The San Francisco call., 1913-09-12
WITHIN TIL L LAW
8 Greatest Serial Of the Day
By Marpin Dana From the Play of Baydrd Dealer


tally at a loss, and moved in his chair
doubtfully wishing to say something,
and quite unable He was still seek
ing some question, some criticism,
some rebuke. when he was unfeign-
edly relieved to hear the policeman g
harsh voice
Don't mind her, SIR" Cassidy said.
He meant to make his manner very
reassuring. They all say that They
are innocent, of course! Yep-they
all say it, Tt don't do 'em any good.
but just the same they all swear
they're innocent. They keep 1t up to
the very last, no matter how right
they've been got"
The voice of the girl rang clear.
There was a note of insistence that
carried a curious dignity of its own.
The very simplicity of her statement
might have had power to convince
one who listened without prejudice,
although the words themselves We're
of the trite sort that any protesting
criminal might utter.
II tell you, / didn't do itN'
Glider himself felt the surge OF
emotion that swung through these
moments. but he would not yield to 1t.
With his lack of imagination, he
could not interpret what this time
must mean to the girl before hlfn.
Rather, he merely deemed II
his duty to carry through this un-
fortunate affair with a scrupulous
attention to detail, in the fashion
that had always been characteristic
Of him during the years in which he
had steadily mounted from the bot
tom to the top.
whats the use of all this pre-
tense?" he demanded. sharply. You
were given a fair trial, and there's
an end of it.
The GIRL standing there so feebiy,
seeming indeed to cling for support
to the man who always held her
thus closely by the wrist, spoke again
with an astonishing clearness, even
with a sort of vivacity, as If she
explained easily something otherwise
in doubt.
"Oh, no. i wasn't!" she contradietea
bluntly, with q singular confidence
Of assertion why. IL the trial had
been fair, l shouldn't be here.
The harsh voice of Cassidy again
broke in on the passion of the girl
with a professional sneer.
That's another thing they all say
But the girl went on speaking
fiercely, impervious to the man 3
coarse sarcasm, her eyes. which had
deepened almost to purple, still fixed
piercingly on Glider, Who, for some
reason wholly inexplicable to him,
felt himself strangely disturbed under
that regard.
do you call 1t fair when the law
yer / had was only a boy--one whom
the court told me TO take, a boy try
ing his first case-ny case, that
meant the ruin of my life? MY law
yer, Why. he was just getting expe-
rience-getting 1t at my expenseF
The girl paused as If exhausted by
the vehemence of her emotion, and
at last the sparkling eyes dropped
and the heavy lids closed over them.
She swayed a little, so that the officer
tightened his clasp on her wrist
There followed n few seconds of
silence Then Glider made an effort
to shake off the feeling that had so
possessed him. and to q certain degree
he succeeded.
"The jury found you guilty he
asserted, with an attempt to make his
voice ma gisterial in It's severity.
Instantly. Mary was aroused to a
new outburst of protest Once
again. her eyes shot their fires at the
man seated behind the desk, and she
went forward a step imperiously,
dragging the officer in her wake.
YES the jury found me guilty,
she agreed, with fine scorn in the
musical cadence of her voice. DO
you know why? / can tell you. Mr..
Glider 1t was because they had
been out for three hours without
reaching a decision. The evidence
didn't seem to be quite enough for
some of them, after ALL Well, the
Judge threatened to lock them up all
night The men wanted to get home.
The easy thing to do was to find me
guilty, and let it go at that. Was
that fair, do you think? And that's
not all, either. Was 1t fair of you,
Mr. Glider? Was 1t fair of you to
come to the court this morning and
tell the judge that I should be sent
TO prison as warning to others?"
A quick fash burned on the massive
face Of the man whom she thus ac-
cused, and his eyes refused to meet
her steady gaze OF reproach.
"You know he exclaimed, in
suffered. now their was a dee
her mood had affected his own
so that through few hurrying
seconds he felt himself some
how guilty of wrong against this girl,
so frank and so rebuking.
II heard you in the courtroom" she
said "The dock isn't very far from
the bench where you spoke to the
Judge about my case. Yes, I heard
you 1t wasn't: Did I do it7 Or,
didn't / do 1T? No, it was only that
/ must be made warning to others
Again, silence fell for tense in
terval Then, finally, the girl spoke
In a different tone. Where. before
her voice had been vibrant with the
instinct of complaint against the
mockery of justice under which she
suffered, now there was a deeper note,
that of most solemn truth.
Mr.. Glider" she said simply. "as
God is my judge, ] am going to prison
for three years for something l didn't
do"
But the sincerity Of her broken cry
fell on unheeding ears. The coarse
nature OF the officer had long ago lost
whatever elements Of softness there
gentler occupation. AS for the owner
of the store. he was not sufficiently
sensitive to feel the verify in the
accents OF the speaker. Moreover. he
was a man who followed the con-
ventional, with never distraction
due to imagination and sympathy.
Just now, too, he was experiencing
a keen irritation against himself be-
cause of the manner in which he had
been sensible to the influence of her
protestation. despite his will to the
contrary That irritation against
himself only reacted against the girl,
and caused him to steel his heart to
resist any tendency toward commits
GRAFTON. So, this declaration of inno-
cence was made quite In vain--in-
deed, served rather to strengthen his
disfavor toward the complainant, and
to make his manner harsher when she
voiced the pitifnl question over which
she had wondered and grieved.
why did you ask the judge to
send me to prison?"
teThe thieving that has been going