
• 1:32:36
  Speaker 1: little office just outside of that of the president of
• 1:32:38
  Speaker 1: John Seacoor and Co. Ten days had passed and she
• 1:32:41
  Speaker 1: commenced working there, and under the careful tutelage of miss
• 1:32:43
  Speaker 1: Smith and mister Stickler, she had progressed rapidly in the
• 1:32:46
  Speaker 1: assimilation of the details of her work. Ogden Seacor, the
• 1:32:49
  Speaker 1: president of the company, she had not seen, as his
• 1:32:52
  Speaker 1: return from New York had been delayed. She found herself
• 1:32:55
  Speaker 1: wondering what he might look like and she should be
• 1:32:56
  Speaker 1: able to continue in his employee after he returned. Now
• 1:32:59
  Speaker 1: it was not quite so bad, for he was just
• 1:33:01
  Speaker 1: a name. But when she would be compelled to come
• 1:33:02
  Speaker 1: into daily contact with him, sit for hours, perhaps close
• 1:33:05
  Speaker 1: beside him, as he dictated, would it not be very
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 1: different and very terrible? The girl shuddered. It was ten
• 1:33:11
  Speaker 1: o'clock from mister Stickler opened the door for the President's
• 1:33:13
  Speaker 1: office and called her, as Miss Stickler often had given
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 1: her work in the office before, she gathered up her
• 1:33:17
  Speaker 1: notebook and pencil, and she replied to his summons. Somehow
• 1:33:20
  Speaker 1: she did not like mister Stickler, particularly he had a
• 1:33:23
  Speaker 1: way of looking at her out of his fishy eyes
• 1:33:24
  Speaker 1: that fell a little short of being insultingly suggestive. When
• 1:33:27
  Speaker 1: mister Secor returned, she knew that she would be released
• 1:33:29
  Speaker 1: from this distasteful oaglank unless mister secworre chanced to be
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 1: of the same brand. This, however, she doubted, for since
• 1:33:36
  Speaker 1: her entrance into the world of business, the god had
• 1:33:38
  Speaker 1: learned that the great majority of office men accord the same
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 1: respect to their female coworkers as they had to their
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 1: own sisters. That there were exceptions, she had also discovered.
• 1:33:46
  Speaker 1: At the door mister Stickler met her. Come in, he said,
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 1: mister Seagor has returned. I wish to introduce you to him.
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 1: June felt suddenly all cold. She had known this must
• 1:33:55
  Speaker 1: come sometime, but to that very instant she had not
• 1:33:58
  Speaker 1: dreamed how terribly she dreaded the ordeal. Her heart seemed
• 1:34:01
  Speaker 1: to go dead within her, And it was with difficulty
• 1:34:03
  Speaker 1: that she raised her eyes to the face of the
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: man who had raisened courteously at her entrance. That she
• 1:34:08
  Speaker 1: knew he had never before set eyes upon her did
• 1:34:10
  Speaker 1: not lighten her burden of apprehension. It seemed that he
• 1:34:13
  Speaker 1: must read the tragic truth that ran screaming through her brain.
• 1:34:16
  Speaker 1: And then at last she looked at him, the pleasant,
• 1:34:19
  Speaker 1: honest smile, the cordial outstretched hand. From cold, she went hot?
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 1: Could such a frightful contretemps actually occur in real life?
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 1: The man before her, her employer, was the young man
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 1: whose kindly words had set her upon the road of righteousness?
• 1:34:33
  Speaker 1: Would he remember her? End of chapter seven, Chapter eight
• 1:34:42
  Speaker 1: of The Girl from Faris's by Egarce Burrows. This libovox
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. According by Joe Denoia Somerset,
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 1: New Jersey, Chapter eight, Sammy the sleuth Ogden Sigurd did
• 1:34:54
  Speaker 1: not recognize June Lanthrope as Maggie Lynch, the Girl from Faris's.
• 1:34:58
  Speaker 1: And it was with relief that almost found expres in
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 1: an audible sigh, that the girl returned to her desk
• 1:35:02
  Speaker 1: in her own office. Here she surprised the lank and
• 1:35:05
  Speaker 1: somber office boy Sammy, in the act of closing one
• 1:35:08
  Speaker 1: of the drawers in her desk. What do you want, Sammy,
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 1: she asked pleasantly. The youth went from white to red,
• 1:35:13
  Speaker 1: and then from red to scarlet. He stammered and coughed,
• 1:35:16
  Speaker 1: trying to frame an apology, until June, from mild wonderment
• 1:35:20
  Speaker 1: became keenly suspicious. I'm awfully sorry, miss Lanthorp, he managed
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 1: to get out at last. I didn't mean any harm.
• 1:35:26
  Speaker 1: I was only practicing practicing, exclaimed the girl practicing. What
• 1:35:31
  Speaker 1: I suppose, said Sammy that I'll have to tell you now,
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 1: But I didn't want anyone to know until I had
• 1:35:35
  Speaker 1: graduated and got a position with Pinkerton. Pinkerton questioned June. Still,
• 1:35:40
  Speaker 1: the loss to make head or tail of what the
• 1:35:41
  Speaker 1: youth was leading to. What has practicing or Pinkerton to
• 1:35:44
  Speaker 1: do with searching my desk surreptitiously. It was a very
• 1:35:48
  Speaker 1: ungentlemanly thing to do, Sammy, and I really ought to
• 1:35:50
  Speaker 1: tell mister Stickler about it. Oh please don't do that,
• 1:35:53
  Speaker 1: will Sammy? Please don't, And I'll tell you all about it,
• 1:35:56
  Speaker 1: all right, said June. Now, tell me, you see, said
• 1:36:00
  Speaker 1: Sammy nervously. I'm taking a correspondence course in a detective school,
• 1:36:04
  Speaker 1: and a part of each lesson is to put into practice.
• 1:36:06
  Speaker 1: But I have learned in former lessons just now, I
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 1: was practicing searching a burglar's flat. Almost every day. I
• 1:36:11
  Speaker 1: practiced shadowing. Shadowing, exclaimed June. What is shadowing? How do
• 1:36:16
  Speaker 1: you do it? Oh? It's easy, replied Sammy, his confidence
• 1:36:19
  Speaker 1: returning as he discovered the June appeared to have forgiven
• 1:36:21
  Speaker 1: the liberties he had taken with her desk. You see,
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: he continued, a detective has to be able to follow
• 1:36:26
  Speaker 1: with suspect all over without being seen himself. I practiced
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 1: some lots of people, mister Stickler, mister seacor Miss Smith
• 1:36:32
  Speaker 1: and the rest of them, when they go to lunch,
• 1:36:34
  Speaker 1: I shadowed them a different one near the every noon Friday.
• 1:36:38
  Speaker 1: I shadowed you right into the lunch club on Wobash
• 1:36:40
  Speaker 1: Avenue and ate at a table behind you, and followed
• 1:36:43
  Speaker 1: you back to the office. And you never got out
• 1:36:44
  Speaker 1: to me at all, Oh shivered June. How uncanny. Don't
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 1: you ever dare shadow me again? Sammy promised me. And
• 1:36:50
  Speaker 1: Sammy promised after the new stenographer had left his office.
• 1:36:54
  Speaker 1: Ougden Secord tried to recall where he had known her before.
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 1: He was positive her face was familiar and connected her
• 1:36:59
  Speaker 1: with some event in his life that was none too pleasant,
• 1:37:02
  Speaker 1: But try as he would, he could not place the girl.
• 1:37:04
  Speaker 1: At last, he dropped the matter from his mind for
• 1:37:08
  Speaker 1: several months. Thereafter, the routine of June's new life ran
• 1:37:10
  Speaker 1: on smoothly and uninterruptedly. She saved the major portion of
• 1:37:14
  Speaker 1: her salary, and once more met Eddie the Dip in
• 1:37:16
  Speaker 1: the little restaurant that she might pay him the balance
• 1:37:18
  Speaker 1: of the money. She owed him daily association with the
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 1: life of the office of John Seahorn COO, and as president,
• 1:37:23
  Speaker 1: eventually dulled the first revulsion she had experienced at thought
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 1: of taking employment there she found ogden Secar. Although she
• 1:37:29
  Speaker 1: had grown to believe him since the day they had
• 1:37:31
  Speaker 1: come into her life from out of the grand jury
• 1:37:33
  Speaker 1: room of mister Stickler, she grew more and more suspicious.
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 1: There was no tangible overt act upon his part on
• 1:37:39
  Speaker 1: which she could put her finger. Nevertheless, she could have sworn,
• 1:37:42
  Speaker 1: after a month of him that he was a hunter
• 1:37:44
  Speaker 1: without the nerve to hunt he was. She was sure
• 1:37:47
  Speaker 1: the sort that would take advantage of her first misstep
• 1:37:50
  Speaker 1: to snare her, and so without fearing him, she watched
• 1:37:53
  Speaker 1: him and herself lest he might find some pretext upon
• 1:37:55
  Speaker 1: which to make an initial advance toward her. With the
• 1:37:58
  Speaker 1: exception of Sammy, the office force was most uninteresting to
• 1:38:01
  Speaker 1: anyone outside of themselves. Samy was a never ending source
• 1:38:04
  Speaker 1: of joy to her, now that she understood the motives
• 1:38:06
  Speaker 1: which prompted his stealthy, catlike tread, his furtive glances, and
• 1:38:09
  Speaker 1: his highly melodramatic appearances from directions at which one would
• 1:38:12
  Speaker 1: least expect him to materialize. As June never laughed at
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 1: him openly, he took a great lighting to her, coming
• 1:38:18
  Speaker 1: to her with his new lessons and with his hopes
• 1:38:20
  Speaker 1: and his aspirations. His one and only ambition was to
• 1:38:23
  Speaker 1: become a Pinkerton man, and he fully believed that once
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 1: armed with a diploma of the Correspondent School, to which
• 1:38:27
  Speaker 1: he paid half a weekly salary, it would be simply
• 1:38:30
  Speaker 1: a matter of presenting it to the head of the
• 1:38:31
  Speaker 1: Detective Agency to ensure him an open armed reception and
• 1:38:34
  Speaker 1: an immediate appointment. Didn't the prospectus of the school say so?
• 1:38:37
  Speaker 1: And almost in so many words. So secure had June
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 1: grown to feel in the belief that her old life
• 1:38:43
  Speaker 1: was absolutely dead and forgotten, and that Oden Sea Corp.
• 1:38:46
  Speaker 1: Would never know that his private stenographer had been an
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 1: inmate of Abe Faris's, that the shock on occurrence through
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 1: which she had to pass four months after taking the position,
• 1:38:54
  Speaker 1: all but unnerved her. There was a caller in Sea
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 1: Corps office, and as the buzzer upon June's death sounded,
• 1:38:59
  Speaker 1: she took up her notebook and pencil to respond, as
• 1:39:01
  Speaker 1: she was called upon to do a dozen times in
• 1:39:03
  Speaker 1: the day. Scarce as she entered in her office, however,
• 1:39:06
  Speaker 1: that her heart seemed to cease its beating. Facing her
• 1:39:09
  Speaker 1: and looking squarely into her eyes as she passed through
• 1:39:11
  Speaker 1: the doorway set the Reverend Theodore person. A look of
• 1:39:14
  Speaker 1: half recognition lighted his expression at sight of her. Instantly,
• 1:39:18
  Speaker 1: June jumped to the conclusion that he had come there
• 1:39:20
  Speaker 1: to expose her, But she managed to hold herself under
• 1:39:22
  Speaker 1: perfect control as she advanced across the room to Secor's side,
• 1:39:25
  Speaker 1: nor did she even, by a second glance at the
• 1:39:27
  Speaker 1: visitor's face betray the fact that she recalled ever having
• 1:39:30
  Speaker 1: seen him before. Secor handed her a memorandum. Make out
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 1: a check, he said, for this amount to the order
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 1: of the Society of the Uplift of Erring Women. And
• 1:39:39
  Speaker 1: June took the slip of paper and returned to her
• 1:39:40
  Speaker 1: own office. Your secretary's face is quite familiar to me,
• 1:39:43
  Speaker 1: remarked the person after the girl closed the door. Yes,
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 1: queried Secor, politely and uninterestingly. As a matter of fact,
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 1: he was interested in nothing much that interested the reverend,
• 1:39:52
  Speaker 1: mister Person other than Sophia Wells. I am quite sure
• 1:39:55
  Speaker 1: that I know her, but I cannot place her, continued
• 1:39:57
  Speaker 1: mister Person. Possibly her name might recall to me. Her
• 1:40:01
  Speaker 1: name is Lethrop, replied Segor. Person shook his head. I
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 1: must be mistaken, after all, he said, I never knew
• 1:40:07
  Speaker 1: anyone of that name. And then June returned with the check.
• 1:40:10
  Speaker 1: For several days she was in a state of nervous apprehension,
• 1:40:13
  Speaker 1: momentarily expecting the summons from either mister Seagor or mister
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 1: Stickler that would close her career with John Segor and go.
• 1:40:19
  Speaker 1: But why she should dread discharge she could not guess,
• 1:40:22
  Speaker 1: for she no longer felt a single doubt, but that
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 1: she should always be able to find pleasant and lookative employment.
• 1:40:27
  Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, she finally decided it was
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 1: not so much discharge. She feared as that Augden Seacor
• 1:40:32
  Speaker 1: shouldn't know her for what she had once been. The
• 1:40:35
  Speaker 1: thought sent her white with terror, and with it came
• 1:40:37
  Speaker 1: another thought, how much her daily contact with Augden Seacor
• 1:40:40
  Speaker 1: meaning to her, more than she even faintly suspected. Never
• 1:40:43
  Speaker 1: before this idea impinged upon her thoughts, she tried to
• 1:40:46
  Speaker 1: thrust her from her It was horrible, how horrible only
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 1: she could guess. And yet once fastened upon her, it
• 1:40:52
  Speaker 1: clung tenaciously, a mighty load upon her conscious, a veritable
• 1:40:56
  Speaker 1: old man of the sea, so that she dreaded coming
• 1:40:58
  Speaker 1: into Seacor's presence for fear he might guess not only
• 1:41:00
  Speaker 1: her secret, but as well the awful truth which made
• 1:41:03
  Speaker 1: it the hideous thing it was. Weeks rolled by September came.
• 1:41:07
  Speaker 1: June was once more lulled into a feeling of security.
• 1:41:09
  Speaker 1: Secor was in New York on business. Sammy had been
• 1:41:12
  Speaker 1: diligently practicing his lessons on thieves. Jargoned upon June until
• 1:41:16
  Speaker 1: convulsed with laughter, she'd send him back to his desk
• 1:41:19
  Speaker 1: to the outer office. Two rings of her buzzer called
• 1:41:21
  Speaker 1: into mister Stickler's desk, that fateful buzzer. Since the day
• 1:41:24
  Speaker 1: that he had summoned her into the reverend theater of
• 1:41:27
  Speaker 1: persons of presence, she had never heard it without an
• 1:41:29
  Speaker 1: inward shudder. To her relief, she found that mister Stickler
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 1: wished her merely upon an unimportant matter of detail. As
• 1:41:35
  Speaker 1: they talked, Sammy entered. Lynx eyed and pussy footed. Sammy
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 1: could not cross the outer office without assuming a hawk
• 1:41:41
  Speaker 1: shawing gait that would have turned that worthy sleuth green
• 1:41:44
  Speaker 1: with envy. Could he have seen it, mister Stickler, He whispered,
• 1:41:47
  Speaker 1: Two harness bulls are looking for you. Harness bulls, exclaimed Stickler.
• 1:41:51
  Speaker 1: What are harness bulls, Sammy? Harness bulls, quoted Sammy from
• 1:41:54
  Speaker 1: his recent lesson on criminals slang are policemen in uniform.
• 1:41:58
  Speaker 1: The sudden, sickly parlor, which overspread the face of the
• 1:42:01
  Speaker 1: office manager, did not pass unnoticed by either June or Sammy.
• 1:42:05
  Speaker 1: Did they say what they wanted of me? Asked mister Stickler,
• 1:42:07
  Speaker 1: Controlling his voice with an effort, Sammy lowered his own
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 1: to a mysterious whisper. They want you, he said to
• 1:42:13
  Speaker 1: buy some tickets to the annual Policeman's Benefit at the
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 1: Auditorium show. The man commanded Missus Stickler in evident relief.
• 1:42:19
  Speaker 1: Even the best of men are often obsessed with an
• 1:42:21
  Speaker 1: inexplicable terror of the minions of the law. That is all,
• 1:42:24
  Speaker 1: miss Letherp, he added, turning towards June, you may go.
• 1:42:28
  Speaker 1: As the girl left mister Stickler's office to cross the
• 1:42:30
  Speaker 1: outer room to her own, she saw two barlier officers
• 1:42:32
  Speaker 1: trailing in the wake of the suddenly metamorphis to Sammy.
• 1:42:35
  Speaker 1: The youth walked with a devilish swagger and out puffed chest.
• 1:42:38
  Speaker 1: In his mind's eye, Sammy was leading the trusty Blue
• 1:42:40
  Speaker 1: Coats to the arrest of a gang of counterfeiters, whom
• 1:42:43
  Speaker 1: he had trapped to their hidden layer. As June passed
• 1:42:45
  Speaker 1: the three, she glanced casually into the faces of the policeman.
• 1:42:48
  Speaker 1: As our eyes met those of one of them, it
• 1:42:50
  Speaker 1: required every ounce of his self control to hide both
• 1:42:52
  Speaker 1: their surprise and terror. It was Doherty, a very suave
• 1:42:56
  Speaker 1: and gracious Mister Stickler laughed and chatted with the two plaicemen,
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 1: purchased ten tickets to the benefit with John Seacor and
• 1:43:01
  Speaker 1: Coe's money and passed out a handful of John Seacor's cigars.
• 1:43:05
  Speaker 1: As the two were about to leave, one of them
• 1:43:06
  Speaker 1: turned to mister Stickler, how long have you have Maggie
• 1:43:09
  Speaker 1: Lynch in your employee? He asked. Maggie Lynch repeated mister Stickler.
• 1:43:12
  Speaker 1: We've no one by that name on our peril. Well, then,
• 1:43:15
  Speaker 1: said mister Doherty. The young woman who came out of
• 1:43:17
  Speaker 1: your office just before we came in. Oh, said mister Stickler.
• 1:43:19
  Speaker 1: That's miss Lethroup, mister Seacwor's private stenographer. Do you know
• 1:43:23
  Speaker 1: anything about her, asked mister Doherty. Or don't you want to? Why?
• 1:43:26
  Speaker 1: She seems to be all right, said mister Stickler. But
• 1:43:28
  Speaker 1: we know nothing about her other than she has had
• 1:43:30
  Speaker 1: satisfactory references from former employers. Did she bring one from
• 1:43:33
  Speaker 1: Abe Ferris, as Doherty with a grin Abe Farris, exclaimed
• 1:43:37
  Speaker 1: mister Stickler, And there was a little choking sound in
• 1:43:39
  Speaker 1: his voice that entirely escaped the wildly. Mister Doherty, Sure,
• 1:43:42
  Speaker 1: said he, and then he leaned down and whispered into
• 1:43:44
  Speaker 1: mister Stickler's ear for a moment, and he concluded, I
• 1:43:46
  Speaker 1: just thought that maybe mister secre would like another training
• 1:43:48
  Speaker 1: as private secretary as had in the past. You'd better
• 1:43:51
  Speaker 1: keep an eye on her good day, and much obliged
• 1:43:53
  Speaker 1: to you for taking these tickets. It was not until
• 1:43:56
  Speaker 1: nearly five o'clock that June's buzzer rang again, summoning her
• 1:43:58
  Speaker 1: to missus Sticker's office. Already the force in the outer
• 1:44:01
  Speaker 1: office was preparing to depart for the day. Mister Stickler
• 1:44:03
  Speaker 1: wished to dictate an important letter, though to June. After
• 1:44:06
  Speaker 1: he had commenced, it had seemed rather too trivial for
• 1:44:08
  Speaker 1: an overtime epistle. For fifteen minutes, mister Stickler dragged out
• 1:44:11
  Speaker 1: in his monotonous dictation. Then he rose and went to
• 1:44:14
  Speaker 1: the door of his office. All had departed. The office
• 1:44:16
  Speaker 1: was empty. He returned to his desk Mislaughthrup. He said,
• 1:44:20
  Speaker 1: I have always liked you. In fact, I've grown very
• 1:44:22
  Speaker 1: fond of you since you had been with us. I've
• 1:44:24
  Speaker 1: been thinking that I must ask mister sea Quarter increase
• 1:44:26
  Speaker 1: your salary. But before I do so, I shall like
• 1:44:28
  Speaker 1: to feel that we are good friends, very good friends. Indeed,
• 1:44:32
  Speaker 1: for only in connection with the most harmonious relationship we
• 1:44:34
  Speaker 1: worked together to the best advantage. June was at a
• 1:44:37
  Speaker 1: loss to guess what the man might be driving. At
• 1:44:39
  Speaker 1: all she knew was that she did not like the
• 1:44:41
  Speaker 1: sly expression on his little, close set eyes, or the
• 1:44:44
  Speaker 1: familiar manner in which he was hitching his chair close
• 1:44:46
  Speaker 1: to hers. I am afraid that I do not quite
• 1:44:49
  Speaker 1: understand you, she said, her tone respectful but cold and
• 1:44:51
  Speaker 1: keen as a razor's edge. I mean, said mister Stickler,
• 1:44:54
  Speaker 1: that I would like to see more of you outside
• 1:44:55
  Speaker 1: of business hours. It mean a lot to you in
• 1:44:57
  Speaker 1: the way of advancement, he hastened to add. As he
• 1:44:59
  Speaker 1: saw the steely glitter that leaped into her eyes at
• 1:45:01
  Speaker 1: his words, mister Stickler realized that never before he's seen
• 1:45:05
  Speaker 1: anyone quite so majestic or quite so beautiful. Fortunately, she said,
• 1:45:08
  Speaker 1: mister Seacor will return tomorrow. Otherwise I should leave it once.
• 1:45:12
  Speaker 1: I shall not work another day in the same office
• 1:45:14
  Speaker 1: as you, and tomorrow I should give you an hour
• 1:45:16
  Speaker 1: after mister Seacwa returns to tell him precisely what has
• 1:45:18
  Speaker 1: passed between us in this office. Then I shall go
• 1:45:21
  Speaker 1: to him with my resignation and tell him myself. Mister
• 1:45:24
  Speaker 1: Stickler went white with fear. He knew that the girl
• 1:45:26
  Speaker 1: would do just what she threatened. Unless he glared at
• 1:45:29
  Speaker 1: her and caught at the one stroll he could save him.
• 1:45:31
  Speaker 1: What else will you telling him? He asked? What else
• 1:45:33
  Speaker 1: will Maggie Lynch tell mister Ogden Seacor? It was June's
• 1:45:36
  Speaker 1: turn to pale. Stickler saw the color leave her face
• 1:45:39
  Speaker 1: and took advantage of the point in his favor. Come,
• 1:45:42
  Speaker 1: he said, be a good fellow. I don't want to
• 1:45:44
  Speaker 1: be hard on you, and I'll forget all I know
• 1:45:45
  Speaker 1: about Maggie Lynch and her job at Abe Faris's. If
• 1:45:48
  Speaker 1: you'll treat me right, let's forget we've had any unpleasantness.
• 1:45:51
  Speaker 1: We'll go over to the Bismarck and have a bite
• 1:45:53
  Speaker 1: to eat and talk it over. Come on, little one,
• 1:45:55
  Speaker 1: be a sport. The sneer on the girl's lips was
• 1:45:58
  Speaker 1: sufficient reply to mister Stickler's suggestion. As she turned her
• 1:46:01
  Speaker 1: back upon him moved toward the door. He sprang to
• 1:46:03
  Speaker 1: his feet. Very well, he shouted, I'll teach you. You're fired.
• 1:46:06
  Speaker 1: Do you understand you're fired? I won't have any fast
• 1:46:09
  Speaker 1: woman in this office. And if you show your face
• 1:46:10
  Speaker 1: round here again of Officer Doherty waiting for you, June
• 1:46:13
  Speaker 1: made no reply. Quietly, she gathered up her personal belongings
• 1:46:16
  Speaker 1: and left the office. When she had gone, Missus Stickler
• 1:46:19
  Speaker 1: banged to the office door and strode angrily toward the elevators.
• 1:46:22
  Speaker 1: No sooner had he left than a very pale and
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 1: shaky Sammy emerged from beneath the sanitary filing case in
• 1:46:26
  Speaker 1: mister Sticker's office. He was frightened, stiff, but with a
• 1:46:30
  Speaker 1: grim determination that was upborne by a glorious enthusiasm. He
• 1:46:32
  Speaker 1: set forth to shadow mister Stickler. End of chapter eight,
• 1:46:42
  Speaker 1: chapter nine of The Girl from Faris's but edgarized Burrows.
• 1:46:46
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by
• 1:46:49
  Speaker 1: Joe Denoia, Somerset, New Jersey, Chapter nine, Unclean, Unclean Ogden Seacor,
• 1:46:57
  Speaker 1: stopping over at South Bend on his return from New York,
• 1:47:00
  Speaker 1: arrived in town late in the evening on the day
• 1:47:02
  Speaker 1: that had witnessed June's discharge. His chauffeur met him at
• 1:47:05
  Speaker 1: the Lake Shore Station, and together they drove down Jackson
• 1:47:08
  Speaker 1: Boulevard to Michigan Avenue. As the car swung to the
• 1:47:11
  Speaker 1: north into the broad thoroughfare along the Lake, Seacorg glanced
• 1:47:14
  Speaker 1: up mechanically at the windows of his offices in the
• 1:47:16
  Speaker 1: railway exchange, as he had done upon countless other occasions
• 1:47:18
  Speaker 1: that he had passed the building. To his surprise, he
• 1:47:21
  Speaker 1: saw that the rooms were lighted. It was past the
• 1:47:23
  Speaker 1: hour that the janner's assistant ordinarily cleaned this sweet stickler.
• 1:47:27
  Speaker 1: He thought he must be working on something of importance. Tonight,
• 1:47:30
  Speaker 1: pull up here, Jim to the chauffeur. I'll run across
• 1:47:32
  Speaker 1: to the office a minute before I go home. For years,
• 1:47:35
  Speaker 1: Ogden Seacour had entered his private office through a doorway
• 1:47:37
  Speaker 1: that opened directly off the main corridor. The custom had
• 1:47:40
  Speaker 1: become so strong a habit that tonight he passed the
• 1:47:42
  Speaker 1: main entranto the well lighted outer office, unlocked the door
• 1:47:45
  Speaker 1: to his own unlighted office, and entered noiselessly upon the soft,
• 1:47:48
  Speaker 1: heavy rug that covered the floor. A moment later he
• 1:47:51
  Speaker 1: had crossed to the door that opened into the main office.
• 1:47:54
  Speaker 1: Scarcely had they swung the door partially aside that his
• 1:47:56
  Speaker 1: attitude of careless ease gave place to one of tense excitement.
• 1:48:00
  Speaker 1: Directly across the office from him, with their backs toward him,
• 1:48:02
  Speaker 1: two men bent to the combination of the great safe.
• 1:48:05
  Speaker 1: Seacor's first impulse was to rush in upon them before
• 1:48:07
  Speaker 1: they could damage the expensive and intricate mechanism of the
• 1:48:10
  Speaker 1: lock with the charge of nitroglycrin. He imagined they were
• 1:48:12
  Speaker 1: preparing to deadonate. But as he took a step forward,
• 1:48:14
  Speaker 1: he suddenly realized that one of the men was turning
• 1:48:16
  Speaker 1: the combination knob, while the other ran off the figures
• 1:48:18
  Speaker 1: to him from a little slip of paper. They had
• 1:48:21
  Speaker 1: the combination. Where could they have obtained it? Only Stickler, Mislanthrope,
• 1:48:25
  Speaker 1: and himself knew it. He looked at the men closely.
• 1:48:27
  Speaker 1: He did not remember ever having seen either of them before. Presently,
• 1:48:31
  Speaker 1: the door of the safe swung open, and Seacor saw
• 1:48:33
  Speaker 1: him who had manipulated the knob, reached directly and without hesitation,
• 1:48:36
  Speaker 1: for the inner drawer that contained ordinarily an incenterable quality
• 1:48:39
  Speaker 1: of negotiable paper. He waited to see no more. Without
• 1:48:43
  Speaker 1: a sound, he ran quickly across the office, his only weapon,
• 1:48:46
  Speaker 1: a light walking stick, swinging in his right hand. The
• 1:48:48
  Speaker 1: first that either of the cracksmen knew that they were
• 1:48:50
  Speaker 1: not alone in the office was the sudden and painful
• 1:48:52
  Speaker 1: descent of the walking stick across the back of the
• 1:48:53
  Speaker 1: head of one of them. What happened after that happened
• 1:48:56
  Speaker 1: rapidly and almost noiselessly. Two hours later, Jim, the chauffeur,
• 1:49:00
  Speaker 1: commenced to wonder if his employer had fallen asleep up
• 1:49:02
  Speaker 1: there in his office. The northeast wind from off the
• 1:49:05
  Speaker 1: lake was chill and penetrating. For another half hour, Jim
• 1:49:08
  Speaker 1: walked up and down the deserted sidewalk in the van
• 1:49:10
  Speaker 1: attempt to keep warm. He had about decided to go
• 1:49:13
  Speaker 1: up to the office and politely remind his employee that
• 1:49:15
  Speaker 1: it would soon be timed to breakfast, when he heard
• 1:49:17
  Speaker 1: a shot, apparently from the rear of the railway exchange
• 1:49:19
  Speaker 1: across the street. The shot was immediately followed by horse
• 1:49:22
  Speaker 1: shouts and the sound of running men, and then another shot.
• 1:49:25
  Speaker 1: Almost immediately after the second shot, Jim saw a man
• 1:49:28
  Speaker 1: run out of Jackson Boulevard across Michigan Avenue toward Grant Park.
• 1:49:32
  Speaker 1: He reached the center of the street, only to crumple.
• 1:49:34
  Speaker 1: Suddenly in a little heap behind him came a uniformed watchman,
• 1:49:37
  Speaker 1: and presently a little crowd gathered caught him trying to
• 1:49:41
  Speaker 1: make his getaway through the alley, explained the watchmen to
• 1:49:43
  Speaker 1: a city policeman who attracted by the shots, had run
• 1:49:46
  Speaker 1: over from Obash Avenue. There was another guy with him,
• 1:49:49
  Speaker 1: but he broke in the opposite direction and got away.
• 1:49:52
  Speaker 1: They'd been up to something in the railway exchange. Instantly,
• 1:49:55
  Speaker 1: Jim thought of his employer and the unaccountably long stay
• 1:49:57
  Speaker 1: he had been making in his office men. It had
• 1:50:00
  Speaker 1: been the cause of his detention. Turning at the thought,
• 1:50:03
  Speaker 1: he ran across the street and into the building. At first,
• 1:50:05
  Speaker 1: the night elevator man was disinclined to take him up,
• 1:50:08
  Speaker 1: but when he explained who he was in what his fears,
• 1:50:10
  Speaker 1: the man not only carried him aloft, but accompanied him
• 1:50:12
  Speaker 1: to the office of John Seacoor and Co. Here they
• 1:50:15
  Speaker 1: found the door to the main office ajar, and within
• 1:50:18
  Speaker 1: upon the opposite side of the room, in front of
• 1:50:19
  Speaker 1: the open safe, the unconscious form of Ogden Seacor. His
• 1:50:23
  Speaker 1: head and face were covered with blood, and even a
• 1:50:25
  Speaker 1: casual glance proclaimed the fact that he had been terribly beaten.
• 1:50:29
  Speaker 1: An ambulance from Saint Luke's bore Ogden Seacourt to the hospital.
• 1:50:32
  Speaker 1: It was late in the following morning before the positions
• 1:50:34
  Speaker 1: would permit anyone to enter his room, and then only
• 1:50:36
  Speaker 1: after the greatest insistence on the part of their patient.
• 1:50:39
  Speaker 1: Miss Wells and the Reverend Mister Person were the first
• 1:50:42
  Speaker 1: to come. They were closely followed by mister Stickler, for
• 1:50:45
  Speaker 1: whom Secor had sent. Mister Stickler entered white and shaky.
• 1:50:49
  Speaker 1: It was quite evident that the accident to his employer
• 1:50:51
  Speaker 1: had been a terrible shock to him. Mister Stickler had
• 1:50:53
  Speaker 1: read an account of the dang robbery in the morning paper.
• 1:50:56
  Speaker 1: He had known that Ogden Secor lay at Saint Luke's hospital,
• 1:50:58
  Speaker 1: but he had paced up and down his off for
• 1:51:00
  Speaker 1: two hours before receiving Seacor summons to his bedside. Even
• 1:51:04
  Speaker 1: then he had put off the ordeal for another half hour. Surely,
• 1:51:06
  Speaker 1: mister Stickler's must have been a most sympathetic temperament, which
• 1:51:09
  Speaker 1: shrank from the sight of the mangled countenance of his employer.
• 1:51:12
  Speaker 1: Before he started for the hospital, he used the telephone
• 1:51:15
  Speaker 1: his officer Doherty. There, he asked when he had obtained
• 1:51:17
  Speaker 1: his connection. Hello, mister Doherty, you've read what happened to
• 1:51:20
  Speaker 1: mister Secor last night, and did you notice that the
• 1:51:22
  Speaker 1: fellow they got, the one who was wounded having recognized
• 1:51:25
  Speaker 1: as a habitu of Abe Farres'. Yes, do you remember
• 1:51:28
  Speaker 1: what you said to me about that lynch Goo yesterday?
• 1:51:31
  Speaker 1: Did you know that she knew the combination of the safe? Sure?
• 1:51:34
  Speaker 1: I thought of that right away, Yes, you bet. Wait
• 1:51:37
  Speaker 1: a minute, I've got to hear it my file here.
• 1:51:39
  Speaker 1: It is Calumut Avenue, and he gave the number. She's
• 1:51:42
  Speaker 1: rooming there. You'd better hurry. You'll be lucky if she
• 1:51:45
  Speaker 1: hasn't left town already. What. Oh, I don't know yet.
• 1:51:48
  Speaker 1: I've been too upset to figure it up, but it
• 1:51:49
  Speaker 1: must have been close to twenty five thousand dollars. No,
• 1:51:52
  Speaker 1: bring her right to the hospital. I'll be there all right, goodbye.
• 1:51:56
  Speaker 1: Half an hour later, mister Stickler, on tiptoe and hat
• 1:51:59
  Speaker 1: in hand, approached the bedside of the wounded chief. On
• 1:52:01
  Speaker 1: his face was an expression of funereal sorrow. This is terrible,
• 1:52:04
  Speaker 1: he murmured huskily. Well, said Seacor with a wan smile.
• 1:52:08
  Speaker 1: They didn't quite get me, though. It wasn't any fault
• 1:52:10
  Speaker 1: of theirs that they didn't have you discovered just what
• 1:52:13
  Speaker 1: they got away with Stickler. Mister Stickler hemmed and hauled.
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 1: Evidently the answering that question was one he dreaded. Well,
• 1:52:19
  Speaker 1: I'm not quite sure yet, mister Seacorr, he said at last,
• 1:52:22
  Speaker 1: But there was unfortunately a considerable amount of negotiable securities
• 1:52:25
  Speaker 1: as well as currency in the safe last night. You see,
• 1:52:28
  Speaker 1: we had an exceptionally large payroll on two big jobs
• 1:52:31
  Speaker 1: for today. We had drawn the cash yesterday because today,
• 1:52:34
  Speaker 1: being Saturday and a short day, we wanted to have
• 1:52:36
  Speaker 1: everything in readiness to pay off promptly at noon. We've
• 1:52:39
  Speaker 1: never been in the habit of doing that, mister Stickler,
• 1:52:41
  Speaker 1: was Seacor's only comment. But come, how much did they
• 1:52:44
  Speaker 1: get close to twenty five thousand dollars? Whispered mister Stickler,
• 1:52:47
  Speaker 1: And then it cost him an effort to say it
• 1:52:49
  Speaker 1: was apparent to those about the bedside, as well as
• 1:52:51
  Speaker 1: to the injured man. But I think we'll get it
• 1:52:54
  Speaker 1: all back, mister Stickler hastened to add. They caught one
• 1:52:56
  Speaker 1: of the fellows, and Doherty of the Detective Bureau telephone
• 1:52:59
  Speaker 1: me this warning that he expected to make an arrest
• 1:53:01
  Speaker 1: within a few hours of the principle of the case good,
• 1:53:04
  Speaker 1: exclaimed Seecor. But I cannot imagine who it could have
• 1:53:06
  Speaker 1: been or how they obtained the combination to the safe.
• 1:53:09
  Speaker 1: Do you suspect anyone in the office, Stickler, I'd rather
• 1:53:12
  Speaker 1: not say just yet, mister Secor replied Stickler, though I
• 1:53:14
  Speaker 1: have my suspicions. When Doherty comes, I think he will
• 1:53:17
  Speaker 1: bring a big surprise along with him. It must have
• 1:53:19
  Speaker 1: been through the connivance of someone in the office. They
• 1:53:21
  Speaker 1: had already obtained the combination, said miss Wells. Mister Person nodded,
• 1:53:25
  Speaker 1: and the back of his brain, in almost dead memory,
• 1:53:27
  Speaker 1: was struggling toward delight. Somehow was inextricably confused with the
• 1:53:31
  Speaker 1: recollection of the face of Augunen Seguor's stenographer, and a haunting,
• 1:53:34
  Speaker 1: though vague conviction that he had met the girl before,
• 1:53:37
  Speaker 1: and under no pleasant circumstances. A moment later, there came
• 1:53:40
  Speaker 1: a knock upon the door. Mister Person crossed the room
• 1:53:42
  Speaker 1: and opened it, admitted a young woman and a large man.
• 1:53:45
  Speaker 1: One glance at the latter would have been all sufficient
• 1:53:47
  Speaker 1: to identify him to one city Bread. There's something about
• 1:53:50
  Speaker 1: the usual plainclothes man, whether his build, his carriage, or
• 1:53:54
  Speaker 1: the way he wears his clothes is difficult to say,
• 1:53:56
  Speaker 1: that tags him almost as convincingly as would a uniform,
• 1:54:00
  Speaker 1: mister Doherty, good morning, pardon mister person. He recognized June
• 1:54:03
  Speaker 1: with an inclination of his head very slight. Indeed, the
• 1:54:06
  Speaker 1: girl crossed directly to Seacor's side. Oh, mister Seacor, she exclaimed,
• 1:54:10
  Speaker 1: her voice trembling with emotion. It is awful. I have
• 1:54:12
  Speaker 1: not seen a paper this morning and did not know
• 1:54:14
  Speaker 1: until mister Dorerty came from me and told me. She
• 1:54:17
  Speaker 1: did not say what else mister Doherty had told her,
• 1:54:19
  Speaker 1: principally by innuendo, self was forgotten in the real affliction,
• 1:54:22
  Speaker 1: she felt at sight of her employer's pitiable condition. Seacor
• 1:54:26
  Speaker 1: looked up at her, his old, pleasant smile lighting his features. Oh,
• 1:54:29
  Speaker 1: I guess it's not so bad, he said. They ought
• 1:54:32
  Speaker 1: to have me out of here in no time. Miss
• 1:54:34
  Speaker 1: Wells came closer to the bedside. Instinctively, she guessed by
• 1:54:37
  Speaker 1: Dorty had brought the girl here. Seecor alone seemed to
• 1:54:40
  Speaker 1: realize no connection between mister Stickler's recent hint and the
• 1:54:42
  Speaker 1: coming of June Lethrab with the plainclothes man. Doerty crossed
• 1:54:46
  Speaker 1: the room to June's side, laying a heavy hand upon
• 1:54:48
  Speaker 1: her arm. None of the soft stuff, mag he said,
• 1:54:50
  Speaker 1: roughly cut it out. Seacor looked up to the man
• 1:54:53
  Speaker 1: in surprise, a frown crossing his face. What is the
• 1:54:57
  Speaker 1: meaning of this, he asked. Miss Lanthrop is my secretary.
