The San Francisco call., 1913-09-15
WITHIN THE LAW
g E3 Greatest Serial of the Day g m
Bp Marvin Dana
From the Play of Bayard VeiIIer
he play of Bayard VeiIIer

POSSlbtl4tieS VI d 1ddyAihe peHSoH0iis'
that might mean much financial profit
in the devious ways of which she
was a. mistress.s with the frankness
| characteristic of her. she proceeded
to paint glowing pictures of future
! shared to the undoing of ardent and
fatuous swains. Mary Turner listened
with curiosity, but she was in no
wise moved to follow such life, even
though it did not necessitate anything
worse than a fraudulent playing at
love. without physical degradation.
So she steadfastly continued her re-
fusals, to the great astonishment of
Aggie, who actually could not under
stand in the least. even while she
believed the others declaration of
innocence of the crime for which she
was serving a sentence. But for her
own part, such innocence had nothing
to do with the matter. Where. in
deed. could be the harm in making
some old sinner pay a round price for
| his folly? And always. in response
to every argument. Mary shook her
head in negation Sne would live
straight
Then the heavy brows of Aggie
would draw down little. and the
baby face would harden.
iYou will find that you are up
against hell of-a frost" she would
| declare. brutaliy
Mary found the profane prophecy
true. Back in New York she expert
enced poverty more ravaging than
any she had known in those five lean
years Of her working In the store.
She had been absolutely penniless for
two days and without food through
the gnawing hours, when she at last
found employment of the humblest
in milliner's shop. Followed a
blessed interval in which she worked
contentedly, happy over the meager
stipend. since ii served to give her
shelter and food honestly earned.
But the ways of the police are not
always those of ordinary decency. In
due time an officer informed Mary s
employer concerning the fact of her
record as convict. and thereupon
she was at once discharged. The un-
fortunate victim of the law came
perilously close to despair then. Yet
her spirit triumphed, and again she
persevered in that resolve to live
ctt al . LIZ 1 ludA4Ss III LiiC cStOH0 link
she secured a cheap position in a
cheap shop-only to be again perse-
cuted by the police, so that she speed
lily lost the place.
Nevertheless, indomitable in her
purpose, she maintained the strug-
gle. A third time she obtained
work, and there after q little.
she told her employer, a candy
manufacturer in a small way, the
truth as TO her having been in prison
The man had a kindly heart, and, In
addition, ne ran little risk in the mat
ter, so he allowed her to remain
When, presently, the police called his
attention TO the girls criminal record
he paid no heed to their advice against
retaining her services. But such ac-
tion on his part offended the great
ness of the laws dignity. The police
brought pressure to bear on the man.
They even called in the assistance Of
Edward Glider himself. who obigingly
wrote a very severe letter to the
girls employer. In the end such tao
tics alarmed the man. For the sake
of his own interests. though unwiil-
ingiy enough, he dismissed Mary from
his Service.
1t was then that despair did come
upon the girl. She had tried with all
the strength of her to live straight.
Yet, despite her innocence, the world
would not let her live according to
her own conscience. 1t demanded that
she be the. criminal Ii had branded
her-if she were to live at all. So. 1t
was despairl For she would not turn
to evil, and without such turning she
could not live. She still walked the
streets falteringly, seeking some
place: but her heart was gone from
the quest. Now she was sunken In
an apathy that saved her from the
worst pangs of misery. She had suf-
| fered so much, so poignantly that at
last her emotions had grown sluggish.
She did not mind much even when her
tiny hoard of money was quite gone,
and she roamed the city. starving.
Came an hour when she
thought of the river. and was glad.
| Mary remembered, with wan
| smile, how, long ago, she had thought
with amazed horror of suicide, unable
to imagine any trouble sufficient to
drive one to death as the only relief.
Now. however, the thing was simple
to her Since there was nothing else,
she must turn to that-to death. In
deed, 1t was so very simple. so final.
and so easy, after the agonies she had
endured, that she marveled over her
own folly in not having sought such
| escape before Even with the
first wild fancy, she had unconsciously
| bent her steps westward toward the
North river. Now, she quickened her
pace, anxious for the plunge that
should set the term to sorrow. In her
numbed brain was no flicker of
| thought as to whatever might come
to her afterward, Her sole guide was
that compelling passion of desire to
be done with this unbearable present.
/ Nothing else mattered-not in the
leasti
So, she came through the long
stretch of i'll lighted streets, crossed
some railroad tracks to a pier, over
which she hurried TO the far end.
where 1t projected out to the fiercer
currents of the Hudson. There, with
out giving herself a moments pause
for reflection or hesitation, she leaped
out as far as her strength permitted
! into the coil of waters. But.
in that final second, natural terror in
| the face of death overcame the leth-
argy of despair shrek burst from
her lips.
But for that scream of fear, the
story of Mary Turner had ended there
and then. Only one person was any
where near to catch the sound. And
| that single person heard. On the south
side of the pier a man had just tied up
a motor boat. He stood up in alarm
at the cry. and was just in time to
gain a glimpse of white face under
the dim moonlight as It swept down
with the tide, two rods beyond him.
On the instant he threw off his coat
and sprang far out after the drifting
body He came to 1t in a few furious
strokes, caught 1t. Then began the
savage struggle to save her and him
self. The currents tore at him wrath
! fully, but he fought against them
with all the herceness of his nature.