'A Retrieved Reformation' by O. Henry

01A Retrieved Reformation In a prison shoe shop, Jimmy Valentine was busily at work making shoes.

02A prison officer came into the shop and led Jimmy to the prison office.

03There, Jimmy was given an important paper.

04It said that he was free.

05Jimmy took the paper without showing much pleasure or interest.

06He had been sent to prison to stay for four years.

07He had been there for ten months.

08But he had expected to stay only three months.

09Jimmy Valentine had many friends outside the prison.

10A man with so many friends does not expect to stay in prison long.

11Valentine, said the chief prison officer.

12You'll go out tomorrow morning.

13This is your chance.

14Make a man of yourself.

15You're not a bad fellow at heart.

16Stop breaking safes open and live a better life.

17Me?

18said Jimmy in surprise.

19I never broke into a safe in my life.

20Oh no!

21The chief prison officer laughed.

22Never?

23Let's see.

24How did you happen to get sent to prison for opening that safe in Springfield?

25Was it because you didn't want to tell where you really were?

26Perhaps you were with some lady and you didn't want to tell her name.

27Or was it because the judge didn't like you?

28You men always have a reason like that.

29You never go to prison because you broke open a safe.

30Me?

31Jimmy said.

32His face still showed surprise.

33I was never in Springfield in my life.

34Take him away!

35Said the chief prison officer.

36Get him in the clothes he needs for going outside.

37Bring him here again at seven in the morning.

38And think about what I said, Valentine!

39At a quarter past seven on the next morning, Jimmy stood again in the office.

40He had on some new clothes that did not fit him and a pair of new shoes that hurt his feet.

41These are the usual clothes given to a prisoner when he leaves the prison.

42Next, they gave him money to pay for his trip on a train to the city near the prison.

43They gave him five dollars more.

44The five dollars was supposed to help him become a better man.

45Then the chief prison officer put out his hand for a handshake.

46That was the end of Valentine, prisoner 9762.

47Mr.

48James Valentine walked out into the sunshine.

49He did not listen to the song of the birds or look at the green trees or smell the flowers.

50He went straight to a restaurant.

51There, he tasted the first sweet joys of being free.

52He had a good dinner.

53After that, he went to the train station.

54He gave some money to a blind man who sat there asking for money.

55And then he got on the train.

56Three hours later, he got off the train in a small town.

57Here, he went to the restaurant of Mike Dolan.

58Mike Dolan was alone there.

59After shaking hands, he said, I'm sorry we couldn't do it sooner, Jimmy, my boy.

60But there was that safe in Springfield, too.

61It wasn't easy.

62Feeling all right?

63Fine, said Jimmy.

64Is my room waiting for me?

65He went up and opened the door of a room at the back of the house.

66Everything was as he had left it.

67It was here they had found Jimmy when they took him to prison.

68There on the floor was a small piece of cloth.

69It had been torn from the coat of the cop as Jimmy was fighting to escape.

70There was a bed against the wall.

71Jimmy pulled the bed toward the middle of the room.

72The wall behind it looked like any wall.

73But now Jimmy found and opened a small door in it.

74From this opening, he pulled out a dust-covered bag.

75He opened this and looked lovingly at the tools for breaking open a safe.

76No finer tools could be found anyplace.

77They were complete.

78Everything needed was there.

79They had been made of a special material in the necessary sizes and shapes.

80Jimmy had planned them himself.

81And he was very proud of them.

82It had cost him over $900 to have these tools made at a place where they make such things for men who work at the job of safe-breaking.

83In half an hour, Jimmy went downstairs and through the restaurant.

84He was now dressed in good clothes that fitted him well.

85He carried his dusted and cleaned bag.

86Do you have everything planned?

87Asked Mike Dolan.

88Me?

89Asked Jimmy as if surprised.

90I don't understand.

91I work for the New York famous bread and cake makers company.

92I sell the best bread and cake in the country.

93Mike enjoyed these words so much that Jimmy had to take a drink with him.

94Jimmy had some milk.

95He never drank anything stronger.

96A week after Valentine 9762 left the prison, a safe was broken open in Richmond, Indiana.

97No one knew who did it.

98$800 were taken.

99Two weeks after that, a safe in Logansport was opened.

100It was a new kind of safe.

101It had been made, they said, so strong that no one could break it open.

102But someone did and took $1,500.

103Then a safe in Jefferson City was opened.

104$5,000 were taken.

105This loss was a big one.

106Ben Price was a cop who worked on such important matters.

107And now he began to work on this.

108He went to Richmond, Indiana and to Logansport to see how the safe breaking had been done in those places.

109He was heard to say, I can see that Jim Valentine has been here.

110He's in business again.

111Look at the way he opened this one.

112Everything easy, everything clean.

113He's the only man who has the tools to do it.

114And he's the only man who knows how to use tools like this.

115Yes, I want Mr.

116Valentine.

117Next time he goes to prison, he's gonna stay there until his time is finished.

118Ben Price knew how Jimmy worked.

119Jimmy would go from one city to another far away.

120He always worked alone.

121He always left quickly when he was finished.

122He enjoyed being with nice people.

123For all these reasons, it was not easy to catch Mr.

124Valentine.

125People with safes full of money were glad to hear that Ben Price was at work trying to catch Mr.

126Valentine.

127One afternoon, Jimmy Valentine and his bag arrived in a small town named Elmore.

128Jimmy, looking as young as a college boy, walked down the street towards a hotel.

129A young lady walked across the street, passing him at the corner, and entered a door.

130Over the door was the sign, The Elmore Bank.

131Jimmy Valentine looked into her eyes, forgetting at once what he was.

132He became another man.

133She looked away, and brighter color came into her face.

134Young men like Jimmy did not appear often in Elmore.

135Jimmy saw a boy near the bank door and began to ask questions about the town.

136After a time, the young lady came out and went on her way.

137She seemed not to see Jimmy as she passed him.

138Isn't that young lady Polly Simpson?

139asked Jimmy.

140No, said the boy.

141She's Annabelle Adams.

142Her father owns this bank.

143Jimmy went to the hotel where he said his name was Ralph D.

144Spencer.

145He got a room there.

146He told the hotel man that he had come to Elmore to go into business.

147How was the shoe business?

148Was there already a good shoe shop?

149The man thought that Jimmy's clothes and manners were fine.

150He was happy to talk to him.

151Yes, Elmore needed a good shoe shop.

152There was no shop that sold just shoes.

153Shoes were sold in the big shops that sold everything.

154All business in Elmore was good.

155He hoped Mr.

156Spencer would decide to stay in Elmore.

157It was a pleasant town to live in, and the people were friendly.

158Mr.

159Spencer said that he would stay in town a few days and learn something about it.

160No, he said he himself would carry his bag up to the room.

161He didn't want a boy to take it.

162It was very heavy.

163Mr.

164Ralph Spencer remained in Elmore.

165He started a shoe shop.

166Business was good.

167Also, he made many friends.

168And he was successful with the wish of his heart.

169He met Annabelle Adams.

170He liked her better every day.

171At the end of a year, everyone in Elmore liked Mr.

172Ralph Spencer.

173His shoe shop was doing very good business.

174And he and Annabelle were going to be married in two weeks.

175Mr.

176Adams, the small-town banker, liked Spencer.

177Annabelle was very proud of him.

178He seemed already to belong to the Adams family.

179One day, Jimmy sat down in his room to write this letter, which he sent to one of his old friends.

180Dear old friend, I want you to meet me at Sullivan's place next week on the evening of the 10th.

181I want to give you my tools.

182I know you'll be glad to have them.

183You couldn't buy them for a thousand dollars.

184I finished with the old business a year ago.

185I have a nice shop, I'm living a better life, and I'm going to marry the best girl on earth two weeks from now.

186It's the only life.

187I would never again touch another man's money.

188After I marry, I'm going to go further west, where I'll never see anyone who knew me in my old life.

189I tell you, she's a wonderful girl.

190She trusts me.

191Your old friend, Jimmy.

192On the Monday night after Jimmy sent this letter, Ben Price arrived quietly in Elmore.

193He moved slowly about the town in his quiet way.

194He learned all that he wanted to know.

195Standing inside a shop, he watched Ralph D.

196Spencer walk by.

197You're going to marry the banker's daughter, are you, Jimmy?

198said Ben to himself.

199I don't feel sure about that.

200The next morning, Jimmy was at the Addams' home.

201He was going to a nearby city that day to buy new clothes for the wedding.

202He was also going to buy a gift for Annabelle.

203It would be his first trip out of Elmore.

204It was more than a year now since he had done any safe-breaking.

205Most of the Addams family went to the bank together that morning.

206There were Mr.

207Addams, Annabelle, Jimmy, and Annabelle's married sister with their two little girls aged five and nine.

208They passed Jimmy's hotel and Jimmy ran up to his room and brought along his bag.

209Then they went to the bank.

210All went inside.

211Jimmy, too.

212For he was one of the family.

213Everyone in the bank was glad to see the good-looking, nice young man who was going to marry Annabelle.

214Jimmy put down his bag.

215Annabelle, laughing, put Jimmy's hat on her head and picked up the bag.

216How do I look?

217She asked.

218Ralph, how heavy this bag is.

219It feels full of gold.

220It's full of some things I don't need in my shop, Jimmy said.

221I'm taking them to the city to the place where they came from.

222That saves me the cost of sending them.

223I'm going to be a married man.

224I must learn to save money.

225The Elmore Bank had a new safe.

226Mr.

227Addams was very proud of it, and he wanted everyone to see it.

228It was as large as a small room, and it had a very special door.

229The door was controlled by a clock.

230Using the clock, the banker planned the time when the door would open.

231At other times, no one, not even the banker himself, could open it.

232He explained about it to Mr.

233Spencer.

234Mr.

235Spencer seemed interested, but he did not seem to understand very easily.

236The two children, May and Agatha, enjoyed seeing the shining heavy door with all its special parts.

237While they were busy like this, Ben Price entered the bank and looked around.

238He told a young man who worked there that he had not come on business.

239He was waiting for a man.

240Suddenly, there was a cry from the women.

241They had not been watching the children.

242May, the nine-year-old, had playfully but firmly closed the door of the safe, and Agatha was inside.

243The old banker tried to open the door.

244He pulled at it for a moment.

245The door can't be opened, he cried.

246And the clock!

247I hadn't started it yet.

248Agatha's mother cried out again.

249Quiet!

250said Mr.

251Adams, raising a shaking hand.

252All be quiet for a moment.

253Agatha!

254He called as loudly as he could.

255Listen to me!

256They could hear, but not clearly, the sound of the child's voice.

257In the darkness inside the safe, she was wild with fear.

258My baby!

259Her mother cried.

260She will die of fear!

261Open the door!

262Break it open!

263Can't you men do something?

264There isn't a man nearer than the city who could open that door, said Mr.

265Adams in a shaking voice.

266My God, Spencer, what shall we do?

267That child!

268She can't live long in there!

269There isn't enough air, and the fear will kill her!

270Agatha's mother, wild to now, beat on the door with her hands.

271Annabelle turned to Jimmy, her large eyes full of pain, but with some hope, too.

272A woman thinks that the man she loves can somehow do anything.

273Can't you do something, Ralph?

274Try, won't you?

275He looked at her with a strange, soft smile on his lips and in his eyes.

276Annabelle, he said, give me that flower you're wearing, will you?

277She could not believe that she had really heard him, but she put the flower in his hand.

278Jimmy took it and put it where he could not lose it.

279Then, he pulled off his coat.

280With that act, Ralph D.

281Spencer passed away and Jimmy Valentine took his place.

282Stand away from the door, all of you, he commanded.

283He put his bag on the table and opened it flat.

284From that time on, he seemed not to know that anyone else was near.

285Quickly, he laid the shining strange tools on the table.

286The others watched as if they had lost the power to move.

287Ralph D.

288Spencer, he said, In a minute, Jimmy was at work on the door.

289In ten minutes, faster than he had ever done it before, he had the door open.

290Agatha was taken into her mother's arms.

291Jimmy Valentine put on his coat and picked up the flower and walked toward the front door.

292As he went, he thought he heard a voice call, Ralph?

293He did not stop.

294At the door, a big man stood in his way.

295Hello, Ben, said Jimmy, still with his strange smile.

296You're here at last, are you?

297Let's go.

298I don't care now.

299And then Ben Price acted rather strangely.

300I guess you were wrong about this, Mr.

301Spencer, he said.

302I don't believe I know you, do I?

303And Ben Price turned and walked slowly down the street.

304I don't believe I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know you, do I know