24 chapters
11 hour read
Selected Chapters
24 chapters
CHAPTER I. THE PANEL OF LIGHT
CHAPTER I. THE PANEL OF LIGHT
The lids of the girl's eyes lifted slowly, and she stared at the panel of light in the wall. Just at the outset, the act of seeing made not the least impression on her numbed brain. For a long time she continued to regard the dim illumination in the wall with the same passive fixity of gaze. Apathy still lay upon her crushed spirit. In a vague way, she realized her own inertness, and rested in it gratefully, subtly fearful lest she again arouse to the full horror of her plight. In a curious subc
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II. A CHEERFUL PRODIGAL.
CHAPTER II. A CHEERFUL PRODIGAL.
That which was the supreme tragedy to the broken girl in the cell merely afforded rather agreeable entertainment to her former fellows of the department store. Mary Turner throughout her term of service there had been without real intimates, so that now none was ready to mourn over her fate. Even the two room-mates had felt some slight offense, since they sensed the superiority of her, though vaguely. Now, they found a smug satisfaction in the fact of her disaster as emphasizing very pleasurably
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER III. ONLY THREE YEARS.
CHAPTER III. ONLY THREE YEARS.
When, at last, the owner of the store entered the office, his face showed extreme irritation. He did not vouchsafe any greeting to the secretary, who regarded him with an accurate perception of his mood. With a diplomacy born of long experience, in her first speech Sarah afforded an agreeable diversion to her employer's line of thought. “Mr. Hastings, of the Empire store, called you up, Mr. Gilder, and asked me to let him know when you returned. Shall I get him on the wire?” The man's face light
26 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
“Hello, Dad!”
“Hello, Dad!”
After the attorney's departure, Gilder had been rather fussily going over some of the papers on his desk. He was experiencing a vague feeling of injury on account of the lawyer's ill-veiled efforts to arouse his sympathy in behalf of the accused girl. In the instinct of strengthening himself against the possibility of yielding to what he deemed weakness, the magnate rehearsed the facts that justified his intolerance, and, indeed, soon came to gloating over the admirable manner in which righteous
25 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V. THE VICTIM OF THE LAW.
CHAPTER V. THE VICTIM OF THE LAW.
It was on this same day that Sarah, on one of her numerous trips through the store in behalf of Gilder, was accosted by a salesgirl, whose name, Helen Morris, she chanced to know. It was in a spot somewhere out of the crowd, so that for the moment the two were practically alone. The salesgirl showed signs of embarrassment as she ventured to lay a detaining hand on Sarah's arm, but she maintained her position, despite the secretary's manner of disapproval. “What on earth do you want?” Sarah inqui
45 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI. INFERNO.
CHAPTER VI. INFERNO.
They were grim years, those three during which Mary Turner served her sentence in Burnsing. There was no time off for good behavior. The girl learned soon that the favor of those set in authority over her could only be won at a cost against which her every maidenly instinct revolted. So, she went through the inferno of days and nights in a dreariness of suffering that was deadly. Naturally, the life there was altogether an evil thing. There was the material ill ever present in the round of weari
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VII. WITHIN THE LAW.
CHAPTER VII. WITHIN THE LAW.
In the time that followed, Mary lived in the flat which Aggie Lynch occupied along with her brother, Jim, a pickpocket much esteemed among his fellow craftsmen. The period wrought transformations of radical and bewildering sort in both the appearance and the character of the girl. Joe Garson, the forger, had long been acquainted with Aggie and her brother, though he considered them far beneath him in the social scale, since their criminal work was not of that high kind on which he prided himself
29 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VIII. A TIP FROM HEADQUARTERS.
CHAPTER VIII. A TIP FROM HEADQUARTERS.
Presently, when she had finished the cigarette, Aggie proceeded to her own chamber and there spent a considerable time in making a toilette calculated to set off to its full advantage the slender daintiness of her form. When at last she was gowned to her satisfaction, she went into the drawing-room of the apartment and gave herself over to more cigarettes, in an easy chair, sprawled out in an attitude of comfort never taught in any finishing school for young ladies. She at the same time indulged
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IX. A LEGAL DOCUMENT.