• 1:55:00
  Speaker 1: There's been nothing in her manner at all offensive to me.
• 1:55:03
  Speaker 1: I guess you don't know who she is, mister Seacor,
• 1:55:04
  Speaker 1: said Doherty. Her name meant lathrop Is Lynch, Maggie Lynch,
• 1:55:08
  Speaker 1: And when I first seen her, she was an inmate
• 1:55:09
  Speaker 1: of Abe Ferris as joint On dearborn. Seacor looked at
• 1:55:13
  Speaker 1: June questioningly. There was an expression of disbelief in his eyes.
• 1:55:16
  Speaker 1: The girl dropped her home before his steady gaze. The
• 1:55:18
  Speaker 1: horror of it. If he could know, if Ogden Seacor,
• 1:55:21
  Speaker 1: of all the amount on earth, could know the truth,
• 1:55:24
  Speaker 1: the truth that not even the shrewd mister Doherty had guessed.
• 1:55:27
  Speaker 1: At the voicing of the name Maggie Lynch, the Reverend,
• 1:55:29
  Speaker 1: mister person stepped suddenly forward. The mists had been swept
• 1:55:32
  Speaker 1: from his memory as distinctly as it had been yesterday.
• 1:55:35
  Speaker 1: He recalled the humiliation that this girl had put upon
• 1:55:37
  Speaker 1: him before the representatives of several of the city's great dailies.
• 1:55:40
  Speaker 1: Even now he flushed the memory of the keen shafts
• 1:55:42
  Speaker 1: of ridicule that had resulted, and which made the papers
• 1:55:44
  Speaker 1: the following day such frightful naymares to him. Don't you
• 1:55:48
  Speaker 1: remember her, mister Secor, he cried, She's the woman we
• 1:55:50
  Speaker 1: tried so hard to help, and who ignored our godly efforts.
• 1:55:53
  Speaker 1: Mister Seacor remembered, he recalled the scene within the grand
• 1:55:56
  Speaker 1: jury room and in the ante chamber without, and he
• 1:55:59
  Speaker 1: recalled many other things of which the others knew nothing,
• 1:56:01
  Speaker 1: the intelligence and the loyalty of the girls. Since she
• 1:56:03
  Speaker 1: had been in his employee. He remembered the several occasions
• 1:56:06
  Speaker 1: upon which her tact or judgment had saved him from
• 1:56:08
  Speaker 1: severe losses. He thought of the pleasure that he had
• 1:56:11
  Speaker 1: always experienced in taking up the day's work since June
• 1:56:14
  Speaker 1: Lethorpe had been with him, something that he had never
• 1:56:16
  Speaker 1: realized until that moment, and something of a dull ache
• 1:56:19
  Speaker 1: oppressed his heart with the sudden knowledge that it was
• 1:56:21
  Speaker 1: all over. He had always thought of her merely as
• 1:56:23
  Speaker 1: part of the office force, yet never for a moment
• 1:56:25
  Speaker 1: considered her in any other light than a faithful and
• 1:56:27
  Speaker 1: almost flawless thnotaph her, nor did he now. Yet there
• 1:56:30
  Speaker 1: was a distinct sensation of personal loss accompanying the knowledge
• 1:56:33
  Speaker 1: that he could no longer employed her and so intimate
• 1:56:35
  Speaker 1: a capacity as that of private secretary. His puritanical prudery
• 1:56:39
  Speaker 1: was too deeply ingrained to permit even the thought to
• 1:56:41
  Speaker 1: the contrary to him, so far as his own personal
• 1:56:44
  Speaker 1: association with such a person was concerned, the girl was
• 1:56:46
  Speaker 1: as good as damned. He would as easily have considered
• 1:56:49
  Speaker 1: consociation with a leper, though he would have been equally
• 1:56:51
  Speaker 1: as willing to have helped either one or the other
• 1:56:54
  Speaker 1: in any other way. It did not require him to
• 1:56:55
  Speaker 1: come to contact with them. What did you bring her
• 1:56:58
  Speaker 1: here for, he asked worly. There's been nothing in her
• 1:57:01
  Speaker 1: deportment since she's been in my employee, but what was
• 1:57:03
  Speaker 1: entirely proper? It seems unnecessary that she should be subjected
• 1:57:06
  Speaker 1: to this humiliation. Her deportment in the office may have
• 1:57:10
  Speaker 1: been all right, spoke mister Doherty, But we don't know
• 1:57:12
  Speaker 1: so much what she was doing with her time after
• 1:57:14
  Speaker 1: office hours. Mister Stickler nodded his head portentously. You see,
• 1:57:18
  Speaker 1: mister Segre went on the plainclothes man. One of the
• 1:57:21
  Speaker 1: guys that slucked you hangs out at eight Farris's Saloon.
• 1:57:23
  Speaker 1: And I've seen mag here not so long ago, feeding
• 1:57:26
  Speaker 1: up in the beanery with another crook that hangs out
• 1:57:28
  Speaker 1: at Ferris's. Eddie the Dip is his name, and Dorroerty
• 1:57:30
  Speaker 1: shot a sudden look in June's direction in time to
• 1:57:32
  Speaker 1: see the quick intake of her breath in consternation and surprise.
• 1:57:36
  Speaker 1: We got a drag net out for Eddie now, and
• 1:57:38
  Speaker 1: when we get him, I guess we'll have all three
• 1:57:40
  Speaker 1: of em, concluded mister Doherty. He was very proud of
• 1:57:42
  Speaker 1: this piece of police work of his. What has miss
• 1:57:45
  Speaker 1: Lether up to do with it? Asked Secor. She did
• 1:57:47
  Speaker 1: not sluck me. She knew the combination of your safe,
• 1:57:49
  Speaker 1: didn't she asked Doherty. During the conversation, June was aware
• 1:57:52
  Speaker 1: that Miss Wells had drawn away from her, casting such
• 1:57:55
  Speaker 1: a look of horror and disgust in her direction as
• 1:57:57
  Speaker 1: might have withered her completely good looks with her. Mister
• 1:58:00
  Speaker 1: person too stood coldly aloof, while Sticklier looked nervously down
• 1:58:03
  Speaker 1: into Michigan Avenue from the window of the room, not
• 1:58:06
  Speaker 1: once meeting the girl's eyes squarely ogden Secor half raised
• 1:58:09
  Speaker 1: himself upon his elbows. He looked straight into June Leanthrop's eyes,
• 1:58:13
  Speaker 1: and hers met his as level and unflinching. Miss Lethrup,
• 1:58:16
  Speaker 1: He said, in a very quiet voice, are you in
• 1:58:18
  Speaker 1: any way responsible for the rifling of the safe? Tell
• 1:58:21
  Speaker 1: me the truth. The girl's eyes never left his for
• 1:58:24
  Speaker 1: the moment. Her reply was but a single word, delivered
• 1:58:26
  Speaker 1: without emphasis in a very ordinary tone. No, she said.
• 1:58:30
  Speaker 1: Seacor sank back upon his pillows. That is all. He said,
• 1:58:33
  Speaker 1: You may go. The doctor had just entered the room.
• 1:58:36
  Speaker 1: You may all go, he cried in a petulant voice.
• 1:58:39
  Speaker 1: I am surprised, Miss Castroll to the nurse that you
• 1:58:41
  Speaker 1: should have permitted this. Come get out, all of you.
• 1:58:44
  Speaker 1: Doroty came closer to the bed you wish the woman held,
• 1:58:47
  Speaker 1: of course, he asked. Has any complaint been lodged against her?
• 1:58:50
  Speaker 1: Asked Sikor not yet, there will be none. You may
• 1:58:53
  Speaker 1: let her go, said Secor. Doroty looked his surprise and
• 1:58:56
  Speaker 1: seemed on the point of arguing. When the doctor placed
• 1:58:58
  Speaker 1: a hand on his shoulder. Quick said the physician get
• 1:59:01
  Speaker 1: out of here, or I cannot be responsible for the
• 1:59:02
  Speaker 1: recovery of this patient. June took an impulsive step toward
• 1:59:06
  Speaker 1: the injured man. How can I thank you for believing
• 1:59:09
  Speaker 1: in me, she cried, with a weary sigh. Ogden Secord
• 1:59:12
  Speaker 1: turned away from her. He made no reply. The doctor
• 1:59:15
  Speaker 1: led her to the door. Leave the room, he said,
• 1:59:18
  Speaker 1: outside there were those who had preceded her from the apartment.
• 1:59:21
  Speaker 1: Mister Person was the first to speak. He pointed towards
• 1:59:23
  Speaker 1: the elevator. Leave the hospital at once, he said. Her
• 1:59:27
  Speaker 1: eyes filled with unshad tears, the girl walked quickly down
• 1:59:30
  Speaker 1: the hall. At the elevator stood, Doherty, you better beat it,
• 1:59:34
  Speaker 1: mag He said, this town's too wicked for an innocent
• 1:59:36
  Speaker 1: girl like you, And from his tone, she knew that
• 1:59:38
  Speaker 1: he meant it, that much of it, which warned her
• 1:59:40
  Speaker 1: to leave the city. End of chapter nine, Chapter ten
• 1:59:50
  Speaker 1: of The Girl from Faris's by Edgarrice Burrows. This LibriVox
• 1:59:53
  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Recording by Joe Denoia, Somerset,
• 1:59:57
  Speaker 1: New Jersey. Chapter ten, rat dessert for a long month.
• 2:00:02
  Speaker 1: Ogden Seacor lay at Saint Luke's. Surgeons pulled their whiskers,
• 2:00:06
  Speaker 1: glaring owl like at the patient. The while they wondered
• 2:00:09
  Speaker 1: why the deuced nature had not come to their rescue.
• 2:00:11
  Speaker 1: At last, she did, to some measure at least, and
• 2:00:14
  Speaker 1: he was bundled off home, weak and broken. They advised
• 2:00:17
  Speaker 1: him to seek change and rest in a long ocean voyage,
• 2:00:20
  Speaker 1: but he felt that his business, already long neglected, needed him.
• 2:00:24
  Speaker 1: Not that he longer found the old keen delight and
• 2:00:26
  Speaker 1: anticipation of strenuous copying with the storms and buffeting of
• 2:00:29
  Speaker 1: the commercial world, but rather that habit drove him to it.
• 2:00:32
  Speaker 1: He found conditions in a frightful muddle. No one seemed
• 2:00:35
  Speaker 1: to know what had been transpiring in the office. Stickler
• 2:00:38
  Speaker 1: leaves the ball. Seacor did not even necessary to question Sammy.
• 2:00:42
  Speaker 1: It had been better for him had he done so.
• 2:00:44
  Speaker 1: One of his first inquiries was for miss Lethrow. Mister
• 2:00:47
  Speaker 1: Stickler looked at him in surprise. Why I discharged her,
• 2:00:51
  Speaker 1: Mister Secor, He said, you certainly cannot mean that you
• 2:00:53
  Speaker 1: would have cared to continue her in our employee. After
• 2:00:55
  Speaker 1: learning the reputation she bore reputation, repeated Secor, I do
• 2:01:00
  Speaker 1: not quite grasp you, mister Stickler. Mister Stickler explained, It
• 2:01:04
  Speaker 1: soon became evident to him that there was something radically
• 2:01:06
  Speaker 1: wrong with his employer. There was a blank look of
• 2:01:09
  Speaker 1: utter incomprehension upon Ogden Seacor's face. It is odd, he
• 2:01:12
  Speaker 1: said at last, that I did not recall any of
• 2:01:14
  Speaker 1: the incidences which you relate. You are quite sure, Stickler,
• 2:01:18
  Speaker 1: quite sure, sir. As Day succeeded day, Ogden Seacor realized
• 2:01:23
  Speaker 1: more and more fully what an unusual secretary Miss Lathrop
• 2:01:25
  Speaker 1: had been. He no longer mentioned her to mister Stickler,
• 2:01:28
  Speaker 1: but he missed her very much just the same. At
• 2:01:31
  Speaker 1: times he recalled with a start the things that Stickler
• 2:01:33
  Speaker 1: had told him about the girl's past, and then he
• 2:01:35
  Speaker 1: would realize that, after all would have been impossible to
• 2:01:38
  Speaker 1: have retained her. It was too bad, he thought, too
• 2:01:41
  Speaker 1: bad such secretaries as she were scarce. As to Stickler's
• 2:01:44
  Speaker 1: assertion that she had connived with the cracksmen, furnishing them
• 2:01:47
  Speaker 1: with the combination to the safe, Seacor would not believe it.
• 2:01:51
  Speaker 1: Months rolled by September came again, long since mister Stickler
• 2:01:55
  Speaker 1: had realized that his chief's memory was far from what
• 2:01:57
  Speaker 1: I had been. Prior to the injuries he had received
• 2:01:59
  Speaker 1: at the hands of the bar Ogden Seacorp, too, had
• 2:02:02
  Speaker 1: guessed that something of the sort he seemed to have
• 2:02:04
  Speaker 1: lost his grasp. His usually alert mind was no longer
• 2:02:07
  Speaker 1: equal to the emergencies that were constantly arising in his business.
• 2:02:11
  Speaker 1: Not only did he find it more and more difficult
• 2:02:13
  Speaker 1: to close contracts, but those that he did obtain net
• 2:02:16
  Speaker 1: him losses now instead of profits of the past. There
• 2:02:18
  Speaker 1: was a leak somewhere, but Ogden Seacorp was not mentally
• 2:02:21
  Speaker 1: fit to discover it. Matters went from bad to works.
• 2:02:25
  Speaker 1: His losses on the year's work entailed the necessity of
• 2:02:27
  Speaker 1: mortgaging the bulk of his real estate holdings to complete
• 2:02:30
  Speaker 1: the large public works contract in the neighboring city. Unable
• 2:02:33
  Speaker 1: longer to concentrate his mind upon the work in hand,
• 2:02:36
  Speaker 1: it ran completely away with him. Stickler assumed more and
• 2:02:39
  Speaker 1: more the direction of it. High prices were paid for
• 2:02:42
  Speaker 1: inferior materials and for large amounts that were never delivered.
• 2:02:45
  Speaker 1: Where the difference went, the books of the corporation did
• 2:02:48
  Speaker 1: not show, and if they had, it is doubtful of
• 2:02:50
  Speaker 1: Ogden Secor's winning mentality would have been able to understand
• 2:02:53
  Speaker 1: that he was being persistently and systematically betrayed and robbed.
• 2:02:57
  Speaker 1: The final blow came from the engineers of the city
• 2:02:59
  Speaker 1: for which the work was being done refused to accept
• 2:03:01
  Speaker 1: it on the grounds that scarcely anything material used was
• 2:03:04
  Speaker 1: up to specifications. Coincidentally, mister Strickler resigned his position with
• 2:03:08
  Speaker 1: John scorn Co to accept the management of a stronger competitor.
• 2:03:12
  Speaker 1: An expensive lawsuit followed the refusal of the municipality for
• 2:03:15
  Speaker 1: which the work had been done to pay the bill.
• 2:03:18
  Speaker 1: In the end, Seacor lost. Bankruptcy proceedings followed, and on
• 2:03:22
  Speaker 1: the first of the following February, Ogden Siecor found himself
• 2:03:24
  Speaker 1: a ruined demand, almost penniless and broken as well in
• 2:03:27
  Speaker 1: health and mentality. With the exception of a worthless and
• 2:03:31
  Speaker 1: baron farm in Idaho and a few articles of clothing,
• 2:03:34
  Speaker 1: he had disposed of everything he possessed in an endeavor
• 2:03:36
  Speaker 1: to meet the demands of his creditors. The farm, too,
• 2:03:39
  Speaker 1: would have gone with the rest, had he recalled the
• 2:03:41
  Speaker 1: existence of it. During the past few months of mental
• 2:03:44
  Speaker 1: and nervous stress, Secor had seen but little of Sophia Wells.
• 2:03:47
  Speaker 1: He had not felt equal to the rounds of social
• 2:03:49
  Speaker 1: activity which constituted her life, nor had he found her
• 2:03:52
  Speaker 1: generously sympathetic. Now that the end had come. He had
• 2:03:54
  Speaker 1: sought her, hoping against hope that the ubiquitous mister person
• 2:03:57
  Speaker 1: would not be present. To his relief, he found on
• 2:04:00
  Speaker 1: Sophia Wells alone. She did not need the evidence of
• 2:04:03
  Speaker 1: his tired and haggard face to realize the demand that
• 2:04:05
  Speaker 1: might presently be made upon her sympathy and generosity. She
• 2:04:09
  Speaker 1: had but just laid aside the new edition of an
• 2:04:11
  Speaker 1: afternoon paper, in which she had perused the last of
• 2:04:13
  Speaker 1: the rapidly dwindling references to a failure that had at
• 2:04:16
  Speaker 1: first occupied a large part of the front pages of
• 2:04:18
  Speaker 1: many editions. Sophia Wells knew at last that Ogden Secor
• 2:04:22
  Speaker 1: was a hopelessly ruined man. There was but one thing
• 2:04:25
  Speaker 1: to do. She must forestall him. I am glad you
• 2:04:28
  Speaker 1: have come here today, Ogden, she said, with a brief
• 2:04:30
  Speaker 1: exchange of greetings. For almost a year now I have
• 2:04:32
  Speaker 1: had a great load weighing heavily upon my shoulders. Miss
• 2:04:35
  Speaker 1: Wells did not say upon her heart, and I am
• 2:04:37
  Speaker 1: only sorry that I did not speak of it long ago,
• 2:04:39
  Speaker 1: for I can only too well realize the motives that
• 2:04:41
  Speaker 1: may now be unjustly attributed to me in impressing the
• 2:04:44
  Speaker 1: subject at this time of temporary financial trouble in which
• 2:04:46
  Speaker 1: you find yourself to be quite frank. I discovered long
• 2:04:50
  Speaker 1: since that my affections were surely directing themselves towards another.
• 2:04:53
  Speaker 1: I should have told you at once, but I was
• 2:04:55
  Speaker 1: not sure at first, and I dreaded causing you useless pain.
• 2:04:59
  Speaker 1: She paused, secor looked at her through dull eyes. It
• 2:05:02
  Speaker 1: was evident that he was going to take it much
• 2:05:04
  Speaker 1: harder than she had supposed. It is true that not
• 2:05:06
  Speaker 1: once since his accident had he spoken to her of
• 2:05:08
  Speaker 1: their engagement. There had been much in the way of
• 2:05:10
  Speaker 1: sentimental exchanges between them, so that the absence of these
• 2:05:13
  Speaker 1: had aroused little or no surprise in the girl's mind.
• 2:05:16
  Speaker 1: She was glad now that I had been so, for
• 2:05:18
  Speaker 1: it was going to make a difficult job much less
• 2:05:19
  Speaker 1: difficult than it would otherwise have been. Yet it was
• 2:05:23
  Speaker 1: going to be hard enough, she could see. Then she
• 2:05:25
  Speaker 1: wondered why he didn't say something. Finally, he coughed, a
• 2:05:29
  Speaker 1: slight flush mounting his pale face. I am quite sure, Sophia,
• 2:05:33
  Speaker 1: He said that I shall always be most satisfied with
• 2:05:35
  Speaker 1: what brings you the greatest happiness. She noted the puzzled
• 2:05:37
  Speaker 1: expression on his face, attributing it to a natural desire
• 2:05:40
  Speaker 1: to learn who had supplanted him in her affections. I feel,
• 2:05:44
  Speaker 1: she explained, that we are not exactly suited to one another.
