欧亨利a retrieved reformation(8页).doc
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1、-欧亨利a retrieved reformation-第 8 页A RETRIEVED REFORMATIONBy O. HENRYFromRoads of Destiny.Copyright 1909, expired.A guard came to the prison shoe-shop, where Jimmy Valentine was assiduously stitching uppers, and escorted him to the front office. There the warden handed Jimmy his pardon, which had been
2、 signed that morning by the governor. Jimmy took it in a tired kind of way. He had served nearly ten months of a four-year sentence. He had expected to stay only about three months, at the longest. When a man with as many friends on the outside as Jimmy Valentine had is received in the stir it is ha
3、rdly worth while to cut his hair.Now, Valentine, said the warden, youll go out in the morning. Brace up, and make a man of yourself. Youre not a bad fellow at heart. Stop cracking safes, and live straight. Ale? said Jimmy, in surprise. Why, I never cracked a safe in my life. Oh, no, laughed the ward
4、en. Of course not. Lets see, now. How was it you happened to get sent up on that Springfield job? Was it because you wouldnt prove an alibi for fear of compromising somebody in extremely high-toned society? Or was it simply a case of a mean old jury that had it in for you? Its always one or the othe
5、r with you innocent victims. Ale? said Jimmy, still blankly virtuous. Why, warden, I never was in Springfield in my life! Take him back, Cronin, smiled the warden, and fix him up with outgoing clothes. Unlock him at seven in the morning, and let him come to the bull-pen. Better think over my advice,
6、 Valentine. At a quarter past seven on the next morning Jimmy stood in the wardens outer office. He had on a suit of the villainously fitting, ready-made clothes and a pair of the stiff, squeaky shoes that the state furnishes to its discharged compulsory guests.The clerk handed him a railroad ticket
7、 and the five-dollar bill with which the law expected him to rehabilitate himself into good citizenship and prosperity. The warden gave him a cigar, and shook hands. Valentine, 9762, was chronicled on the books Pardoned by Governor, and Mr. James Valentine walked out into the sunshine.Disregarding t
8、he song of the birds, the waving green trees, and the smell of the flowers, Jimmy headed straight for a restaurant. There he tasted the first sweet joys of liberty in the shape of a broiled chicken and a bottle of white winefollowed by a cigar a grade better than the one the warden had given him. Fr
9、om there be proceeded leisurely to the depot. He tossed a quarter into the hat of a blind man sitting by the door, and boarded his train. Three hours set him down in a little town near the state line. He went to the caf of one Alike Dolan and shook hands with Mike, who was alone behind the bar.Sorry
10、 we couldnt make it sooner, Jimmy, me boy, said Mike. But we had that protest from Springfield to buck against, and the governor nearly balked. Feeling all right?Fine, said Jimmy. Got my key?He got his key and went upstairs, unlocking the door of a room at the rear. Everything was just as he had lef
11、t it. There on the floor was still Ben Prices collar-button that had been torn from that eminent detectives shirt-band when they had overpowered Jimmy to arrest him.Pulling out from the wall a folding-bed, Jimmy slid back a panel in the wall and dragged out a dust-covered suit-case.He opened this an
12、d gazed fondly at the finest set of burglars tools in the East. It was a complete set, made of specially tempered steel, the latest design in drills, punches, braces and bits, jimmies, clamps, and augers, with two or three novelties, invented by Jimmy himself, in which he took pride.Over nine hundre
13、d dollars they had cost him to have made at -, a place where they make such things for the profession.In half an hour Jimmy went down stairs and through the caf6. He was now dressed in tasteful and well-fitting clothes, and carried his dusted and cleaned suit-case in his hand.Got anything on? asked
14、Mike Dolan, genially.Me? said Jimmy, in a puzzled tone. I dont understand. Im representing the New York Amalgamated Short Snap Biscuit Cracker and Frazzled Wheat Company. This statement delighted Mike to such an extent that Jimmy had to take a seltzer-and-milk on the spot. He never touched hard drin
15、ks.A week after the release of Valentine, 9762, there was a neat job of safe-burglary done in Richmond, Indiana, with no clue to the author. A scant eight hundred dollars was all that was secured. Two weeks after that a patented, improved, burglar-proof safe in Logansport was opened like a cheese to
16、 the tune of fifteen hundred dollars, currency; securities and silver untouched. That began to interest the rogue-catchers. Then an old-fashioned bank-safe in Jefferson City became active and threw out of its crater an eruption of bank-notes amounting to five thousand dollars. The losses were now hi
17、gh enough to bring the matter up into Ben Prices class of work. By comparing notes, a remarkable similarity in the methods of the burglaries was noticed. Ben Price investigated the scenes of the robberies, and was heard to remark:Thats Dandy Jim Valentines autograph. Hes resumed business. Look at th
18、at combination knob-jerked out as easy as pulling up a radish in wet weather. Hes got the only clamps that can do it. And look how clean those tumblers were punched out! Jimmy never has to drill but one bole. Yes, I guess I want. Mr. Valentine. He11 do his bit next time without any short-time or cle
19、mency foolishness.Ben Price knew Jimmys habits. He had learned them while working up the Springfield case. Long jumps, quick get-aways, no confederates, and a taste for good society these ways bad helped Mr. Valentine to become noted as a successful dodger of retribution. It was given out that Ben P
20、rice had taken up the trail of the elusive cracksman, and other people with burglar-proof safes felt more at ease.One afternoon Jimmy Valentine and his suit-case climbed out of the mail-hack in Elmore, a little town five miles off the railroad down in the black-jack country of Arkansas. Jimmy, looki
21、ng like an athletic young senior just home from college, went down the board side-walk toward the hotel.A young lady crossed the street, passed him at the corner and entered a door over which was the sign The Elmore Bank. Jimmy Valentine looked into her eyes, forgot what he was, and became another m
22、an. She lowered her eyes and colored slightly. Young men of Jimmys style and looks were scarce in Elmore.Jimmy collared a boy that was loafing on the steps of the bank as if he were one of the stockholders, and began to question him about the town, feeding him dimes at intervals. By and by the young
23、 lady came out, looking royally unconscious of the young man with the suit-case, and went her way.Isnt that young lady Miss Polly Simpson? asked Jimmy, with specious guile.Naw, said the boy, Shes Annabel Adams. Her pa owns this bank. Wbatd you come to Elmore for? Is that a gold watch-chain? Im going
24、 to get a bulldog. Got any more dimes?Jimmy went to the Planters Hotel, registered as Ralph D. Spencer, and engaged a room. He leaned on the desk and declared his platform to the clerk. Ile said he had come to Elmore to look for a location to go into business. How was the sboe business, now, in the
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