CHAPTER IX. A LEGAL DOCUMENT.
Mary Turner spent less than an hour in that mysteriously important engagement with Dick Gilder, of which she had spoken to Aggie. After separating from the young man, she went alone down Broadway, walking the few blocks of distance to Sigismund Harris's office. On a corner, her attention was caught by the forlorn face of a girl crossing into the side street. A closer glance showed that the privation of the gaunt features was emphasized by the scant garments, almost in tatters. Instantly, Mary's
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER X. MARKED MONEY.
CHAPTER X. MARKED MONEY.
Mary had scarcely received from Aggie an account of Cassidy's threatening invasion, when the maid announced that Mr. Irwin had called. “Show him in, in just two minutes,” Mary directed. “Who's the gink?” Aggie demanded, with that slangy diction which was her habit. “You ought to know,” Mary returned, smiling a little. “He's the lawyer retained by General Hastings in the matter of a certain breach-of-promise suit.” “Oh, you mean yours truly,” Aggie exclaimed, not in the least abashed by her forge
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XI. THE THIEF.
CHAPTER XI. THE THIEF.
Mary remained in joyous spirits after her victorious matching of brains against a lawyer of high standing in his profession. For the time being, conscience was muted by gratified ambition. Her thoughts just then were far from the miseries of the past, with their evil train of consequences in the present. But that past was soon to be recalled to her with a vividness most terrible. She had entered the telephone-booth, which she had caused to be installed out of an extra closet of her bedroom for t
32 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XII. A BRIDEGROOM SPURNED.
CHAPTER XII. A BRIDEGROOM SPURNED.
After Aggie's vigorous comment there followed a long silence. That volatile young person, little troubled as she was by sensitiveness, guessed the fact that just now further discussion of the event would be distasteful to Mary, and so she betook herself discreetly to a cigarette and the illustrations of a popular magazine devoted to the stage. As for the man, his reticence was really from a fear lest in speaking at all he might speak too freely, might betray the pervasive violence of his feeling
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIII. THE ADVENT OF GRIGGS.
CHAPTER XIII. THE ADVENT OF GRIGGS.
Later on, Garson, learning from the maid that Dick Gilder had left, returned, just as Mary was glancing over the release, with which General Hastings was to be compensated, along with the return of his letters, for his payment of ten thousand dollars to Miss Agnes Lynch. “Hello, Joe,” Mary said graciously as the forger entered. Then she spoke crisply to Agnes. “And now you must get ready. You are to be at Harris's office with this document at four o'clock, and remember that you are to let the la
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIV. A WEDDING ANNOUNCEMENT.
CHAPTER XIV. A WEDDING ANNOUNCEMENT.
Mary dismissed Garson presently, and betook herself to her bedroom for a nap. The day had been a trying one, and, though her superb health could endure much, she felt that both prudence and comfort required that she should recruit her energies while there was opportunity. She was not in the least surprised that Dick had not yet returned, though he had mentioned half an hour. At the best, there were many things that might detain him, his father's absence from the office, difficulties in making ar
44 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XV. AFTERMATH OF TRAGEDY.
CHAPTER XV. AFTERMATH OF TRAGEDY.
The Gilders, both father and son, endured much suffering throughout the night and day that followed the scene in Mary Turner's apartment, when she had made known the accomplishment of her revenge on the older man by her ensnaring of the younger. Dick had followed the others out of her presence at her command, emphasized by her leaving him alone when he would have pleaded further with her. Since then, he had striven to obtain another interview with his bride, but she had refused him. He was denie
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
The butler entered.
The butler entered.
“A man to see you, sir,” he said. Gilder made a gesture of irritation, as he sank into the chair at his desk. “I can't see any one to-night, Thomas,” he exclaimed, sharply. “But he said it was most important, sir,” the servant went on. He held out the tray insistently. The master took the card grudgingly. As his eyes caught the name, his expression changed slightly. “Very well,” he said, “show him up.” His glance met the wondering gaze of his son. “It's Burke,” he explained. “What on earth can h
28 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVII. OUTSIDE THE LAW.