• 2:05:47
  Speaker 1: Our ideals are not the same. You did not find
• 2:05:49
  Speaker 1: interest in what interests me most, and so it seemed
• 2:05:52
  Speaker 1: to me, as there may never be any deep rooted
• 2:05:54
  Speaker 1: common interest between us, that we should soon be most
• 2:05:56
  Speaker 1: unhappy together. The puzzled expression seemed to have been growing
• 2:05:59
  Speaker 1: upon them handsome face of mister ogden Secor. Yes, he breathed,
• 2:06:04
  Speaker 1: I fear that you are right, mister person. On the contrary,
• 2:06:07
  Speaker 1: went on, Miss Wells feels precisely as I do upon
• 2:06:09
  Speaker 1: the subjects that are closest to my heart. They are
• 2:06:12
  Speaker 1: the same that are closest to his. In fact, Ogden,
• 2:06:14
  Speaker 1: I'm going to ask you to release me from my
• 2:06:16
  Speaker 1: engagement to you. Involuntarily, ogden Secor's mouth opened, But whether
• 2:06:20
  Speaker 1: in surprise or because of a terrible shock to his
• 2:06:22
  Speaker 1: love and pride, it would have been difficult to say.
• 2:06:24
  Speaker 1: Miss Wells attributed it to the latter. At last, he
• 2:06:28
  Speaker 1: found words my dear Sophia, he said, you know perfectly
• 2:06:31
  Speaker 1: well that if you love mister person, I shall be
• 2:06:33
  Speaker 1: the last person on earth to stand in the way
• 2:06:35
  Speaker 1: of your realizing to the full every happiness that may
• 2:06:37
  Speaker 1: be found and his disposal. I congratulate you, Sophia, sincerely,
• 2:06:42
  Speaker 1: and I beg that you will give no further thought
• 2:06:43
  Speaker 1: of me other than as a friend and a well measure.
• 2:06:46
  Speaker 1: You are very generous Ogden, she said, and she bade
• 2:06:49
  Speaker 1: him goodbye. Glad that the ordeal was so easily over,
• 2:06:52
  Speaker 1: it would have been a much surprised Miss Wells. Could
• 2:06:54
  Speaker 1: that young lady have read Ogden Secor's thoughts as he
• 2:06:57
  Speaker 1: ran down the broad steps before her home and made
• 2:06:59
  Speaker 1: his way to de nearest elevated station. And to think,
• 2:07:02
  Speaker 1: thought he that, for over a year had been engaged
• 2:07:04
  Speaker 1: to Sophia Wells, without once recalling the fact those cracksmen
• 2:07:07
  Speaker 1: most assuredly cracked something belonging to Augden Secorp beside his safe.
• 2:07:12
  Speaker 1: It was with a feeling of relief and elation that
• 2:07:14
  Speaker 1: he had not felt before for months that he strode
• 2:07:16
  Speaker 1: along the street. Evidently the obligation of his engagement had
• 2:07:19
  Speaker 1: been weighing upon him heavily through the medium of his subconsciousness,
• 2:07:22
  Speaker 1: without his having once objectively sensed other than an inexplicable
• 2:07:25
  Speaker 1: call to duty that had drawn him to Sophia Wells
• 2:07:27
  Speaker 1: when he gladly would have been elsewhere. As he walked
• 2:07:30
  Speaker 1: toward the elevated he tried to recall under what circumstances
• 2:07:32
  Speaker 1: he had become engaged to Miss Wells. As he viewed
• 2:07:35
  Speaker 1: the matter now, it was difficult to realize that any
• 2:07:37
  Speaker 1: possible contingency he could have arisen that would have caused
• 2:07:39
  Speaker 1: him to look with tender affection upon the cold and
• 2:07:42
  Speaker 1: calculating Sophia. The loss of his fortune affected auguden't Seycorps
• 2:07:45
  Speaker 1: less than might have been expected. Possibly he did not
• 2:07:48
  Speaker 1: fully realize the completeness of his financial rumen or what
• 2:07:50
  Speaker 1: it was bound to mean to him. In away, he
• 2:07:52
  Speaker 1: felt principally a certain relief from the galling pressure and
• 2:07:55
  Speaker 1: annoyances of the past bitter year. No longer was he
• 2:07:58
  Speaker 1: weighed with burdensome rich responsibilities and grave apprehensions. The worst
• 2:08:02
  Speaker 1: had happened. There was no further calamity possible, at least
• 2:08:06
  Speaker 1: so he thought. Vaguely. He felt that he could build
• 2:08:09
  Speaker 1: up a fortune equal to that which was gone. But
• 2:08:11
  Speaker 1: there was none of the old time assurance and determination
• 2:08:13
  Speaker 1: that had marked him in the past. It seemed quite
• 2:08:15
  Speaker 1: impossible for him to concentrate his mind for a sufficient
• 2:08:17
  Speaker 1: length of time upon the subject to formulate even the
• 2:08:20
  Speaker 1: foundation of a well considered plan. He sought out old
• 2:08:23
  Speaker 1: friends upon whose business acumen he might rely, with the
• 2:08:25
  Speaker 1: intention of talking over his plans with them. For at last,
• 2:08:28
  Speaker 1: and the first time in his life, Ogden Siegor felt
• 2:08:30
  Speaker 1: unequal to the task of reasoning for himself, much less
• 2:08:33
  Speaker 1: deciding in any matter of importance. The first man to
• 2:08:36
  Speaker 1: whom he went was the president of the bank of
• 2:08:38
  Speaker 1: which Secor was still a director, and with which he
• 2:08:40
  Speaker 1: had transacted the bulk of his banking business. The president
• 2:08:44
  Speaker 1: was an old personal friend, a man of about Secor's
• 2:08:46
  Speaker 1: own age, a member of the same clubs and the
• 2:08:48
  Speaker 1: same set. Heretofore he had been wont to drop whatever
• 2:08:51
  Speaker 1: had been engaging him and come into the ante room
• 2:08:53
  Speaker 1: to greet Sicor whenever he had a chance to call. Today,
• 2:08:56
  Speaker 1: the caller waited thirty minutes before the bank president appeared. Well, Secor,
• 2:09:00
  Speaker 1: he said, what can I do for you? Heretofore it
• 2:09:03
  Speaker 1: had always been Ogden. There was an unquestionable air of
• 2:09:06
  Speaker 1: haste in his manner too. Nor did he take mister
• 2:09:08
  Speaker 1: Secor familiarly by the arm and drag him into his
• 2:09:10
  Speaker 1: luxurious private offices. Formerly it was just, well, Secor, what
• 2:09:15
  Speaker 1: can I do for you? Those who are congenerally inefficient
• 2:09:18
  Speaker 1: are prone to sensitiveness, and the same is often true
• 2:09:20
  Speaker 1: of men who, through illness or preposperous circumstance, find themselves
• 2:09:24
  Speaker 1: temporarily unfit to cope with the stern demands of modern
• 2:09:27
  Speaker 1: success building. Supersensitiveness often begets a preternatural and almost uncanny
• 2:09:31
  Speaker 1: ability to sense the secret motives underlying the acts of others.
• 2:09:35
  Speaker 1: Ogden Seacorp had never been oversensitive until now. He had
• 2:09:38
  Speaker 1: not appreciated the fact that there could possibly be any
• 2:09:40
  Speaker 1: material difference in the Ougden Sea Corp of yesterday and
• 2:09:43
  Speaker 1: the Ogden Sea Corps of today. He had never gaged
• 2:09:46
  Speaker 1: men by their bank accounts, so it is not strange
• 2:09:48
  Speaker 1: that he should have been unsuspecting that any might have
• 2:09:50
  Speaker 1: gaged him by such a standard. The words and manner
• 2:09:54
  Speaker 1: of the bank President, however, awoke him violently and painfully.
• 2:09:57
  Speaker 1: For Ogden Seacorps was now whatever he might been in
• 2:10:00
  Speaker 1: the past, and any fision and accordingly a supersensitive There's
• 2:10:04
  Speaker 1: nothing you can do for me, Norton, he said, I
• 2:10:06
  Speaker 1: just dropped in for a chat. You're busy, though, and
• 2:10:09
  Speaker 1: I won't detain you. He turned to go. I am
• 2:10:12
  Speaker 1: mighty busy today, replied the bank president. A trifle more cordially.
• 2:10:15
  Speaker 1: Come in again sometime, will you, thanks, replied Secor. When
• 2:10:19
  Speaker 1: he reached the street, he found himself cold, all over, cold,
• 2:10:22
  Speaker 1: with a heart, coldness with which the bleak February northeaster
• 2:10:25
  Speaker 1: had nothing to do. He did not venture to call
• 2:10:28
  Speaker 1: upon another friend. Instead, he dropped into a bar on
• 2:10:31
  Speaker 1: LaSalle Street and took a stiff drink of whiskey. It
• 2:10:34
  Speaker 1: was the first time he had done that for a
• 2:10:35
  Speaker 1: longer time than he could recall. The drink warmed him,
• 2:10:38
  Speaker 1: sending it intoxicating if artificial renewal of hope and confidence
• 2:10:42
  Speaker 1: surging through him. He took another. There was a genial
• 2:10:46
  Speaker 1: stranger drinking alone at the same bar. He commented upon
• 2:10:49
  Speaker 1: the severity of the storm Ogden Secor friends with all
• 2:10:53
  Speaker 1: the world, now entered the conversation with him. Wish I
• 2:10:56
  Speaker 1: was back in Idaho. Remarked the stranger. Where I can
• 2:10:58
  Speaker 1: get thought out and see that the sun was doing
• 2:11:00
  Speaker 1: business at the same old stand Idaho. It awakened something
• 2:11:03
  Speaker 1: in Seacor's memory. I thought that it was usually pretty
• 2:11:06
  Speaker 1: cold there, he said. Not where I come from, replied
• 2:11:08
  Speaker 1: the stranger. I got a little fruit ranch down in
• 2:11:10
  Speaker 1: the southwestern corner of the state. Greatest little climate in
• 2:11:13
  Speaker 1: the world, Sir, never gets anywhere near zero and sunshine.
• 2:11:18
  Speaker 1: Why man, you ain't got a bowing acquaintance with old
• 2:11:20
  Speaker 1: soul back here three hundred and sixty days of sunshine
• 2:11:23
  Speaker 1: out of every three hundred and sixty five, Seacord smiled.
• 2:11:27
  Speaker 1: He reminded me of the boosters of sunny southern California.
• 2:11:30
  Speaker 1: He laughed. Don't, said the Idahoan, raising a deprecating hand.
• 2:11:33
  Speaker 1: What I'm telling you is the truth. What part of
• 2:11:36
  Speaker 1: Idaho did you say you're from, asked Seacor, About ten
• 2:11:40
  Speaker 1: miles south of Goliath. Goliath's a division headquarters of the
• 2:11:43
  Speaker 1: short Line. Goliath, repeated Seacor. Why I've got a ranch
• 2:11:47
  Speaker 1: around there somewhere, as myself took it out a trade
• 2:11:49
  Speaker 1: years ago and forgot all about it. One hundred and
• 2:11:51
  Speaker 1: sixty acres. I think it was sort of funny for
• 2:11:54
  Speaker 1: a man to forget a hundred and sixty acre ranch,
• 2:11:56
  Speaker 1: remarked the stranger a bit skeptically. During the following week,
• 2:12:00
  Speaker 1: Ogna Sycourt drank a great deal more than was good
• 2:12:02
  Speaker 1: for him or for any man. Several times he met
• 2:12:05
  Speaker 1: Old Quintin's is on the streets. Ever eager now to
• 2:12:07
  Speaker 1: discover changes in the attitude of former friends, he was
• 2:12:10
  Speaker 1: quick to note the seeming coldness of their greetings and
• 2:12:12
  Speaker 1: the remarkable stress of unprecedented business, which invariably hurried him along.
• 2:12:17
  Speaker 1: After each encounter he sought the nearest bar. His mind
• 2:12:20
  Speaker 1: was much occupied with thoughts of his forgotten ranch, and
• 2:12:22
  Speaker 1: when as summons to his attorney's office revealed the fact
• 2:12:24
  Speaker 1: that the final settlement with the creditors would leave him
• 2:12:26
  Speaker 1: with several hundred dollars of unexpected wealth, he obtained advance
• 2:12:29
  Speaker 1: from them, perched the ticket for Goliath, Idaho, and shook
• 2:12:32
  Speaker 1: the grimy snow of the loop from his feet. He
• 2:12:34
  Speaker 1: hoped forever. End of chapter ten, chapter eleven of The
• 2:12:44
  Speaker 1: Girl from Paris's by Edgar Rice Burroughs. This LibriVox recording
• 2:12:48
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Recording by Joe Denoia, Somerset,
• 2:12:51
  Speaker 1: New Jersey, Chapter eleven. A matter of memory From LaSalle
• 2:12:56
  Speaker 1: Street to Goliath, Idaho is ordinarily a matter of some
• 2:12:59
  Speaker 1: two days trees, but required the best part of a
• 2:13:02
  Speaker 1: year for aug and sea Court to perform the journey.
• 2:13:04
  Speaker 1: On the train, he became acquainted with an alert and
• 2:13:07
  Speaker 1: plausible stranger who owned a gold mine in the mountains
• 2:13:09
  Speaker 1: north of Ketchum. All that was needed for development was
• 2:13:12
  Speaker 1: a few hundred dollars worth of machinery influmes that it
• 2:13:14
  Speaker 1: would make its owners fabulously wealthy. By the time the
• 2:13:17
  Speaker 1: train reached the shone, aug and Seacar was inoculated with
• 2:13:20
  Speaker 1: the insidious virus of gold fever, that mad malady which
• 2:13:23
  Speaker 1: raises white hot for the veins of its victims, distorting
• 2:13:26
  Speaker 1: every mental image and precluding the same functioning of the
• 2:13:28
  Speaker 1: powers of reason. In possession of all his faculties at
• 2:13:31
  Speaker 1: their best, Seacork could never have been trapped so easily.
• 2:13:34
  Speaker 1: But what with weakened mental and physical powers, the result
• 2:13:37
  Speaker 1: primarily of the work of the cracksmen, and later of
• 2:13:40
  Speaker 1: the effects of alcohol, he fell an easy prayer to
• 2:13:42
  Speaker 1: the highly imaginative enthusiasm of his new acquaintance, and so
• 2:13:45
  Speaker 1: it befell that he left the train atch ha shown,
• 2:13:48
  Speaker 1: and in company with the owner of the gold mine,
• 2:13:49
  Speaker 1: boarded another for Ketcham, the northern terminus of the branch line.
• 2:13:53
  Speaker 1: Ketcham is Or at that time was a squalid wreck
• 2:13:56
  Speaker 1: of a place, but like every other settlement of its stamp,
• 2:13:59
  Speaker 1: it boasted several balloons. To one of these, the mine
• 2:14:01
  Speaker 1: owner led his victim here. They discussed ways, means, and
• 2:14:05
  Speaker 1: barbed wire whisky until Secor passed over the few hundred
• 2:14:08
  Speaker 1: dollars remaining to him that his partner might go forth
• 2:14:10
  Speaker 1: and purchased the necessary machinery and the outfit that was transported,
• 2:14:13
  Speaker 1: and them north into the mountains of the Marrow Seacor
• 2:14:16
  Speaker 1: waiting drank with the proprietor, with the loungers around the place,
• 2:14:20
  Speaker 1: and with others who drifted in and sent the whiskey
• 2:14:22
  Speaker 1: at another's expense. Night came, and still the mine owner
• 2:14:25
  Speaker 1: had not returned, nor did he ever. Next morning, Sikor awoke,
• 2:14:29
  Speaker 1: partially sobered to a realization of the truth he had
• 2:14:32
  Speaker 1: been fleeced. He was friendless and all but penniless in
• 2:14:34
  Speaker 1: a strange town. But worst of all, his nerve was gone.
• 2:14:38
  Speaker 1: The year that followed was a hideous nightmare of regret
• 2:14:40
  Speaker 1: and shame, the soul surceased, from which was untangable only
• 2:14:43
  Speaker 1: through the stupefying medium of drink. Oftentimes he was hungry,
• 2:14:47
  Speaker 1: for there was little chance to earn money and catch
• 2:14:49
  Speaker 1: him again. He did odd jobs about one or the
• 2:14:51
  Speaker 1: other of the several saloons, when a flash of his
• 2:14:53
  Speaker 1: waning self pride with a growing desire for whisky goaded
• 2:14:56
  Speaker 1: him to the earning of money. Later, he was given
• 2:14:58
  Speaker 1: work as a clerk in the general store, his knowledge
• 2:15:01
  Speaker 1: of accounting proving of value to the proprietor. This man,
• 2:15:04
  Speaker 1: realizing that the continuous use of whiskey would have no
• 2:15:06
  Speaker 1: tendency to increase the value of his new clerk, employed
• 2:15:09
  Speaker 1: him with the understanding that for six months he was
• 2:15:11
  Speaker 1: to have but a small percentage of his wage as weekly,
• 2:15:14
  Speaker 1: just enough after the store closed Saturday night to permit
• 2:15:16
  Speaker 1: a mild orgy from which one might recover over Sunday
• 2:15:19
  Speaker 1: and be fit to work for Monday. At the termination
• 2:15:22
  Speaker 1: of six months, Secor demanded the balance of his crude
• 2:15:24
  Speaker 1: wage and received it, much to his employer's surprise. He
• 2:15:27
  Speaker 1: failed to spend it immediately for drink. Instead, he did
• 2:15:30
  Speaker 1: what he had been planning upon thought, the first train
• 2:15:32
  Speaker 1: south for Shoshone and Goliath. In his mind was a
• 2:15:35
  Speaker 1: determination to seek his farm and be thereafter independent of
• 2:15:38
  Speaker 1: any employer. There was, too the decision to stop drinking.
• 2:15:42
  Speaker 1: But little did demand realized to hold the sickness had
• 2:15:44
  Speaker 1: taken upon him. Secor found Goliath, a thriving town of
• 2:15:47
  Speaker 1: three or four thousand a halbinants. His first inquiry, notwithstanding
• 2:15:50
  Speaker 1: his good resolutions, was for a saloon, Nor did he
• 2:15:53
  Speaker 1: have any difficulty in locating several. The tiresome journey from
• 2:15:56
  Speaker 1: catchment given him far too much leisure with his own
• 2:15:58
  Speaker 1: gloomy thoughts and vain regrets. For God, a little drink
• 2:16:01
  Speaker 1: would do no harm, and then he would stop. He
• 2:16:03
  Speaker 1: would never touch it again. But just now his nerves
• 2:16:05
  Speaker 1: required the stimulant. Then, too, was it not a well
• 2:16:08
  Speaker 1: known fact that in too sudden necessation of the habit
• 2:16:11
  Speaker 1: a grave danger ah criminal fallacy. To you, how many
• 2:16:15
  Speaker 1: countless thousand graves o their poor, miserable inmates. And so
• 2:16:18
  Speaker 1: it happened that at dusk it was a far from
• 2:16:20
  Speaker 1: sober man who entered the palace lunch room in time
• 2:16:22
  Speaker 1: for the evening meal. As he slouched down upon his stool,
• 2:16:26
  Speaker 1: his befogged vision struggling with the blurred and scully purple
• 2:16:29
  Speaker 1: of the mimiograph's bill of fare, the girl waiting across
• 2:16:31
  Speaker 1: the counter from him for his order could scarce conceal
• 2:16:34
  Speaker 1: the disgust she felt that this slovenly and unkempt appearance.
• 2:16:37
  Speaker 1: She could not see his face while his head was
• 2:16:39
  Speaker 1: bent low above the greasy guard, but she knew that
• 2:16:41
  Speaker 1: it must be equally as repulsive as his soiled and
• 2:16:43
  Speaker 1: disheveled apparel. Who would have guessed that this object of
• 2:16:46
  Speaker 1: the content of a cheap lunch counter waitress in a
• 2:16:48
  Speaker 1: far western railroad town could have been the spotless Ogden
• 2:16:50
  Speaker 1: Sea Corp of two brief years ago. Presently, he looked
• 2:16:53
  Speaker 1: up into the girl's face. At sight of his features,
• 2:16:56
  Speaker 1: she gave a little involuntary gasp, stepping back at the
• 2:16:58
  Speaker 1: same time as though to avoid a blow. Smatter asked
• 2:17:01
  Speaker 1: mister Secor. The girl eyed him intently for a moment,
• 2:17:04
  Speaker 1: and then, with a sigh of relief, forced a smile
• 2:17:06
  Speaker 1: to her white lips. He had not recognized her nothing,
• 2:17:09
  Speaker 1: she said, I'm taken that way. Occasionally, heart asked mister Seacor.
