A Retrieved Reformation
A guard came to the prison shoe-shop, where safecracker Jimmy Valentine was working hard, and escorted him to the front office. There the warden gave Jimmy his pardon. He had served nearly ten months of a four year sentence. He expected to stay only about three months, at the longest.
“Now, Valentine,” said the warden, “you’ll go out in the morning. Make a man of yourself. You’re not a bad fellow at heart. Stop cracking safes, and live honestly.”
“Me?” said Jimmy, in surprise. “Why, I never cracked a safe in my life.”
“Oh, no,” laughed the warden. “Of course not. You are an innocent victim.”
At a quarter past seven on the next morning Jimmy stood in the warden’s office.
The clerk gave him a railroad ticket and the five-dollar bill. The warden gave him a cigar, and shook hands. Valentine, 9762, was pardoned by Governor, and now Mr. James Valentine walked out into the sunshine.
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 wine – followed by a cigar. From there he went to the railway station. Three hours later he found himself in a little town near the state border. He went to the Mike Dolan’s café and shook hands with Mike, who was alone behind the bar.
“Jimmy, my boy,” said Mike. “Feeling all right?”
“Fine,” said Jimmy. “Have you got my key?”
He got his key and went upstairs, unlocking the door of his room. Everything was just as he had left it.
Jimmy dragged out a dust-covered suitcase. He opened this and gazed fondly at the finest set of burglar’s tools in the East. It was a complete set, made of steel, the latest designs in drills, punches, braces and bits, jimmies, clamps, and augers, with two or three new tools, invented by Jimmy himself, in which he took pride.
In half an hour Jimmy went downstairs. He was now well-dressed, and carried his cleaned suitcase in his hand.
A week after the release of Valentine, 9762, there was a safe-burglary in Richmond, Indiana. Eight hundred dollars. Two weeks after that a patented, improved safe in Logansport was opened, a safe of fifteen hundred dollars. Then a bank safe in Jefferson City: five thousand dollars. The losses were remarkable, Ben Price himself noticed them. Ben Price remarked, “That’s Dandy Jim Valentine’s autograph. He’s resumed business. Just look: he’s got the only clamps that can do it. Yes, I guess Mr. Valentine will visit the prison for sure!”
Ben Price knew Jimmy’s habits. He had learned them while working on the Springfield case.
One afternoon Jimmy Valentine and his suitcase came to Elmore, a little town down in Arkansas. Jimmy, looking like a student, went 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 man. She lowered her eyes and coloured slightly.
Jimmy caught a boy that was loafing near the bank.
“Isn’t that young lady Polly Simpson?” asked Jimmy.
“No,” said the boy. “She’s Annabel Adams. Her father owns this bank.”
Jimmy went to the Planters’ Hotel, registered as Ralph D. Spencer, and took a room. He said he had come to Elmore to look for a location to go into business. How was the shoe business, now, in the town? He had thought of the shoe business. Was the situation good for that?
Yes, there wasn’t an exclusive shoe-store in the town. Business in all lines was fairly good. Mr. Spencer decided to spend a few days in the town.
Mr. Ralph Spencer, the phoenix that arose from Jimmy Valentine’s ashes, remained in Elmore, and prospered. He opened a shoe-store.
Socially he was also a success, and made many friends. And he accomplished the wish of his heart. He met Miss Annabel Adams, and became more and more captivated by her charms.
At the end of a year the situation of Mr. Ralph Spencer was this: he had won the respect of the community, his shoe-store was flourishing, and he and Annabel were engaged to be married in two weeks. Mr. Adams, the typical country banker, approved of Spencer.
One day Jimmy sat down in his room and wrote this letter, which he mailed to the safe address of one of his old friends in St. Louis:
“Dear Old Friend: I want you to be at Sullivan’s place, in Little Rock, next Wednesday night, at nine o’clock. I want to make you a present of my kit of tools. I know you’ll be glad to get them. Billy, I’ve quit the old business – a year ago. I’ve got a nice store, and I’m going to marry the finest girl on earth two weeks from now. I wouldn’t touch a dollar of another man’s money now for a million. I tell you, Billy, she’s an angel. She believes in me; and I wouldn’t do anything wrong. Please come to Sully’s place, for I must see you. I’ll bring along the tools with me – I don’t need them anymore.
Your old friend, Jimmy.”
On the Monday night after Jimmy wrote this letter, Ben Price came into Elmore. He found out what he wanted to know. From the drug-store across the street from Spencer’s shoe-store he saw Ralph D. Spencer.
“Going to marry the banker’s daughter are you, Jimmy?” said Ben to himself, softly. “Well, I don’t know!”
The next morning Jimmy took breakfast at the Adamses. He was going to Little Rock that day to order his wedding-suit and buy something nice for Annabel. That would be the first time he had left town since he came to Elmore.
After breakfast everybody went downtown together – Mr. Adams, Annabel, Jimmy, and Annabel’s married sister with her two little girls, aged five and nine. They came by the hotel where Jimmy still lived, and he ran up to his room and brought along his suitcase. Then they went on to the bank. There stood Dolph Gibson, who was going to drive him over to the railroad station.
All entered the bank. Jimmy put his suitcase on the floor. Annabel, whose heart was full of happiness and youth, took the suitcase. “Oh! Ralph, how heavy!” said Annabel. “Is it full of gold bricks?”
The Elmore Bank had just built a new vault. Mr. Adams was very proud of it, and forced everyone to see it. The vault was very small, but it had a new, patented door. Two little girls were very interested in the door.
Ben Price entered the bank and leaned on his elbow. He said that he didn’t want anything; he was just waiting for a man he knew.
Suddenly there was a scream or two from the women. May, the nine-year-old girl, playing, had shut her sister Agatha in the vault.
The old banker sprang to the door. “The door can’t be opened,” he groaned. “It is shut for ever.”
Agatha’s mother screamed again, hysterically.
“Hush!” said Mr. Adams, raising his trembling hand. “All be quiet for a moment. Agatha!” he called as loudly as he could. “Listen to me.”
“My darling!” wailed the mother. “She will die of fright! Open the door! Oh, break it open! Can’t you men do something?”
“There is only one man who can open that door,” said Mr. Adams, in a shaky voice. “But he is in Little Rock. My God! Spencer, what shall we do? That child – she can’t stand it long in there. There isn’t enough air.”
Agatha’s mother was crying. Somebody suggested dynamite. Annabel turned to Jimmy.
“Can’t you do something, Ralph – try, won’t you?”
He looked at her with a smile.
Jimmy threw off his coat. With that act Ralph D. Spencer went away and Jimmy Valentine took his place.
“Get away from the door, all of you,” he commanded, shortly.
He opened his suitcase. In a deep silence, the others watched him as if under a spell.
In ten minutes – breaking his own burglarious record – he opened the door. Agatha was almost collapsed.
Jimmy Valentine put on his coat, and walked towards the front door. At the door a big man stood somewhat in his way.
“Hello, Ben!” said Jimmy, still with his strange smile. “Well, let’s go.”
And then Ben Price acted rather strangely.
“I guess you’re mistaken, Mr. Spencer,” he said. “I don’t believe I recognize you. Your buggy’s waiting for you, isn’t it?”
And Ben Price turned and walked down the street.
Exercises
1. Choose the right variant:
1. Jimmy Valentine was released from prison after 10 years.
2. Jimmy Valentine was released from prison after 4 months.
3. Jimmy Valentine was released from prison after 10 months.
4. Jimmy Valentine was released from prison after 4 years.
2. What is the name of the banker’s beautiful daughter?
1. Agatha
2. Annabel Adams
3. Dolph Gibson
4. May
3. What is safe-cracking?
1. the process of opening a safe without either the combination or key
2. a specialized field of engineering that focuses on the security aspects
3. a mechanical or electronic fastening device
4. the practice and study of techniques for secure communication
4. Who is Ben Price?
1. the owner of the bank
2. the detective who landed Valentine in jail
3. a person who illegally enters a property to commit a crime
4. a person who has often been in jail
5. Where is Elmore situated?
1. In North Carolina.
2. In Nebraska.
3. In Arkansas.
4. In New Hampshire.
6. Why did Valentine decide to give up his criminal career?
1. Because he was tired.
2. Because he was afraid of Ben Price.
3. Because he did not have his tools.
4. Because he fell in love.
7. Choose the right variant:
1. Jimmy Valentine moves into the town, taking up the identity of Dolph Gibson, a shoemaker.
2. Jimmy Valentine moves into the town, taking up the identity of Ralph D. Spencer, a shoemaker.
3. Jimmy Valentine moves into the town, taking up the identity of Mike Dolan, a shoemaker.
4. Jimmy Valentine moves into the town, taking up the identity of Polly Simpson, a shoemaker.
8. Who are May and Agatha?
1. Mother and daughter.
2. Jimmy’s friends.
3. Annabel’s daughters.
4. Annabel’s nieces.
9. Choose the right verb:
Everyone panics, and Annabel _____________ Jimmy to do something.
1. demands
2. begs
3. tells
4. curses
10. Choose the correct verbs:
Jimmy, knowing that it will __________ his true identity, _____________ his case of tools to __________ the door and _____________ the child.
1. save, uses, open, reveal
2. reveal, opens, uses, save
3. reveal, uses, open, save
4. use, reveals, open, save
11. Insert the right adverb:
Valentine starts to leave the bank _____________, and he sees Price standing by the door and realizes he had witnessed the whole incident.
1. then
2. now
3. afterwards
4. yet
12. Complete the chart:
