The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1913-10-14
(Continued)


''Aggiet'' was the reply.
In the time that followed Mary lfved
IN the fiat which Aggie Lynch occu-
pied with her brother, Jim pickpock-
ct much esteemed among his fellow
craftsmen The period wrought trans
formations Of a radical and bewilder-
ing sort In both the appearance and
the character Of the girl
Joe Carson, the forger, had long been
acquainted with Aggie and her broth
er, though he considered them far be-
meath him in the social scale, since
their criminal work was not of that
high kind ON which he prided himself
But as he cast about for some woman
10 whom he might take the hapfess
girl he had rescued his thoughts fell
on Aggie. He was relieved rather
than otherwise to learn that there was
already an acquaintance between the
two women, and the fact that his
charge had served time in prison did
not influence him one j0t against her
Mary let herself drift. It seemed 10
her that she had abandoned herself to
fate in that hour when she threw her
self into the river. Afterward with
ont any volition on her part, she had
been restored to life and set within an
environment new and strange to her,
IN which soon, to her surprise, she
discovered a vivid pleasure. So she
fought no more, but left destiny to
work its win, unhampered by her fu-
tile striv1ngs.
For the first time in her life, thanks
to the hospitality Of Aggie Lynch, Sc
cretly REINFORCED from the funds of
Joe Carson, Mary found herself living
in luxurious idieness, while her every
wish could be gratifled by the merest
mention of it. She was fed on the
daintiest of fare, she was clothed with
the most delicate richness for the. first
time as TO those more mysterious gar
ments which women love. In addEtion.
there were as many of books andsmag-
azines as she could wish
Her mind, long starved like herbody,
seized avidly on the nourishment thus
afforded In this interest Aggie had
no share-was perhaps a little envi-
Gus over Mary's absorption in printed
pages. Aggie took a vast pride In her
guest, with the unnistakabIe air of
elegance, and she dared TO dream of
great triumphs to come, though as
yet she carefully avoided any sugges-
ton to Mary of wrongdofng.
In the end the suggestion came from
Mary Turner herself. to the great sur
prise o. Aggie, and, truth to tell, of
herself
There were two factors that chiefly
influenced her decision. The first was
due TO the feeling that, sincesthe world
had rejected her, she need no longer
concern herself with the worlds opin-
ion or retain any scruples over it.
Back OF this lay her bitter sentiment
toward the man who had been the di-
racf caTISe of her inDriSOnment Ed
ward Glider.
The factor that was the immediate
cause OF her decision on an irregular
mode Of life was editorial in one
of the daily newspapers. This was@a
scathing arraignment of master in
high finance The point of the writ
er's attack was the grim sarcasm for
such methods of thievery as are kept
within the law. That phrase held the
girls fancy, and she read the article
again with quickened interest. Then
abe began to mediate
1t was the law that had worked the
ruin of her life, which she. had striv-
en- to make. wholesome In conse-
quence she felt for the law no genuine
respect, only detestation as for the
epitome of injustice. Yet, she gave it
q superficial respect, born of those
three years of suffering which had
been the result of the penalty infict-
ed on her Now. in the paragraph she
had just read she found c1ew to sug-
Gestive thought, hint as to a means
by which shs-might satisfy her rancor
against the law that had outraged her.
and this in safety since she would at
tempt nought save that within the
law.