• 2:17:14
  Speaker 1: June left her looked at mister Ogden Secor in silence
• 2:17:16
  Speaker 1: for a moment. I wonder, she said half to herself,
• 2:17:19
  Speaker 1: I wonder if it is he. He gave his order
• 2:17:22
  Speaker 1: and ate in silence, occasionally casting a furtive glance in
• 2:17:25
  Speaker 1: the girl's direction. When she brought his dessert, he asked
• 2:17:27
  Speaker 1: where he might find a comfortable hotel. I only just arrived,
• 2:17:30
  Speaker 1: he explained, and I'm not familiar with the town. The
• 2:17:33
  Speaker 1: meal had sobered him a bit so that he can
• 2:17:34
  Speaker 1: talk a trifle more coherently. As he ate his pie,
• 2:17:38
  Speaker 1: June stood in front of him, talking, she told him
• 2:17:40
  Speaker 1: where there was a room and a private family nearby
• 2:17:43
  Speaker 1: that he could probably get. He was filled with wonder
• 2:17:45
  Speaker 1: at the change that had taken place in him. When
• 2:17:48
  Speaker 1: his face was in response, the depth of sorrow that
• 2:17:50
  Speaker 1: it revealed touched her heart in vain. She looked for
• 2:17:53
  Speaker 1: the one time radiant smile that endeared Augden Seacord to
• 2:17:55
  Speaker 1: many beside herself. Could it be possible that this was
• 2:17:58
  Speaker 1: the fastidious society in business man she had known but
• 2:18:00
  Speaker 1: little more than two years since? It was incredible are
• 2:18:04
  Speaker 1: you going to remain here, she asked, I guess so,
• 2:18:06
  Speaker 1: he replied. I have a ranch around her somewhere. I've
• 2:18:09
  Speaker 1: never seen it, but I'm going out tomorrow to have
• 2:18:10
  Speaker 1: a look at it, and if it's all right, I'll
• 2:18:12
  Speaker 1: sell it here and go to ranching much doing in
• 2:18:14
  Speaker 1: that line. Alfalfa and fruit ranches pay fairly well, she replied.
• 2:18:18
  Speaker 1: It depends, of course, on several things, soil water rights,
• 2:18:22
  Speaker 1: and she hesitated. The man who's ranching farming nowadays, you know,
• 2:18:27
  Speaker 1: is something of an exact science. To be a successful man,
• 2:18:30
  Speaker 1: you must understand that haphazard methods won't work. Can't a
• 2:18:33
  Speaker 1: man learn, he asked, Yes, she replied, but even then
• 2:18:36
  Speaker 1: he won't succeed if she hated to say it, but
• 2:18:38
  Speaker 1: oh how she hated to see him as he was.
• 2:18:41
  Speaker 1: But even then he won't succeed if he drinks oud
• 2:18:44
  Speaker 1: and seacorp flushed. He was still far from having lost
• 2:18:47
  Speaker 1: all self respect. Without another word, he paid his check
• 2:18:49
  Speaker 1: and walked out of the lunch room. That served him right,
• 2:18:51
  Speaker 1: he thought, for having entered into familiar conversation with a waitress.
• 2:18:55
  Speaker 1: The following morning, he engaged a buck board and a
• 2:18:57
  Speaker 1: driver for the trip to his ranch. Half hours hunt
• 2:18:59
  Speaker 1: through the records of the county clerk's office suffice to
• 2:19:02
  Speaker 1: locate his tract. As he was driving through town, he
• 2:19:04
  Speaker 1: told his guide to stop in front of a saloon.
• 2:19:07
  Speaker 1: We may get dry before to day's over, he explained
• 2:19:09
  Speaker 1: with a grin to the more than willing native. It
• 2:19:11
  Speaker 1: would never do to stop too. Suddenly, as he stepped
• 2:19:14
  Speaker 1: up to the bar and ordered the flask, the words
• 2:19:16
  Speaker 1: of the waitress came suddenly to his mind. But even
• 2:19:19
  Speaker 1: then he won't succeed if he drinks. They seemed to
• 2:19:21
  Speaker 1: take the edge off his appetite for whiskey, but he
• 2:19:23
  Speaker 1: pocketed the bottle and soon was jogging along through the
• 2:19:25
  Speaker 1: stifling dust towards the only thing on earth that he might,
• 2:19:28
  Speaker 1: by any twist of the imagination, call home. As they
• 2:19:31
  Speaker 1: drove along, Secord tried to picture the rolling meadow lands,
• 2:19:34
  Speaker 1: the shady orchards, the broad green fields of wheel high
• 2:19:37
  Speaker 1: sent swedeed Alfalfa of his ranch. Never before he given
• 2:19:41
  Speaker 1: this least value of his possessions more than a passing thought,
• 2:19:44
  Speaker 1: But now that it seemed to offer him a peaceful
• 2:19:45
  Speaker 1: haven of rest and quiet, an utter seclusion from the
• 2:19:48
  Speaker 1: world that he had known and come to hate. He
• 2:19:50
  Speaker 1: viewed through a mind's eye that glorified and idealized. He
• 2:19:53
  Speaker 1: could scarce restrain his impatience with the slow plotting team
• 2:19:56
  Speaker 1: that willowed now threw sand to their fetlocks, and again
• 2:19:58
  Speaker 1: labored upward towards the brow of a rough lava stream bluff.
• 2:20:02
  Speaker 1: At last they came within sight of a broad, willow
• 2:20:04
  Speaker 1: fringed river, low islands, dense thicketed low of the strong
• 2:20:08
  Speaker 1: swift current. With their sharp points, they might have been
• 2:20:10
  Speaker 1: great flat ships forging their silent way toward the distant
• 2:20:13
  Speaker 1: mountains of the Northland. And whence the mighty river tumbled,
• 2:20:15
  Speaker 1: roaring downward for its thousand mile journey to the water
• 2:20:18
  Speaker 1: of the lesser stream that steals its identity onward to
• 2:20:21
  Speaker 1: the sea, all was grayish green or greenish brown, And
• 2:20:25
  Speaker 1: all was sere and desolate and cold. Here and there,
• 2:20:27
  Speaker 1: little patches of half melted snow lay in the shadows
• 2:20:30
  Speaker 1: of the sagebrush that dotted the rolling flat beside the river.
• 2:20:33
  Speaker 1: Beyond Seacork could see a similar landscape upon the other shore.
• 2:20:37
  Speaker 1: It is farther than I thought, he said to the guide.
• 2:20:39
  Speaker 1: That's mostly the way in Idaho, replied the man. Secor
• 2:20:42
  Speaker 1: was wondering how they were to cross that mighty torrent,
• 2:20:44
  Speaker 1: for it was evident that the ranch must be beyond
• 2:20:46
  Speaker 1: the river. There was no signs of habitation, no rolling
• 2:20:48
  Speaker 1: meadow lands, no shady orchards, no green alfalfa fields, but
• 2:20:52
  Speaker 1: its can upon the river's heatherside. He realized, of course,
• 2:20:55
  Speaker 1: that the season precluded the full summation of his dream,
• 2:20:57
  Speaker 1: but there would at least be plenty to suggest the
• 2:20:59
  Speaker 1: beauties of the sun, spring and summer when they should
• 2:21:01
  Speaker 1: come upon his home. The guide drew rein upon a
• 2:21:04
  Speaker 1: little knoll beside the river. Want to get out, he asked?
• 2:21:07
  Speaker 1: What for question, Secor, we're here. Secord looked at him searchingly.
• 2:21:11
  Speaker 1: Already the truth was leering on him with a contemptuous grin.
• 2:21:14
  Speaker 1: Is this it, he asked, nodding his head in a
• 2:21:16
  Speaker 1: half swing that took in the surrounding desert. Yep, said
• 2:21:20
  Speaker 1: the guide. T ain't much good. He ain't got no water.
• 2:21:23
  Speaker 1: Seacord laughed, a merry, mirthless laugh. Oh, he said, I
• 2:21:27
  Speaker 1: think it's a pretty good place. What for usked the guide,
• 2:21:30
  Speaker 1: in surprise. To take a drink, said Secor, pulling the
• 2:21:32
  Speaker 1: flask from his overcoat pocket. The guide grinned, and you
• 2:21:36
  Speaker 1: don't need no water for that, he said, no, replied
• 2:21:38
  Speaker 1: Secor watered spoilt For weeks, Seacor frequented the cute pea
• 2:21:42
  Speaker 1: saloonic goliath, emerging occasionally to eat and sleep. Every time
• 2:21:46
  Speaker 1: he ate, he was reminded of the waitress at the
• 2:21:48
  Speaker 1: palace lunch room, but he didn't go there. He wondered,
• 2:21:52
  Speaker 1: when his mind was not entirely befogged by drink, why
• 2:21:54
  Speaker 1: the girl should cling so tenaciously to his memory, and
• 2:21:57
  Speaker 1: what cause there could be for the uncomfortable feeling that
• 2:21:59
  Speaker 1: accompanied recollection of her warning for warning, it evidently had been.
• 2:22:03
  Speaker 1: One night Secor was sitting in a stud poker game.
• 2:22:05
  Speaker 1: The gentleman next to him developed the crouching manner of
• 2:22:07
  Speaker 1: inspecting his buried card, placing his eye on a level
• 2:22:10
  Speaker 1: with the table and barely raising the corner of his
• 2:22:12
  Speaker 1: own card. This permitted him to inspect Seacors's buried card
• 2:22:15
  Speaker 1: at the same time. A dozen hands were dealt before
• 2:22:18
  Speaker 1: Secord discovered why he always won small pots and lost
• 2:22:20
  Speaker 1: the larger ones. Then he saw that his worthy opponent
• 2:22:23
  Speaker 1: not only looked at Seacors buried card, but immediately thereafter
• 2:22:26
  Speaker 1: passed obvious signals across the table to a crony upon
• 2:22:29
  Speaker 1: the other side. At the following deal, Secor did not
• 2:22:31
  Speaker 1: look at his buried card at all. He merely remained
• 2:22:34
  Speaker 1: in on the strength of what he had in sight.
• 2:22:36
  Speaker 1: From the corner of his eye, he thought the sly
• 2:22:37
  Speaker 1: one was becoming nervous. Secor had an ace and two
• 2:22:40
  Speaker 1: deuces up, but there was still one card to be dealt.
• 2:22:43
  Speaker 1: At the betting, Segor raised for the first time. Then proposedly,
• 2:22:46
  Speaker 1: he turned his head away from his cards and the
• 2:22:48
  Speaker 1: man at his left to take a drink that stood
• 2:22:50
  Speaker 1: at his right hand. He guessed what would happen. When
• 2:22:52
  Speaker 1: the drink was halfway to his lips, he turned suddenly
• 2:22:54
  Speaker 1: to the left to discover the sly one in the
• 2:22:56
  Speaker 1: act of raising his seacors buried card. To learn its identity.
• 2:23:00
  Speaker 1: Like a flash, Segor wheeled, dashing his glass with his
• 2:23:03
  Speaker 1: contents full in the face of the cheeter. With the
• 2:23:05
  Speaker 1: same move he gained to his feet. The other whipped
• 2:23:07
  Speaker 1: a revolver from beneath his coat. The balance of the
• 2:23:09
  Speaker 1: players scattered, and the loungers in the saloon ran for
• 2:23:11
  Speaker 1: the doorway, Or dived over the bar for the security
• 2:23:14
  Speaker 1: his panels seemed to offer. If Sikor had been a
• 2:23:16
  Speaker 1: foot further away from his antagonist, he would doubtless have
• 2:23:19
  Speaker 1: been killed. As it was, his very proximity saved him.
• 2:23:22
  Speaker 1: There is no easier weapon to pariot close range than
• 2:23:24
  Speaker 1: a firearm. The slightest deviation of aim renders it harmless.
• 2:23:28
  Speaker 1: As the gun flashed beneath the electric light, Segor's left
• 2:23:30
  Speaker 1: arm went up to pariot as of him in a
• 2:23:32
  Speaker 1: clenched right fist aimed at his jaw. The bullet passed
• 2:23:34
  Speaker 1: harmlessly past him, and, with a report of the exploding cartridge,
• 2:23:37
  Speaker 1: his own right landed heavily upon the point of the
• 2:23:39
  Speaker 1: cheeter's chin. The man went backwards over his chair, his
• 2:23:43
  Speaker 1: head striking heavily upon the mass of Pottery's patoon. Then
• 2:23:46
  Speaker 1: he lay perfectly still. Ogden Secor stood with wide eyes,
• 2:23:49
  Speaker 1: gazing at the prostrate form of his antagonist. Dazed, the
• 2:23:52
  Speaker 1: bartender poked his head above the sheltering breastwork of the bar.
• 2:23:56
  Speaker 1: Seeing that the shooting appeared to be over, he emerged.
• 2:23:58
  Speaker 1: His first act was to remove the gun from the
• 2:24:00
  Speaker 1: nerveless fingers of the supine man. Then he turned towards
• 2:24:02
  Speaker 1: Secor got a gun, he asked. Seacor shook his head negatively.
• 2:24:07
  Speaker 1: A moment later, the players and the loungers returned to
• 2:24:09
  Speaker 1: bend over the quiet form upon the floor. With them
• 2:24:12
  Speaker 1: came the sheriff and a doctor. The former, after questioning
• 2:24:15
  Speaker 1: the parttender, took Seacor into custody as several men carry
• 2:24:18
  Speaker 1: the injured gambler into the back room. All night, Ogden
• 2:24:21
  Speaker 1: Seecor sat sleepless in the bare cell. He was very
• 2:24:23
  Speaker 1: sober now, and all the depths to which he gets
• 2:24:25
  Speaker 1: sunk were revealed to him, in all their appalling horridness.
• 2:24:28
  Speaker 1: It was unthinkable, and yet it was true. He Ogden
• 2:24:32
  Speaker 1: Seacor a participant in a drunken saloon bowl. Tomorrow, or
• 2:24:36
  Speaker 1: as soon as they should release him, he would seek
• 2:24:37
  Speaker 1: out the man he had struck and apologized to him.
• 2:24:39
  Speaker 1: Although he knew that the fellow deserved all he had gone,
• 2:24:42
  Speaker 1: he was sorry now that the bullet intended for him
• 2:24:44
  Speaker 1: and not found him. It would have been better so,
• 2:24:46
  Speaker 1: and infinitely easier, than to go on living the worthless,
• 2:24:48
  Speaker 1: besided life that he was surely headed for. By eight
• 2:24:51
  Speaker 1: o'clock in the morning, the sheriff entered the corridor outside
• 2:24:53
  Speaker 1: his cell. How's Thompson this morning, asked Secor. Thompson was
• 2:24:57
  Speaker 1: the name of the cheater. I guess he's comfortable, said
• 2:25:00
  Speaker 1: the officer, with a grin. He ain't sent back for nothing.
• 2:25:03
  Speaker 1: Has he left town? As Sigor? Yep, said the sheriff.
• 2:25:06
  Speaker 1: He's dead. You killed him. Secor collapsed upon the hard
• 2:25:08
  Speaker 1: bench at the side of his cell. He felt as
• 2:25:10
  Speaker 1: though some mighty hand had struck him heavily over the heart.
• 2:25:13
  Speaker 1: There was a look in his eyes that the sheriff
• 2:25:15
  Speaker 1: had never seen in the eyes of another of the
• 2:25:16
  Speaker 1: many killers he had arrested during his long years of service.
• 2:25:19
  Speaker 1: It was neither fear nor horror. The sheriff cannot have
• 2:25:23
  Speaker 1: interpreted it, for he knew not what height's pride of
• 2:25:25
  Speaker 1: name of family, of station, birth and breeding may lift
• 2:25:28
  Speaker 1: a man above the sordid crimes, nor how awful is
• 2:25:31
  Speaker 1: to plunge from such a pinnacle to the bottomless path
• 2:25:33
  Speaker 1: of shame, which ogden Segor's naked soul was plumbing that instant.
• 2:25:37
  Speaker 1: You needn't take it hard, said the sheriff, kindly. You
• 2:25:39
  Speaker 1: hit him in self defense. There's half a dozen witnesses
• 2:25:41
  Speaker 1: to the fact, and to the fact that you wasn't armed,
• 2:25:43
  Speaker 1: who was hitting the spittoon in the back of his
• 2:25:45
  Speaker 1: head that killed him. They're in a jury, and Idaho
• 2:25:48
  Speaker 1: that find you guilty go to have a medal for
• 2:25:50
  Speaker 1: all the ordinary cusses that ever struck Aliath, that tinhorn
• 2:25:53
  Speaker 1: was the most orneriest. After the sheriff left him, ogden
• 2:25:56
  Speaker 1: Secor sat with bowed head, his chin resting in his palms.
• 2:25:59
  Speaker 1: He was surprised. The thought that he had killed a
• 2:26:01
  Speaker 1: fellow man should not weigh more heavily upon him. It
• 2:26:03
  Speaker 1: was the debauching derogation that had led him up to
• 2:26:05
  Speaker 1: the killing that caused him the most suffering. The words
• 2:26:08
  Speaker 1: of the waitress of the palace lunch room came back
• 2:26:09
  Speaker 1: to him once more. But even then he won't succeed
• 2:26:13
  Speaker 1: if he drinks well. He wasn't succeeding in anything except
• 2:26:15
  Speaker 1: getting rid of his little store of money. What in
• 2:26:18
  Speaker 1: the world was there for him to succeed at anyway?
• 2:26:20
  Speaker 1: He thought, if the ranch had been any good, he
• 2:26:22
  Speaker 1: would have pitched in there and worked hard. There. He
• 2:26:25
  Speaker 1: could have led a decent life and earned a respectable living.
• 2:26:27
  Speaker 1: He had no ambition for anything greater. But the sight
• 2:26:29
  Speaker 1: of the arid sage brush wilderness, which had dispelled his
• 2:26:32
  Speaker 1: dreams of fertile orchard field and metal land, had so
• 2:26:34
  Speaker 1: discouraged him that since he had been able to see
• 2:26:37
  Speaker 1: no brighter array than that which is reflected from the
• 2:26:39
  Speaker 1: liquid fire which crossed the bar of the QP in
• 2:26:42
  Speaker 1: sparkling glasses. As he sat, buried in vain regrets and
• 2:26:45
  Speaker 1: sorrowful memories, weighed down by his thoughts of his utter
• 2:26:47
  Speaker 1: friendlessness and loneliness, he became aware of the presence of
• 2:26:50
  Speaker 1: someone approaching his cell along the short corridor. Not sufficiently
• 2:26:54
  Speaker 1: interested even to look up, he sat with his eyes
• 2:26:56
  Speaker 1: riveted upon the cold, graycome men of his prison floor.
• 2:26:59
  Speaker 1: It was not until the footfalls halted before the bars
• 2:27:01
  Speaker 1: may sell, that he raised his eyes. With a little
• 2:27:03
  Speaker 1: start of surprise. He came to his feet. Before him,
• 2:27:06
  Speaker 1: smiling down into his face, stood the waitress of the
• 2:27:08
  Speaker 1: Palace lunch room. He looked at her inquiringly. I thought
• 2:27:11
  Speaker 1: she said that you might be lonesome here, that there
• 2:27:13
  Speaker 1: might be something I could do for you. If June
• 2:27:15
  Speaker 1: Lovethrope had required any reward for the generous impulse that
• 2:27:18
  Speaker 1: had sent her to Secor's side in the time of
• 2:27:20
  Speaker 1: his adversity. She was amply repaid by the expression that
• 2:27:23
  Speaker 1: lighted his face at her words. He almost choked as
• 2:27:25
  Speaker 1: he attempted to reply. And I was just thinking, he said,
• 2:27:28
  Speaker 1: how absolutely friendless I am here. It is awful good
• 2:27:31
  Speaker 1: of you. I don't know how to thank you, But
• 2:27:33
  Speaker 1: you really ought not to be here. I am not
• 2:27:35
  Speaker 1: not the sort of person a decent girl should know
• 2:27:38
  Speaker 1: to what awful depths of self abasement was Augden Segor
• 2:27:40
  Speaker 1: have sunk to voice such a sentiment as this June
• 2:27:43
  Speaker 1: felt the tears coming to her eyes. You mustn't say that,
• 2:27:45
  Speaker 1: she said. The sheriff told me all about it, and
• 2:27:47
  Speaker 1: that you it was in self defense. It isn't that,
• 2:27:51
  Speaker 1: said Secor. It's that I was there at all, gambling
• 2:27:53
  Speaker 1: in a saloon and drunk. Drunk, I should have thought
• 2:27:56
  Speaker 1: that would have killed whatever natural sympathy a woman might
• 2:27:59
  Speaker 1: feel for a man killed another, even in self defense.
• 2:28:02
  Speaker 1: And he continued, do you remember the warning you gave
• 2:28:04
  Speaker 1: me the first day that I was in Goliath, Yes,
• 2:28:07
  Speaker 1: she said, but I didn't think that you would. I
• 2:28:10
  Speaker 1: have a hundred times, he said, and wondered why I
• 2:28:12
  Speaker 1: should I wondered too, what prompted you? Did I seem
• 2:28:16
  Speaker 1: as bad as that even then? Or what was it?
• 2:28:19
  Speaker 1: She did not dare tell him. He looked at her
• 2:28:21
  Speaker 1: closely for a moment. Haven't I known you somewhere? He asked.
• 2:28:25
  Speaker 1: She mustered all her courage. It was less on her
• 2:28:27
  Speaker 1: own account that she dreaded telling him than on his.
• 2:28:29
  Speaker 1: To be befriended by her might seem the last straw,
• 2:28:32
  Speaker 1: the final depth below which there was no sinking. My
• 2:28:35
  Speaker 1: name is Lethrop, she said, June Lethorum. Secor shook his head. No,
• 2:28:39
  Speaker 1: he said, I don't know you, but there is something
• 2:28:42
  Speaker 1: mighty familiar about your face. End of chapter eleven Chapter
• 2:28:51
  Speaker 1: twelve of The Girl from Paris's b Egar Race Burrows.
• 2:28:54
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. According by
• 2:28:58
  Speaker 1: Joe Denoia Somerset, New Jersey, Chapter twelve, just three words.
• 2:29:04
  Speaker 1: The coroner's jury exonerated Secor. He was never brought to trial.
• 2:29:08
  Speaker 1: For two weeks he remained in jail waiting for the
• 2:29:10
  Speaker 1: action of the grand jury. That body returned in no
• 2:29:13
  Speaker 1: bill and ogden. Secor stepped once more into the world
• 2:29:16
  Speaker 1: of freedom. During the period of his incarceration, June had
• 2:29:19
  Speaker 1: visited him daily. She felt, in a measure a certain
• 2:29:22
  Speaker 1: sense of obligation. This man, by a smile and a
• 2:29:25
  Speaker 1: pleasant word, had set her feet back into the path
• 2:29:28
  Speaker 1: of rectitude at a time when hope was gone from
• 2:29:30
  Speaker 1: her life. She could do no less than exert what
• 2:29:32
  Speaker 1: small influence she might wield to lead him from the
• 2:29:34
  Speaker 1: path toward which he had strayed. She was glad that
• 2:29:37
  Speaker 1: he had not remembered her, or at least that he
• 2:29:39
  Speaker 1: had pretended that he did not. She was not sure
• 2:29:42
  Speaker 1: which was the true explanation of his non recognition. As yet,
• 2:29:45
  Speaker 1: she had not guessed the serious nature of the results
• 2:29:47
  Speaker 1: that had followed his slugging at the hands of the cracksmen.
• 2:29:50
  Speaker 1: Between the noon and evening meals, June had a couple
• 2:29:52
  Speaker 1: of hours to herself, and it was at this period
• 2:29:55
  Speaker 1: that she visited Secor in his cell. He came to
• 2:29:57
  Speaker 1: look forward eagerly to her coming. Except for a few
• 2:30:00
  Speaker 1: the qup hangers on, she was his only visitor. It
• 2:30:03
  Speaker 1: was June who had brought him word of the Grand
• 2:30:04
  Speaker 1: jury's action, The kindly sheriff beating her at the jail's
• 2:30:08
  Speaker 1: door as he himself was bearing the news to the prisoner,
• 2:30:11
  Speaker 1: told her that Seacor was a free man, that she
• 2:30:13
  Speaker 1: might carry the cheering message to him. I reckon he'd
• 2:30:15
  Speaker 1: rather hear from them pretty lips anyway, he added, winking knowingly.
• 2:30:19
  Speaker 1: June flushed. It never occurred to her that anyone might
• 2:30:21
  Speaker 1: find foundation for imagining the existence of tender sentiments between
• 2:30:25
  Speaker 1: herself and Ogden Seacor in her daily visit to the prisoner.
• 2:30:28
  Speaker 1: So it was with an emotion that cain to diffidence
• 2:30:30
  Speaker 1: that she approached the cell that day. Secor received the
• 2:30:33
  Speaker 1: news of his final exoneration without any show of elation.
• 2:30:36
  Speaker 1: June looked at him in surprise. Doesn't it make you happy?
• 2:30:39
  Speaker 1: She exclaimed? Why? I wanted to throw up my hat
• 2:30:41
  Speaker 1: and shout when the sheriff told me, He shook his head.
• 2:30:45
  Speaker 1: Why should it make me happy? He asked, what am
• 2:30:47
  Speaker 1: I coming out to? Who cares whether I'm in or out?
• 2:30:50
  Speaker 1: And then, at the hurt look which she could not hide,
• 2:30:52
  Speaker 1: he exclaimed regretfully, Oh, I didn't mean that exactly. I
• 2:30:55
  Speaker 1: know that you care, and it means everything to me
• 2:30:57
  Speaker 1: to know that there is one good kind heart in
• 2:30:59
  Speaker 1: the world. But miss laugh thrill your generosity would go
• 2:31:02
  Speaker 1: out the same to a yellow dog, but not your respect.
• 2:31:05
  Speaker 1: You can't help being kind and sweet, for your soul
• 2:31:08
  Speaker 1: is pure and true. I can read it in your eyes.
• 2:31:11
  Speaker 1: But even that can't blind you to the bald and
• 2:31:12
  Speaker 1: brutal fact of what I am, A drunken bum. The
• 2:31:15
  Speaker 1: bitterness of his tone turned the girl cold. And what
• 2:31:19
  Speaker 1: am I coming out to? He went on, I'm coming
• 2:31:20
  Speaker 1: out to the q P. That'll be the first place
• 2:31:22
  Speaker 1: I had, for there's no other place I may go,
• 2:31:24
  Speaker 1: And to night I'll be drunk again. She stretched her
• 2:31:27
  Speaker 1: hands between the iron bars and laid her slim fingers
• 2:31:29
  Speaker 1: on the man's arm. Her eyes were dim with tears,
• 2:31:32
  Speaker 1: and she raised them to his. Oh don't, she pleaded, Please, don't.
• 2:31:36
  Speaker 1: You mustn't throw your life away. Remember who you are,
• 2:31:38
  Speaker 1: what you have been, what you may be again. Oh
• 2:31:42
  Speaker 1: won't you promise me that you'll never touched again? The
• 2:31:45
  Speaker 1: tear filled eyes, the pleading voice, the touch upon his
• 2:31:47
  Speaker 1: arm sent the sudden thrill through every fiber of Ogden
• 2:31:50
  Speaker 1: Seacor's being. Never before he realized half the beauties of
• 2:31:53
  Speaker 1: the girl's face and soul as revealed that instant as
• 2:31:55
  Speaker 1: she pleaded with him for his own honor. He forgot
• 2:31:58
  Speaker 1: that he was Ogden seacor that she was a waitress
• 2:32:01
  Speaker 1: in the cheap lunch room. Slowly's hand crept up until
• 2:32:04
  Speaker 1: his fingers closed upon hers. He leaned forward, close to
• 2:32:06
  Speaker 1: the intervening bars. There was a light in his eyes
• 2:32:09
  Speaker 1: that had never showed upon Sophia Wells. June. He whispered,
• 2:32:12
  Speaker 1: his voice now husky with emotion. I can stop. I
• 2:32:15
  Speaker 1: can do anything for your sake, June Ay. Like a
• 2:32:19
  Speaker 1: flashed the girl snatched her hand from his. Her fingers
• 2:32:22
  Speaker 1: flew across her lips as though to smothered the word
• 2:32:23
  Speaker 1: that he had spoken. It seemed almost like a blow. No,
• 2:32:26
  Speaker 1: she fairly shouted, Oh, God, you don't know what you're saying.
• 2:32:29
  Speaker 1: Don't say it, don't think it. It was too awful,
• 2:32:32
  Speaker 1: And pressing her clenched hands to her face, she turned
• 2:32:34
  Speaker 1: and almost ran from the jail. For a moment, Secor
• 2:32:37
  Speaker 1: stood as though stunned. He had seen the horror mirrored
• 2:32:39
  Speaker 1: in the girl's eyes, and he placed the only interpretation
• 2:32:42
  Speaker 1: upon it that he could. God, he muttered, as he
• 2:32:44
  Speaker 1: sang to his hard bench. Have I sunk so low
• 2:32:46
  Speaker 1: as that a few minutes later he was released from jail.
• 2:32:50
  Speaker 1: He did not hesitate. With long, eager strides, he made
• 2:32:52
  Speaker 1: straight for the que Pe. For a month, he scarce
• 2:32:56
  Speaker 1: drew a sober breath. Then he landed in jail again.
• 2:32:58
  Speaker 1: This time was the plane drunk. He had been picked
• 2:33:00
  Speaker 1: up from the gutter by a town policeman. June heard
• 2:33:03
  Speaker 1: of it and came to his cell earlier the next morning.
• 2:33:05
  Speaker 1: He met her, look almost defiantly, but at the pain
• 2:33:08
  Speaker 1: and sorrow on her face, his eyes wavered and fell.
• 2:33:11
  Speaker 1: I shouldn't think you want to sully your name by
• 2:33:12
  Speaker 1: coming to see the town drunkard, he said, and then bitterly,
• 2:33:15
  Speaker 1: I'd have stopped for your sake, even without your love.
• 2:33:18
  Speaker 1: I don't blame you for that, but you needn't have
• 2:33:20
  Speaker 1: been so disgusted by the thought that I loved you.
• 2:33:22
  Speaker 1: You didn't think that, she exclaimed, What else could I think?
• 2:33:25
  Speaker 1: I read it in your expression? Oh it wasn't that,
• 2:33:28
  Speaker 1: she cried. You must know that I couldn't come to
• 2:33:30
  Speaker 1: see you or want so to help you. If I
• 2:33:31
  Speaker 1: felt that way, then what is the reason why can't
• 2:33:35
  Speaker 1: I tell you that I love you? June? He insisted,
• 2:33:37
  Speaker 1: Tell me I can't she said, and you mustn't ask
• 2:33:40
  Speaker 1: me to tell you. She was close to the bars now,
• 2:33:42
  Speaker 1: and again she laid her hands upon his. I would
• 2:33:45
  Speaker 1: do anything on earth for you, Ogden, she said, except
• 2:33:48
  Speaker 1: let you love me. Why can't you let me help
• 2:33:50
  Speaker 1: you to win back the biggest thing you have lost,
• 2:33:52
  Speaker 1: your self respect? The rest will be easy then, and
• 2:33:55
  Speaker 1: when you have it all once more, you'll want to
• 2:33:56
  Speaker 1: go down on your knees and thank June Lethroaw that
• 2:33:58
  Speaker 1: she wouldn't let you fall in love with us a waitress.
• 2:34:02
  Speaker 1: Would it make you any happier, he asked, It would
• 2:34:04
  Speaker 1: make me happier than I have ever expected. I could
• 2:34:06
  Speaker 1: be again. I'll try, he said, for your sake. But
• 2:34:09
  Speaker 1: how am I to begin? What is there for me
• 2:34:11
  Speaker 1: to do? You're a ranch, she returned, promptly. You told
• 2:34:13
  Speaker 1: me you had a ranch down near a river, Secor laughed.
• 2:34:16
  Speaker 1: I went to see it when I first came out.
• 2:34:18
  Speaker 1: It's nothing but an unfenced sage bush, desert, no water,
• 2:34:21
  Speaker 1: no fences, no house, nothing. There's the river, she urged.
• 2:34:25
  Speaker 1: But what can I do with the river? With a
• 2:34:27
  Speaker 1: shovel and a pan, you can get a living wage
• 2:34:30
  Speaker 1: out of the gravel. Anywhere along the river, she answered,
• 2:34:32
  Speaker 1: and you can live clean and decent. You're making nothing here,
• 2:34:35
  Speaker 1: and you're living like a hog ogd and Secor flushed.
• 2:34:38
  Speaker 1: The words stung him, and because they stung, they did
• 2:34:41
  Speaker 1: more to crystallize the good intentions that the girls pleased
• 2:34:43
  Speaker 1: had aroused than would further pleading, for they awoke with
• 2:34:45
  Speaker 1: him the fast dying flame of his self respect. I'll
• 2:34:49
  Speaker 1: do it, June, he said, for your sake, But give
• 2:34:51
  Speaker 1: me something to hope for if I succeed. Tell me
• 2:34:53
  Speaker 1: that you may then listen to what you won't listen
• 2:34:55
  Speaker 1: to now when you are back when you should be.
• 2:34:57
  Speaker 1: She said, I mean physically, morally and ment You won't
• 2:35:00
  Speaker 1: care to have a waitress here. You tell that you
• 2:35:02
  Speaker 1: love her. I'm not in love with a waitress, June.
• 2:35:05
  Speaker 1: I've dared aspire to an angel. The police magistrate before
• 2:35:09
  Speaker 1: whom Sikor was arraigned had acquired local celebrity through the
• 2:35:12
  Speaker 1: success he had made of keeping Goliath fairly free of
• 2:35:14
  Speaker 1: bums and hoboes. The sheriff and the castabulary worked with him.
• 2:35:18
  Speaker 1: They arrested every undesirable stranger upon the streets, and the
• 2:35:21
  Speaker 1: judge forwith put them back upon the streets, padlocked to
• 2:35:23
  Speaker 1: a long chain. There they worked out their sentences, until
• 2:35:26
  Speaker 1: released they shook the dust of Goliath from their feet,
• 2:35:29
  Speaker 1: nor ever thereafter ventured within her limits. To this good judge,
• 2:35:32
  Speaker 1: mister Ogden Sigor looked like any other drunken bomb that
• 2:35:35
  Speaker 1: was hauled before him. There was it is true that
• 2:35:38
  Speaker 1: about the cut of his disheveled clothes, which became the
• 2:35:41
  Speaker 1: one time smartness. But this rather militated against the defendant,
• 2:35:44
  Speaker 1: for in it the judge saw more sinister signs than
• 2:35:47
  Speaker 1: mere worthlessness. Eastern crooks, he knew, were ofttimes smartly clothed,
• 2:35:51
  Speaker 1: or the man might have stolen the apparel, which was
• 2:35:53
  Speaker 1: more likely. Three days in the chain gang, said the
• 2:35:56
  Speaker 1: judge call in miss case. Before those three awful days
• 2:35:59
  Speaker 1: were over, Ogden Seacor was more thoroughly sober than he
• 2:36:02
  Speaker 1: had ever been in all his life. Even in the
• 2:36:03
  Speaker 1: days that he did not drink. He worked with eyes
• 2:36:06
  Speaker 1: bent upon the ground, never once raising them through His
• 2:36:09
  Speaker 1: mind ran forwards the words of hope and encouragement that
• 2:36:12
  Speaker 1: June Lethorm had spoken there's the river. But now it
• 2:36:15
  Speaker 1: was a grim and sinister interpretation that he put upon them.
• 2:36:18
  Speaker 1: There's the river, he could scarce wait for the knocking
• 2:36:20
  Speaker 1: of his galling fetters from his ankles. There's the river, yes,
• 2:36:25
  Speaker 1: and there too lay forgetfulness of the hideous humiliation of
• 2:36:28
  Speaker 1: these frightful days. June Lethrop saw him in the chain gang,
• 2:36:31
  Speaker 1: as the motley crew worked upon the streets of Goliath.
• 2:36:34
  Speaker 1: She turned her head away lest he should see that
• 2:36:36
  Speaker 1: she had seen, and hurried to her room, threw herself
• 2:36:38
  Speaker 1: face down upon her bed, sobbing. Her tears were for him,
• 2:36:42
  Speaker 1: for the hideous lasserration of his pride. She could read
• 2:36:44
  Speaker 1: in the bent head and stooping shoulders, he had looked
• 2:36:47
  Speaker 1: like an old man tottering to his grave beneath a
• 2:36:50
  Speaker 1: hopeless load of shame. God, how he had hurt her.
• 2:36:53
  Speaker 1: Yet by all the age old traits that were ascribed
• 2:36:55
  Speaker 1: to humanity, she of while others in the world should
• 2:36:58
  Speaker 1: have found sinister rejoicing in the suffering this man. But
• 2:37:01
  Speaker 1: instead there came to her, for the first time a
• 2:37:02
  Speaker 1: realization of one thing above all others that might make
• 2:37:05
  Speaker 1: her life even more miserable than it had been. She
• 2:37:08
  Speaker 1: loved Augden Seacor. She knew now that she had always
• 2:37:11
  Speaker 1: loved him, since that day that he had met her
• 2:37:13
  Speaker 1: in the ante chamber of the Grand Jury Room. She
• 2:37:16
  Speaker 1: saw now why she had set herself to the task
• 2:37:18
  Speaker 1: of reclaiming him. She saw too, why she had experienced
• 2:37:21
  Speaker 1: such horror at the thought of voicing words of love
• 2:37:22
  Speaker 1: to her. It was because she had loved him, and because,
• 2:37:25
  Speaker 1: in all the world of men and women, he and
• 2:37:27
  Speaker 1: she had the least right to love one another. When
• 2:37:30
  Speaker 1: Seacuar's time the Chin Guang was up, June was waiting
• 2:37:32
  Speaker 1: for him outside the jail. Love had given her the
• 2:37:35
  Speaker 1: power to read in the humiliation of the man she loved,
• 2:37:37
  Speaker 1: something of the stern resolve that had found lodgment in
• 2:37:40
  Speaker 1: his mind. Intuitively, she sensed that would be the first
• 2:37:42
  Speaker 1: impulse of a proud man weakened by dissipation and bowed
• 2:37:45
  Speaker 1: down by humiliation. She had been down and outer herself.
• 2:37:49
  Speaker 1: She had been on the verge of the very thing
• 2:37:51
  Speaker 1: she had guessed secour to be contemplating. It had come
• 2:37:53
  Speaker 1: after that terrible morning at Saint Luke's, but the memory
• 2:37:56
  Speaker 1: of Ogden Seacwor's kindness to her had stayed her hand.
• 2:37:59
  Speaker 1: Now she would repay him, with heads still bowed and
• 2:38:01
  Speaker 1: eyes upon the ground he emerged from the jail. When
• 2:38:04
  Speaker 1: June fell in beside him, he did not look up,
• 2:38:06
  Speaker 1: though he knew that it was she, who else was
• 2:38:09
  Speaker 1: there in all the world that would be seen upon
• 2:38:10
  Speaker 1: the public streets. With him in silence, they walked side
• 2:38:13
  Speaker 1: by side through the little city, down a dusty road
• 2:38:16
  Speaker 1: toward the cool shadows of the tree line broke that
• 2:38:18
  Speaker 1: winds along the pleasant valley. Secor move, but with one
• 2:38:21
  Speaker 1: thought in his mind, to get beyond the sight of
• 2:38:23
  Speaker 1: his fellow men. They came at last at the brim
• 2:38:25
  Speaker 1: of the little stream. There were no prying eyes about them.
• 2:38:29
  Speaker 1: June touched his hands gently, word hung on his side,
• 2:38:31
  Speaker 1: and then her cool fingers closed upon his O diden,
• 2:38:34
  Speaker 1: she whispered. He turned dull eyes upon her, as though
• 2:38:37
  Speaker 1: for the first time realizing her presence. What are you
• 2:38:40
  Speaker 1: doing here? He asked, and then, without waiting for her reply,
• 2:38:42
  Speaker 1: went on. And you walked at my side through the streets,
• 2:38:46
  Speaker 1: through the hideous streets where I worked with a chain
• 2:38:48
  Speaker 1: upon my ankle, fastened to vaga bonds of criminals, and
• 2:38:50
  Speaker 1: to to bumbs, to other bums like myself, trunken bums.
• 2:38:54
  Speaker 1: Every one must have seen you, oh, June. How could
• 2:38:57
  Speaker 1: you have done it? His thoughts now were all for her.
• 2:39:00
  Speaker 1: There could have been nothing better for his sick brain,
• 2:39:02
  Speaker 1: nauseating with continual thinking of his own shame. I must
• 2:39:05
  Speaker 1: have been mad to let you do it, he went on.
• 2:39:07
  Speaker 1: Your friends will jeer at you. They will link your
• 2:39:09
  Speaker 1: name with that Ougden seacor, the town drunkard. She clapped
• 2:39:13
  Speaker 1: her hands over his lips. You mustn't say that, she cried.
• 2:39:16
  Speaker 1: I won't let you say it. You're not that, you
• 2:39:18
  Speaker 1: never could be. That. You were making a mountain out
• 2:39:20
  Speaker 1: of a mole hill. It is not the man who
• 2:39:22
  Speaker 1: falls who receives the center of his fellows. It is
• 2:39:24
  Speaker 1: man who falls and won't get up, who lies wallowing
• 2:39:26
  Speaker 1: in the filth of his degradation. The world admires the
• 2:39:29
  Speaker 1: man who can come back. It hates a quitter. You
• 2:39:31
  Speaker 1: have told me that you love me. She was speaking rapidly,
• 2:39:34
  Speaker 1: as though everything in the world hinged upon the element
• 2:39:36
  Speaker 1: of time. You have asked me to love you. Do
• 2:39:38
  Speaker 1: you expect me to love a quitter? You are thinking
• 2:39:40
  Speaker 1: this minute of adding the final ignominy to your downfall.
• 2:39:42
  Speaker 1: You are thinking, this minute, Ougden Seacor, of taking your
• 2:39:45
  Speaker 1: own life, if I could love a quitter, do you
• 2:39:47
  Speaker 1: think I can love a coward? Beneath the lash of
• 2:39:49
  Speaker 1: her words, the man within him awaken. His shoulder straightened
• 2:39:52
  Speaker 1: a bit. He looked her straight in the eyes for
• 2:39:54
  Speaker 1: the first time that day. He was trying to fathom
• 2:39:56
  Speaker 1: her interest in him. Presently he seemed to awaken. A
• 2:39:59
  Speaker 1: sudden light dawned upon him. Hope lightened the lines of
• 2:40:01
  Speaker 1: his tired and haggard face. Not for months that he
• 2:40:03
  Speaker 1: looked so much like the Augden Seacorp of the past.
• 2:40:06
  Speaker 1: He took the girl by the shoulders. June, he cried,
• 2:40:09
  Speaker 1: I've been trying to guess why you should have done
• 2:40:10
  Speaker 1: all for me that you have done. There can be
• 2:40:12
  Speaker 1: but one reason you cannot deny it. Let me hear
• 2:40:15
  Speaker 1: your lips speak what your acts have proclaimed. Tell me
• 2:40:17
  Speaker 1: that you love me, June and I went back to
• 2:40:19
  Speaker 1: any heights. She pushed him gently from her. Her heart
• 2:40:23
  Speaker 1: ached to be pressed close in the arms of the
• 2:40:25
  Speaker 1: man she loved. Yet she knew that it would never be.
• 2:40:27
  Speaker 1: If her love would save him, she had no right
• 2:40:29
  Speaker 1: to deny it, though she knew that such an avowal
• 2:40:32
  Speaker 1: could bring nothing but misery and shame. To them both,
• 2:40:34
  Speaker 1: there never could be any consummation of a love between
• 2:40:37
  Speaker 1: Augden Seacor and June Lethrope. I could not deny it now,
• 2:40:40
  Speaker 1: she said, at last, And if it will help you
• 2:40:42
  Speaker 1: any to hear me say the thing I have no
• 2:40:43
  Speaker 1: right to say, and that you have no right to hear,
• 2:40:45
  Speaker 1: I can do it for your sake. But beyond the
• 2:40:47
  Speaker 1: saying of it, Ogden, there could be nothing that we
• 2:40:50
  Speaker 1: must both understand. Why I cannot tell you I dare
• 2:40:53
  Speaker 1: not do not ask me. It will be enough for now,
• 2:40:56
  Speaker 1: he said, to hear you say it. Afterwards we shall
• 2:40:58
  Speaker 1: find a way. Love always, does you know. And so
• 2:41:01
  Speaker 1: she said the thing he wished to hear. Nor never
• 2:41:03
  Speaker 1: in all his life had words sounded sweeter to Augden
• 2:41:05
  Speaker 1: Secor than Os three from the lips of the words
• 2:41:07
  Speaker 1: of the waitress from the Palace Lunchroom, end of chapter twelve,
• 2:41:17
  Speaker 1: Chapter thirteen of The Grow from Parises by Egarace Burrows.
• 2:41:21
  Speaker 1: This liborvox recording is in the public domain. Recording by
• 2:41:25
  Speaker 1: Joe Denoia, Somerset, New Jersey, Chapter thirteen, for the Murder
• 2:41:30
  Speaker 1: of For a year Augden Seacor toiled at his lonely
• 2:41:33
  Speaker 1: camp beside the Big River. His shovel and his pan
• 2:41:37
  Speaker 1: and his crude rocker were his only companions. With a
• 2:41:40
  Speaker 1: little money that had remained to him after his wasted
• 2:41:42
  Speaker 1: days in Goliath, he had purchased material and tools for
• 2:41:45
  Speaker 1: the construction of a frail shack on his land close
• 2:41:47
  Speaker 1: to his place or diggings, and had furnished it with
• 2:41:49
  Speaker 1: such bare necessities as he could afford. Once a week
• 2:41:52
  Speaker 1: he walked ten miles that lay between his camp and
• 2:41:54
  Speaker 1: Goliath for a few hours with June Lanthrom. These were
• 2:41:58
  Speaker 1: red letter days for them, both the soul bright spots
• 2:42:01
  Speaker 1: in their lonely lives peopled by vain regrets. At first,
• 2:42:04
  Speaker 1: he had tried to wring from the girl an explanation
• 2:42:06
  Speaker 1: of her refusal to listen to a suggestion of their marriage,
• 2:42:09
  Speaker 1: but finding that the subject caused her only unhappiness, he desisted.
• 2:42:12
  Speaker 1: The QP knew him no more during those days, and
• 2:42:15
  Speaker 1: the change that was wrought in him by abstinence and
• 2:42:17
  Speaker 1: healthful outdoor labor was little short of marvelous. He grew
• 2:42:21
  Speaker 1: to take a keen pleasure in his physical fitness, and
• 2:42:23
  Speaker 1: with a renewed health of body came a return of
• 2:42:25
  Speaker 1: his formal mental efficiency. What the surgeons tinkering with his
• 2:42:29
  Speaker 1: hurt skull had been unable to accomplish. Nature did slowly,
• 2:42:32
  Speaker 1: it is true, but nonetheless effectively. As his vigor of
• 2:42:36
  Speaker 1: mind increased, his memory returned, in part so that he
• 2:42:39
  Speaker 1: was constantly haunted by a growing conviction that somewhere, someplace,
• 2:42:42
  Speaker 1: far from Goliath, he had known Junelanthrom, and that she
• 2:42:45
  Speaker 1: had been intimately associated with that other life that was
• 2:42:48
  Speaker 1: once again taking concrete form in his recollections. Not that
• 2:42:51
  Speaker 1: he had ever entirely forgotten his past, for he had not.
• 2:42:55
  Speaker 1: Rather he recalled it as through a haze, with confused
• 2:42:57
  Speaker 1: and distorted details, so that he was never quite sure
• 2:43:00
  Speaker 1: the true identity of what he saw back there in
• 2:43:02
  Speaker 1: the years that were gone. But after all else was playing.
• 2:43:05
  Speaker 1: The figure of June Leanthrop of the past still remained
• 2:43:07
  Speaker 1: little else than an intangible blur. There was something needed
• 2:43:11
  Speaker 1: to recall her more distinctly than his unnaeded memory could do.
• 2:43:14
  Speaker 1: Nor was that thing to be long wanting. The gold
• 2:43:17
  Speaker 1: that Secor washed from the gravel of the old river
• 2:43:19
  Speaker 1: bar was barely sufficient to meet his daily needs. As
• 2:43:21
  Speaker 1: a result, is ranch he always laughed as he referred
• 2:43:24
  Speaker 1: to the bit of sagebrush desert as my ranch was
• 2:43:27
  Speaker 1: sold for taxes. The time was approaching when if he
• 2:43:31
  Speaker 1: would regain it, he must act, But having no money,
• 2:43:34
  Speaker 1: he was forced to remain helpless as the time approached.
• 2:43:36
  Speaker 1: One day, while he was in Goliath, he mentioned the
• 2:43:39
  Speaker 1: thing to June. Of course, the land is not worth
• 2:43:41
  Speaker 1: the taxes, he said, but somehow I've grown attached to it.
• 2:43:43
  Speaker 1: It's the only home I have. I shall hate to
• 2:43:45
  Speaker 1: see it go, but I'll be as well off I suppose.
• 2:43:48
  Speaker 1: Not worth the taxes, she exclaimed, Why, Ougden Sea Corps,
• 2:43:51
  Speaker 1: where have you been for the last six months? Didn't
• 2:43:54
  Speaker 1: you know the new government reclamation project is at last
• 2:43:56
  Speaker 1: and assured fact that your land will jump from nothing
• 2:43:58
  Speaker 1: an acre to something like a hundred dollars and acre overnight.
• 2:44:01
  Speaker 1: Seacort looked at her blankly. I didn't know it came
• 2:44:03
  Speaker 1: as far down river as my holdings, he said. Why
• 2:44:06
  Speaker 1: your land is right in the center of it. There's
• 2:44:08
  Speaker 1: every chance in the world a newtown will be located there,
• 2:44:11
  Speaker 1: and if that happens, you'll be wealthy, he smiled ruefully.
• 2:44:14
  Speaker 1: Not I, he said, for I couldn't raise the money
• 2:44:16
  Speaker 1: to redeem the ranch of my life depended on it.
• 2:44:18
  Speaker 1: How much is necessary, she asked, he told her. The
• 2:44:21
  Speaker 1: next day, Monday, she drew her savings from the bank
• 2:44:24
  Speaker 1: and turned them over to Seacourt. At first, when she
• 2:44:27
  Speaker 1: had suggested the thing, he had refused flally, But after
• 2:44:29
  Speaker 1: talking with several men who were well posted, he had
• 2:44:32
  Speaker 1: seen that there was no question, but that the land
• 2:44:33
  Speaker 1: would increase the value immensely, and then she'd be able
• 2:44:36
  Speaker 1: to repay June in the near future. The same day,
• 2:44:39
  Speaker 1: word came of the exact location of the proposed town.
• 2:44:41
  Speaker 1: It brought definite information to the effect that a large
• 2:44:44
  Speaker 1: portion of Seacorts holdings would lie directly in the business
• 2:44:46
  Speaker 1: center of the town, and the balance on the gentle
• 2:44:48
  Speaker 1: rise back from the river that had been set apart
• 2:44:51
  Speaker 1: for residential purposes. June and Ogden were so elated that
• 2:44:54
  Speaker 1: they could scarcely contain themselves. Nothing would do, but they
• 2:44:57
  Speaker 1: must celebrate with the dinner at the short Line Hotel,
• 2:44:59
  Speaker 1: the most tretentious hostelry of Goliath. At first, June demurred,
• 2:45:03
  Speaker 1: but Ogden was insistent, and so she asked for the
• 2:45:05
  Speaker 1: afternoon and evening off they strolled together beside the little
• 2:45:09
  Speaker 1: stream where he had wrung from her lips, and a
• 2:45:11
  Speaker 1: vowal the loves she had no right to harbor. For
• 2:45:13
  Speaker 1: Ogden Secor once again he revived the subject that had
• 2:45:17
  Speaker 1: long been taboo, urging her to forget whatever to him.
• 2:45:20
  Speaker 1: Unfatible scruples kept her from him, but she only shook
• 2:45:23
  Speaker 1: her head sadly, and when he saw how unhappily it
• 2:45:26
  Speaker 1: made her, he tried to drop the subject, though he
• 2:45:28
  Speaker 1: found it most difficult to drop. As they approached the
• 2:45:31
  Speaker 1: hotel where they were to hold their modest celebration, the
• 2:45:33
  Speaker 1: limited A train from the east, lay along the platform
• 2:45:36
  Speaker 1: up and down which the passengers were strolling. To reach
• 2:45:39
  Speaker 1: the dining room, it was necessary to walk past a
• 2:45:41
  Speaker 1: part of the long line of pullmans, and as they
• 2:45:43
  Speaker 1: did so, Secor was suddenly confronted by a trim little
• 2:45:45
  Speaker 1: man with outstretched hand. My dear Seacor, he exclaimed, what
• 2:45:49
  Speaker 1: in the world are you doing here? We have all
• 2:45:51
  Speaker 1: wondered what could have become of you, And then turning
• 2:45:54
  Speaker 1: toward the open window of the drawing room, he called out, Oh, Sophia,
• 2:45:58
  Speaker 1: see whom I have discovered. Sophia Wells person looked from
• 2:46:01
  Speaker 1: the window, She and the Reverend mister Person were on
• 2:46:04
  Speaker 1: their bridal trip. She saw Ogden Seacor, and beside him
• 2:46:07
  Speaker 1: she saw another whom she recognized Coldly. She barely inclined
• 2:46:11
  Speaker 1: her head, turning away from the window. Immediately then mister
• 2:46:14
  Speaker 1: Person looked at Ogden Seacor's companion for the first time.
• 2:46:17
  Speaker 1: He too recognized her. My gracious, he exclaimed. His eyes
• 2:46:22
  Speaker 1: went wide in holy terror. My gracious, excuse me, Secor.
• 2:46:25
  Speaker 1: But the train was about to start, and without a
• 2:46:27
  Speaker 1: backward glance, he hastened toward his car. The sight of
• 2:46:30
  Speaker 1: Sophia Wells and the Reverend mister Person, and the glances
• 2:46:32
  Speaker 1: of contempt they had shot towards June leath Room had
• 2:46:34
  Speaker 1: done in an instant what months of vain attempt at
• 2:46:36
  Speaker 1: recollection had failed to do. With the suddenness of an
• 2:46:39
  Speaker 1: unexpected slap in the face, they returned to Ogden Secor
• 2:46:42
  Speaker 1: the memory of the last time he had seen these
• 2:46:43
  Speaker 1: three together as clearly as if it had been but yesterday.
• 2:46:46
  Speaker 1: He saw the figures about his bed as he lay
• 2:46:48
  Speaker 1: propped up upon his pillows at Saint Luis, he saw
• 2:46:51
  Speaker 1: Sophia Wells and the Reverend mister Person. He saw stickler
• 2:46:54
  Speaker 1: nervous and unstrung, and he saw doerty his heavy hand
• 2:46:57
  Speaker 1: upon the arm of the girl from Varraus's so a
• 2:47:00
  Speaker 1: dull red crept across his face. He turned toward June.
• 2:47:03
  Speaker 1: The look of misery in her eyes showed that she
• 2:47:05
  Speaker 1: realized that memory had returned. Now you understand at last,
• 2:47:09
  Speaker 1: she said, in a dull voice. He took her by
• 2:47:11
  Speaker 1: the arm and led her into the dining room. She
• 2:47:13
  Speaker 1: scarcely realized what she was doing when she permitted herself
• 2:47:16
  Speaker 1: to go with him. He found a table in the corner,
• 2:47:18
  Speaker 1: seating himself across from her. The cat, he said, the dirty,
• 2:47:21
  Speaker 1: little hypocritical cat. She looked at him in astonishment. You mean,
• 2:47:25
  Speaker 1: she started, I mean person. But he was right, he
• 2:47:28
  Speaker 1: couldn't recognize me, She replied, wearily that she rose from
• 2:47:31
  Speaker 1: the table. I'll go now, she said. I don't know
• 2:47:33
  Speaker 1: why I came in here. I must have been stunned.
• 2:47:36
  Speaker 1: I knew that you would find out some day, but
• 2:47:38
  Speaker 1: I didn't know it would be so dreadfully terrible. Her
• 2:47:40
  Speaker 1: lips trembled. He reached across the table and forced her
• 2:47:43
  Speaker 1: gently back into her chair. The only terrible thing about it,
• 2:47:46
  Speaker 1: he said, is that there should be such people as
• 2:47:48
  Speaker 1: the Reverend and Missus person in the world. That and
• 2:47:51
  Speaker 1: the fact that they have made you unhappy. You mean
• 2:47:54
  Speaker 1: that you don't hate me now? If you remember, she asked,
• 2:47:56
  Speaker 1: I have guessed for a long time. Junie replied that
• 2:47:59
  Speaker 1: there was something in your path as life had you
• 2:48:00
  Speaker 1: thought would make our marriage impossible. If I know of it,
• 2:48:02
  Speaker 1: you have misjudged me. I do not care what you
• 2:48:05
  Speaker 1: have been or what you have done. That is past.
• 2:48:07
  Speaker 1: It can't be helped now or undone. All I know
• 2:48:09
  Speaker 1: is that I love you, and now that I know
• 2:48:11
  Speaker 1: all there is to be known, there could be no
• 2:48:12
  Speaker 1: further reason why you should have state longer. The old
• 2:48:15
  Speaker 1: smile lighted his face. Oh, June, he said, Can you
• 2:48:18
  Speaker 1: see that is only our love that counts. If you
• 2:48:20
  Speaker 1: can forget what I have been, if you can forget
• 2:48:23
  Speaker 1: the saloon brawls, if you could forget the chain gang.
• 2:48:26
  Speaker 1: What have you done that I might not forget? For
• 2:48:28
  Speaker 1: you or but a young girl while I was a
• 2:48:29
  Speaker 1: strong man. Nothing that you may have been can exceed
• 2:48:32
  Speaker 1: in the ignominy depth of which I sunk. You do
• 2:48:35
  Speaker 1: not remember all, then, she said, sadly you had forgotten
• 2:48:38
  Speaker 1: what Doherty accused me of giving the combination of the
• 2:48:40
  Speaker 1: man who robbed the safe. I remember everything, he replied,
• 2:48:44
  Speaker 1: but I do not believe it. No, I did not
• 2:48:45
  Speaker 1: want you even to deny it, for that would imply
• 2:48:48
  Speaker 1: that I could believe it. I'm glad you don't believe it,
• 2:48:50
  Speaker 1: she said, for that at least was not true. But
• 2:48:54
  Speaker 1: the rest is true about Paris's he cannot help wincing
• 2:48:57
  Speaker 1: at that, for he was still a Puritan at heart.
• 2:48:59
  Speaker 1: Let's not beak, he said. It doesn't change my love
• 2:49:01
  Speaker 1: for you. I'm sorry that it had to be so,
• 2:49:04
  Speaker 1: but it is. We must make the best of it,
• 2:49:06
  Speaker 1: just as we must make the best of the memory
• 2:49:07
  Speaker 1: of what I became here and Goliath the town drunkard.
• 2:49:10
  Speaker 1: I want you, June, and now there is nothing more
• 2:49:13
  Speaker 1: to keep you from me. Tell me, dear that there
• 2:49:15
  Speaker 1: is nothing more. She was about to reply when a
• 2:49:17
  Speaker 1: broad shouldered man arose from the table behind them. As
• 2:49:20
  Speaker 1: he approached, June was the first to see his face.
• 2:49:22
  Speaker 1: At sight of him, she turned deathly pale. It was Doherty.
• 2:49:25
  Speaker 1: He stepped to her side and laid his hand upon
• 2:49:27
  Speaker 1: her shoulder. Well, mag he said, I've had a devil
• 2:49:30
  Speaker 1: of a time finding you, but I've got you at last.
• 2:49:33
  Speaker 1: Ogden Seacor leapt to his feet. What does this mean?
• 2:49:36
  Speaker 1: He cried? Who are you? What is it? June? What
• 2:49:38
  Speaker 1: does he mean? Mister Doherty did not recognize mister Ogden Secor,
• 2:49:41
  Speaker 1: whom he had seen but once or twice, and then
• 2:49:43
  Speaker 1: under different circumstances and a widely different apparel. It means,
• 2:49:47
  Speaker 1: bo said mister Doherty, that your lady friend is under
• 2:49:49
  Speaker 1: arrest for the murder of John Seacor four years ago.
• 2:49:53
  Speaker 1: End of chapter thirteen, chapter fourteen of The Girl from
• 2:50:01
  Speaker 1: Varises by edgariz Burroughs. This LibriVox recording is in the
• 2:50:05
  Speaker 1: public domain recording by Joe Denoya, Somerset, New Jersey, Chapter fourteen,
• 2:50:10
  Speaker 1: Some Loose Threats. The Case of the People versus June
• 2:50:14
  Speaker 1: lethrow Elias Maggie Lynch came to trial in the Old
• 2:50:17
  Speaker 1: Criminal Court Building. Since her arrest, June had persistently refused
• 2:50:21
  Speaker 1: to see ogdency courts, though he had repeatedly endeavored to
• 2:50:24
  Speaker 1: have word with her. She felt that his desire to
• 2:50:26
  Speaker 1: come to her was promptly sold by gratitude for her
• 2:50:28
  Speaker 1: loyalty to him when their positions had been reversed when
• 2:50:31
  Speaker 1: he had been the prisoner. How the case had come
• 2:50:33
  Speaker 1: to be revived, No one seemed able to explain. A
• 2:50:36
  Speaker 1: Scarehead Morning newspaper had used it as an example of
• 2:50:38
  Speaker 1: the immunity from punishment enjoyed by the powers of the underworld,
• 2:50:41
  Speaker 1: showing how murder even might be perpetuated with perfect safety
• 2:50:44
  Speaker 1: to the murderer. It hinted at police indifference, even at
• 2:50:47
  Speaker 1: police complicity. No Seacorp millions longer influenced the placing of
• 2:50:51
  Speaker 1: advertising contracts. The police, in self defense explained that they
• 2:50:54
  Speaker 1: had never ceased to work upon the case, and that
• 2:50:56
  Speaker 1: they were already possession of sufficient evidence to convict. All
• 2:50:59
  Speaker 1: they were quard was a little more time to look
• 2:51:01
  Speaker 1: at the murderer, and then they got busy. It happened
• 2:51:03
  Speaker 1: that Dougherty knew more about the almost forgotten details of
• 2:51:06
  Speaker 1: the affair than any officer in the force. So the
• 2:51:08
  Speaker 1: Dougherty was given the herculane task of located Maggie Lynch.
• 2:51:12
  Speaker 1: Another officer was entrusted with the establishment of a motive
• 2:51:14
  Speaker 1: for the crime and the investigation of the innecedents of
• 2:51:16
  Speaker 1: Maggie Lynch. The results of the efforts of these two
• 2:51:19
  Speaker 1: sagacous policemen were fully apparent as the trial progressed. At
• 2:51:23
  Speaker 1: first it seemed that there would be neither lawyer nor
• 2:51:25
  Speaker 1: witnesses for the defense, but at the eleventh hour both
• 2:51:27
  Speaker 1: were forthcoming. Ogden Seacor had seen to that, and there
• 2:51:30
  Speaker 1: was presented the remarkable spectacle of a young man working
• 2:51:33
  Speaker 1: tooth and nail in the building up of the defense
• 2:51:34
  Speaker 1: of the woman charged with the murder of his uncle.
• 2:51:37
  Speaker 1: All that he had knew at first was that she
• 2:51:39
  Speaker 1: had been the inmate of the house where John Siegor
• 2:51:41
  Speaker 1: had dropped dead of heart disease. The state, to establish
• 2:51:44
  Speaker 1: a motive, brought a slender, gray haired woman from the
• 2:51:46
  Speaker 1: little village fifty miles south of the metropolis. She was
• 2:51:49
  Speaker 1: sprung as a surprise upon the defense, and as she
• 2:51:52
  Speaker 1: was called to the witness chair from the antechamber, June
• 2:51:54
  Speaker 1: left her half rows marchhare, her lips parting in her
• 2:51:57
  Speaker 1: face dead white. The eyes of the little woman ran
• 2:51:59
  Speaker 1: ea over the courtroom. When they rested at last upon
• 2:52:02
  Speaker 1: the face of the defendant, tears well dubbed them with
• 2:52:04
  Speaker 1: a faint cry. In oustretched arms. She took a step
• 2:52:07
  Speaker 1: towards June, my daughter she whispered, oh, my daughter. A
• 2:52:10
  Speaker 1: biliff flaid his hand gently upon her arm and led
• 2:52:13
  Speaker 1: her to the witness chair. Her story was a simple
• 2:52:15
  Speaker 1: one and simply told. She related the incident of the
• 2:52:17
  Speaker 1: first meeting of John Smith and June Lanthorp. Smith's automobile
• 2:52:21
  Speaker 1: had stalled in front of the Lanthorp poemstead, and while
• 2:52:24
  Speaker 1: the chauffeur tinkered, the master had come to the door
• 2:52:26
  Speaker 1: asked for a drink of water. He had seen June,
• 2:52:28
  Speaker 1: and almost from that instant his infatuation for the girl
• 2:52:30
  Speaker 1: had been evident. Afterward, he came oft into the little
• 2:52:33
  Speaker 1: village where the daughter and her widowed mother lived. Finally,
• 2:52:36
  Speaker 1: he spoke of marriage. Jude had told her mother of it,
• 2:52:39
  Speaker 1: and that she hesitated because of the great difference in
• 2:52:41
  Speaker 1: their ages. She respected and admired John Smith, but she
• 2:52:45
  Speaker 1: did not know that she loved him. He brought her
• 2:52:47
  Speaker 1: beautiful presence, and there was promises of a life of
• 2:52:49
  Speaker 1: luxury and ease, something the girl had never known, for
• 2:52:52
  Speaker 1: her father had died when she was a baby, and
• 2:52:54
  Speaker 1: the mother had been able to eke out but a
• 2:52:56
  Speaker 1: bare existence. Since it had been the promise of ease
• 2:52:59
  Speaker 1: and plenty for her mother's declining years that had finally
• 2:53:02
  Speaker 1: influenced June to give her reluctant yes. They have been
• 2:53:05
  Speaker 1: married quietly by adjustice of the peace, and have been
• 2:53:07
  Speaker 1: driven directly to town in Smith's machine. The former SEACRP
• 2:53:11
  Speaker 1: showfeur established the identity of Smith as John Seacor. He
• 2:53:14
  Speaker 1: distinctly recalled their first visit to at Lanthrop House and
• 2:53:16
  Speaker 1: almost weekly trips to the little town thereafter. He positively
• 2:53:19
  Speaker 1: identified the defendant as the girl whom, with John Seacor,
• 2:53:22
  Speaker 1: he had driven from the left of home to the
• 2:53:24
  Speaker 1: city on the day of their wedding, at which he
• 2:53:25
  Speaker 1: had been a witness. Where did you leave the couple
• 2:53:28
  Speaker 1: after arriving here, asked the state's attorney at Eve Ferris's
• 2:53:31
  Speaker 1: place on Dearborn, replied the witness. When June was called
• 2:53:34
  Speaker 1: to a stand, she corroborated all that had gone before.
• 2:53:36
  Speaker 1: It seemed that a motive had been established. Did you
• 2:53:39
  Speaker 1: know the nature of the place to which mister Smith
• 2:53:41
  Speaker 1: took you at the time, asked the attorney. I did not.
• 2:53:44
  Speaker 1: He told me that it was a family hotel, And
• 2:53:46
  Speaker 1: when after we'd been there for a few days, I
• 2:53:48
  Speaker 1: remarked on the strange actions of the other guests their
• 2:53:50
  Speaker 1: late hours were bald songs and evidences of intoxication. He
• 2:53:55
  Speaker 1: laughed at me, saying that I must get used to
• 2:53:57
  Speaker 1: the ways of the big city. Did you believe him?
• 2:53:59
  Speaker 1: Of course, I had never been away from my home
• 2:54:01
  Speaker 1: in my life. I knew absolutely nothing about the existence
• 2:54:04
  Speaker 1: even of such places as that, or of the forms
• 2:54:06
  Speaker 1: of vice and sin that were openly flaunted there. I
• 2:54:08
  Speaker 1: was so ignorant of such things that I believed him
• 2:54:10
  Speaker 1: when he told me that the men who came nightly
• 2:54:12
  Speaker 1: took the place where the husbands of the women there.
• 2:54:14
  Speaker 1: We had a room on the second floor, and though
• 2:54:16
  Speaker 1: I heard much that passed on the house, I saw
• 2:54:18
  Speaker 1: very little out of the way, and we kept closely
• 2:54:20
  Speaker 1: to our room when we were in the place. When
• 2:54:22
  Speaker 1: did you discover that your husband already had a wife living,
• 2:54:24
  Speaker 1: and that his name was John Seacor and not John Smith.
• 2:54:27
  Speaker 1: About half an hour after he dropped dead in the hallway,
• 2:54:29
  Speaker 1: she replied, Abe Ferris came to me and told me
• 2:54:32
  Speaker 1: he offered me one hundred dollars to keep still and
• 2:54:34
  Speaker 1: pretend that I had never seen or heard of mister Seacor.
• 2:54:36
  Speaker 1: I didn't take the money. I was heartbroken and sick
• 2:54:38
  Speaker 1: with horror and terror and shame. I wouldn't have told
• 2:54:41
  Speaker 1: any one of my disgrace under any circumstances. Farris kept
• 2:54:44
  Speaker 1: me there for two days longer, telling me that the
• 2:54:46
  Speaker 1: police would arrest me if I went out. Finally, I
• 2:54:48
  Speaker 1: determined to leave, for at last I knew the whole
• 2:54:50
  Speaker 1: truth of the sort of place I was in. Then
• 2:54:52
  Speaker 1: Ferris urged me to stay there and go to work
• 2:54:54
  Speaker 1: for him. When I refused, he explained that I was
• 2:54:56
  Speaker 1: already ruined, and even laughed when I told him that
• 2:54:58
  Speaker 1: I did not know that I was not legally married
• 2:55:00
  Speaker 1: to mister Smith. You don't think for a minute that
• 2:55:03
  Speaker 1: anyone will swallow that, yard, do you, he asked, If
• 2:55:05
  Speaker 1: you want to keep out of jail, you'd better stay
• 2:55:06
  Speaker 1: right here. You can never be no worse off than
• 2:55:09
  Speaker 1: you are now. I began to feel that he was right,
• 2:55:11
  Speaker 1: yet I insisted on leaving, and then he had my
• 2:55:13
  Speaker 1: clothes taken away from me, saying that I owed him
• 2:55:15
  Speaker 1: money for board that mister Seacor had not paid, and
• 2:55:17
  Speaker 1: that he would not let me go until I paid him.
• 2:55:19
  Speaker 1: I think that I must have almost been mad from
• 2:55:21
  Speaker 1: grief and terror. I know that at last I grew
• 2:55:23
  Speaker 1: not to care what became of me. When Farris made
• 2:55:25
  Speaker 1: me think that I could escape arrest only by remaining
• 2:55:27
  Speaker 1: with him, I gave up for the thought that my
• 2:55:29
  Speaker 1: mother would learn the awful truth were I to be
• 2:55:31
  Speaker 1: brought to trial. Was more than I could bear. Ferris
• 2:55:33
  Speaker 1: testified that he had been the first to tell a
• 2:55:35
  Speaker 1: girl that the man she thought her husband was the
• 2:55:36
  Speaker 1: husband of another woman? When did he tell her this?
• 2:55:39
  Speaker 1: As the attorney for the defense half for three quarters
• 2:55:42
  Speaker 1: of an hour after mister Seacor died. Afterwards, two reputable
• 2:55:45
  Speaker 1: physicians testified that they had performed a post morten examination
• 2:55:48
  Speaker 1: upon John Seacor's body, that there had been no evidence
• 2:55:51
  Speaker 1: of poison in the stomach or bruises, abrasions, or wounds
• 2:55:54
  Speaker 1: upon his body, and that there could be no doubt
• 2:55:56
  Speaker 1: but the death had been a result of an attack
• 2:55:57
  Speaker 1: of cute endocardatis. The jury was out about fifteen minutes,
• 2:56:01
  Speaker 1: returning a verdict of not guilty on the first ballot.
• 2:56:03
  Speaker 1: To June Lathrop, he meant nothing. It was what she
• 2:56:05
  Speaker 1: had expected, but though it freed her from an unjust charge,
• 2:56:08
  Speaker 1: it would never write to hideous wrong had been done
• 2:56:09
  Speaker 1: to her, first by an individual in conceiving and perpetualing
• 2:56:12
  Speaker 1: the wrong, and then by the community, as represented by
• 2:56:14
  Speaker 1: the police, and dragging the whole hideous fabric of her
• 2:56:16
  Speaker 1: shame before the world, As is customary upon the acquittal
• 2:56:20
  Speaker 1: of a defendant in a criminal case, a horde of
• 2:56:22
  Speaker 1: the morbidly curious throng about June to offer their congratulations.
• 2:56:25
  Speaker 1: She turned from them, wearily, seeking her mother. But there
• 2:56:28
  Speaker 1: was one who would not be denied, a tall, freckled
• 2:56:30
  Speaker 1: youth who warmed his way to her side with uncanny stealthiness.
• 2:56:34
  Speaker 1: It was Sammy, the one time office boy the corporation.
• 2:56:36
  Speaker 1: Noticed John Secor and co Miss Lathrup. He whispered, Miss Lathrup,
• 2:56:40
  Speaker 1: I've been trying to find you for years, more regular
• 2:56:42
  Speaker 1: detective now. But the best job I ever did, I
• 2:56:45
  Speaker 1: did for you, and nobody never knew nothing about it.
• 2:56:47
  Speaker 1: Don't you remember me? She shook hands with him, and
• 2:56:49
  Speaker 1: he followed her from the court room. There was another
• 2:56:51
  Speaker 1: who followed her, too, a sun tanned young man whose
• 2:56:54
  Speaker 1: haggard features bore clear witness to the mental suffering he
• 2:56:56
  Speaker 1: had endured. Outside the building, he touched her sleeve. She
• 2:57:00
  Speaker 1: turned toward him. Do you loathe me, he whispered, for
• 2:57:03
  Speaker 1: what he did? You know better than that, she answered,
• 2:57:06
  Speaker 1: But now you see why it was that I could
• 2:57:07
  Speaker 1: not marry you. Now you will thank me for not
• 2:57:09
  Speaker 1: being weak and giving in. God knows how sorely I
• 2:57:11
  Speaker 1: was tempted. There's nothing now to prevent, he said eagerly.
• 2:57:15
  Speaker 1: She looked at him in surprise. You still want me,
• 2:57:17
  Speaker 1: she cried. You can't mean it. It would be horrible.
• 2:57:19
  Speaker 1: I shall always want you, June, he said douggedly, and
• 2:57:22
  Speaker 1: some day I shall have you. But still she shook
• 2:57:24
  Speaker 1: her head. It would be wicked Ogden, she said, with
• 2:57:27
  Speaker 1: a little shudder if he had been anyone else, anyone
• 2:57:29
  Speaker 1: else in the world than your father. Seacor looked at
• 2:57:32
  Speaker 1: her in astonishment. My father, he exclaimed. Do you mean
• 2:57:35
  Speaker 1: that you do not know that John Seacor was not
• 2:57:38
  Speaker 1: my father? The girl's astonishment and incredulity were writ upon
• 2:57:41
  Speaker 1: her face. Not your father, it was scarce a whisper.
• 2:57:45
  Speaker 1: I was the foster son of John Seacor's brother when
• 2:57:48
  Speaker 1: he died and went to live with the John Seacors,
• 2:57:50
  Speaker 1: And after the death of their only son, I entered
• 2:57:51
  Speaker 1: mister Seacor's office, taking the place of the son he
• 2:57:54
  Speaker 1: had lost later inheriting his business. June continued to look
• 2:57:58
  Speaker 1: in dull bewilderment at Seacor. It could not be true,
• 2:58:02
  Speaker 1: she cast about for another obstacle. Certainly she had no
• 2:58:04
  Speaker 1: right to such happiness as she saw being surely pressed
• 2:58:07
  Speaker 1: upon her. There's still the charge against me of having
• 2:58:09
  Speaker 1: aided the men who robbed her safe. That is even worse,
• 2:58:12
  Speaker 1: for it reproaches me with disloyalty and treachery toward one
• 2:58:15
  Speaker 1: who had befriended me, she said faintly. Sammy and Jude's
• 2:58:18
  Speaker 1: mother had been standing a little apart, and two spoke
• 2:58:20
  Speaker 1: together in whispers. June had slightly raised her voice, and
• 2:58:23
  Speaker 1: she recalled the affair in the office of John C.
• 2:58:24
  Speaker 1: Corunco the night that Ogden had received the blows that
• 2:58:27
  Speaker 1: resulted in all his financial troubles. That part Sammy heard now.
• 2:58:31
  Speaker 1: He stepped forward. That's what I wanted to tell you
• 2:58:33
  Speaker 1: about miss Letherp, he said, excitedly. It wasn't her at all,
• 2:58:36
  Speaker 1: He went on, turning towards Seacor. It was that smooth
• 2:58:38
  Speaker 1: scoundrel of a stickler I was hiding under his filing
• 2:58:41
  Speaker 1: cabinet when he tried to make miss Lether go out
• 2:58:43
  Speaker 1: with him, and I heard her turn him down. Then
• 2:58:45
  Speaker 1: I followed him, for I was just studying to be
• 2:58:47
  Speaker 1: a detective. VENT had to practice every chance I got.
• 2:58:50
  Speaker 1: He went straight to ade VARs a saloon, and there
• 2:58:52
  Speaker 1: I saw him talking low and confidential like to a
• 2:58:54
  Speaker 1: couple of tough looking guys for about two hours. He
• 2:58:56
  Speaker 1: handed one of them a slip a paper explaining what
• 2:58:58
  Speaker 1: was on it. I couldn't see it from what had
• 2:59:00
  Speaker 1: happened after. I knew it held a combination to your
• 2:59:02
  Speaker 1: safe For I seen the robber that was shot when
• 2:59:04
  Speaker 1: he was put on trial, and he was one of
• 2:59:06
  Speaker 1: the guys that's thicker and met in Faris' I was
• 2:59:08
  Speaker 1: so scared I didn't tell nobody. Ogden turned towards June
• 2:59:11
  Speaker 1: with a faint smile. You see, he said that one
• 2:59:14
  Speaker 1: by one, your defenses are reduced. Aren't you about ready
• 2:59:16
  Speaker 1: to capitulate? I guess there's no other way, she sighed.
• 2:59:20
  Speaker 1: But it seems the world must be all awry when
• 2:59:21
  Speaker 1: hope and happiness appears so close with my grasp. End
• 2:59:25
  Speaker 1: of chapter fourteen. End of The Girl from Faris's but
• 2:59:29
  Speaker 1: Edgar Rice Burrows,