第8章 ONLY THREE YEARS(2)

"The profits from my store are large, I admit, Sarah.But Ineither smuggle my goods, take rebates from railroads, conspire against small competitors, nor do any of the dishonest acts that disgrace other lines of business.So long as I make my profits honestly, I am honestly entitled to them, no matter how big they are."The secretary, being quite content with the havoc she had wrought in her employer's complacency over his charitableness, nodded, and contented herself with a demure assent to his outburst.

"Yes, sir," she agreed, very meekly.

Gilder stared at her for a few seconds, somewhat indignantly.

Then, he bethought himself of a subtle form of rebuke by emphasizing his generosity.

"Have the cashier send my usual five hundred to the Charities Organization Society," he ordered.With this new evidence of his generous virtue, the frown passed from his brows.If, for a fleeting moment, doubt had assailed him under the spur of the secretary's words, that doubt had now vanished under his habitual conviction as to his sterling worth to the world at large.

It was, therefore, with his accustomed blandness of manner that he presently acknowledged the greeting of George Demarest, the chief of the legal staff that looked after the firm's affairs.

He was aware without being told that the lawyer had called to acquaint him with the issue in the trial of Mary Turner.

"Well, Demarest?" he inquired, as the dapper attorney advanced into the room at a rapid pace, and came to a halt facing the desk, after a lively nod in the direction of the secretary.

The lawyer's face sobered, and his tone as he answered was tinged with constraint.

"Judge Lawlor gave her three years," he replied, gravely.It was plain from his manner that he did not altogether approve.

But Gilder was unaffected by the attorney's lack of satisfaction over the result.On the contrary, he smiled exultantly.His oritund voice took on a deeper note, as he turned toward the secretary.

"Good!" he exclaimed."Take this, Sarah." And he continued, as the girl opened her notebook and poised the pencil: "Be sure to have Smithson post a copy of it conspicuously in all the girls'

dressing-rooms, and in the reading-room, and in the lunch-rooms, and in the assembly-room." He cleared his throat ostentatiously and proceeded to the dictation of the notice:

"Mary Turner, formerly employed in this store, was to-day sentenced to prison for three years, having been convicted for the theft of goods valued at over four hundred dollars.The management wishes again to draw attention on the part of its employees to the fact that honesty is always the best policy....

Got that?"

"Yes, sir." The secretary's voice was mechanical, without any trace of feeling.She was not minded to disturb her employer a second time this morning by injudicious comment.

"Take it to Smithson," Gilder continued, "and tell him that Iwish him to attend to its being posted according to my directions at once."Again, the girl made her formal response in the affirmative, then left the room.

Gilder brought forth a box of cigars from a drawer of the desk, opened it and thrust it toward the waiting lawyer, who, however, shook his head in refusal, and continued to move about the room rather restlessly.Demarest paid no attention to the other's invitation to a seat, but the courtesy was perfunctory on Gilder's part, and he hardly perceived the perturbation of his caller, for he was occupied in selecting and lighting a cigar with the care of a connoisseur.Finally, he spoke again, and now there was an infinite contentment in the rich voice.

"Three years--three years! That ought to be a warning to the rest of the girls." He looked toward Demarest for acquiescence.

The lawyer's brows were knit as he faced the proprietor of the store.

"Funny thing, this case!" he ejaculated."In some features, one of the most unusual I have seen since I have been practicing law."The smug contentment abode still on Gilder's face as he puffed in leisurely ease on his cigar and uttered a trite condolence.

"Very sad!--quite so! Very sad case, I call it." Demarest went on speaking, with a show of feeling: "Most unusual case, in my estimation.You see, the girl keeps on declaring her innocence.

That, of course, is common enough in a way.But here, it's different.The point is, somehow, she makes her protestations more convincing than they usually do.They ring true, as it seems to me."Gilder smiled tolerantly.

"They didn't ring very true to the jury, it would seem," he retorted.And his voice was tart as he added: "Nor to the judge, since he deemed it his duty to give her three years.""Some persons are not very sensitive to impressions in such cases, I admit," Demarest returned, coolly.If he meant any subtlety of allusion to his hearer, it failed wholly to pierce the armor of complacency.

"The stolen goods were found in her locker," Gilder declared in a tone of finality."Some of them, I have been given to understand, were actually in the pocket of her coat.""Well," the attorney said with a smile, "that sort of thing makes good-enough circumstantial evidence, and without circumstantial evidence there would be few convictions for crime.Yet, as a lawyer, I'm free to admit that circumstantial evidence alone is never quite safe as proof of guilt.Naturally, she says some one else must have put the stolen goods there.As a matter of exact reasoning, that is quite within the measure of possibility.That sort of thing has been done countless times."Gilder sniffed indignantly.

"And for what reason?" he demanded."It's too absurd to think about.""In similar cases," the lawyer answered, "those actually guilty of the thefts have thus sought to throw suspicion on the innocent in order to avoid it on themselves when the pursuit got too hot on their trail.Sometimes, too, such evidence has been manufactured merely to satisfy a spite against the one unjustly accused.""It's too absurd to think about," Gilder repeated, impatiently.