CHAPTER XVII. OUTSIDE THE LAW.
Gilder scrupulously followed the directions of the Police Inspector. Uneasily, he had remained in the library until the allotted time was elapsed. He fidgeted from place to place, his mind heavy with distress under the shadow that threatened to blight the life of his cherished son. Finally, with a sense of relief he put out the lights and went to his chamber. But he did not follow the further directions given him, for he was not minded to go to bed. Instead, he drew the curtains closely to make
25 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVIII. THE NOISELESS DEATH.
CHAPTER XVIII. THE NOISELESS DEATH.
There was absolute silence in the library after the turning of the switch that brought the pall of darkness. Long seconds passed, then a little noise—the knob of the passage door turning. As the door swung open, there came a gasping breath from Mary, for she saw framed in the faint light that came from the single burner in the corridor the slender form of her husband, Dick Gilder. In the next instant he had stepped within the room and pulled to the door behind him. And in that same instant Chica
28 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIX. WITHIN THE TOILS.
CHAPTER XIX. WITHIN THE TOILS.
The going of Garson left the room deathly still. Dick stared for a moment at the space of window left uncovered by the draperies now, since the man had hurried past them, without pausing to draw them after him. Then, presently, the young man turned again to Mary, and took her hand in his. The shock of the event had somehow steadied him, since it had drawn his thoughts from that other more engrossing mood of concern over the crisis in his own life. After all, what mattered the death of this crook
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XX. WHO SHOT GRIGGS?
CHAPTER XX. WHO SHOT GRIGGS?
In his office next morning, Inspector Burke was fuming over the failure of his conspiracy. He had hoped through this plot to vindicate his authority, so sadly flaunted by Garson and Mary Turner. Instead of this much-to-be-desired result from his scheming, the outcome had been nothing less than disastrous. The one certain fact was that his most valuable ally in his warfare against the criminals of the city had been done to death. Some one had murdered Griggs, the stool-pigeon. Where Burke had mea
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXI. AGGIE AT BAY.
CHAPTER XXI. AGGIE AT BAY.
Burke, after the lawyer had left him, watched the door expectantly for the coming of the girl, whom he had ordered brought before him. But, when at last Dan appeared, and stood aside to permit her passing into the office, the Inspector gasped at the unexpectedness of the vision. He had anticipated the coming of a woman of that world with which he was most familiar in the exercise of his professional duties—the underworld of criminals, some one beautiful perhaps, but with the brand of viciousness
36 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXII. THE TRAP THAT FAILED.
CHAPTER XXII. THE TRAP THAT FAILED.
Burke, despite his quality of heaviness, was blest with a keen sense of humor, against which at times his professional labors strove mutinously. In the present instance, he had failed utterly to obtain any information of value from the girl whom he had just been examining. On the contrary, he had been befooled outrageously by a female criminal, in a manner to wound deeply his professional pride. Nevertheless, he bore no grudge against the adventuress. His sense of the absurd served him well, and
44 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIII. THE CONFESSION.
CHAPTER XXIII. THE CONFESSION.
Burke was a persistent man, and he had set himself to getting the murderer of Griggs. Foiled in his efforts thus far by the opposition of Mary, he now gave himself over to careful thought as to a means of procedure that might offer the best possibilities of success. His beetling brows were drawn in a frown of perplexity for a full quarter of an hour, while he rested motionless in his chair, an unlighted cigar between his lips. Then, at last, his face cleared; a grin of satisfaction twisted his h
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIV. ANGUISH AND BLISS.
CHAPTER XXIV. ANGUISH AND BLISS.
Joe Garson had shouted his confession without a second of reflection. But the result must have been the same had he taken years of thought. Between him and her as the victim of the law, there could be no hesitation for choice. Indeed, just now, he had no heed to his own fate. The prime necessity was to save her, Mary, from the toils of the law that were closing around her. For himself, in the days to come, there would be a ghastly dread, but there would never be regret over the cost of saving he
27 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter