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"Within the Law"


"Now, that you know?" he questioned.
There was no faltering in the answer.
"Now, that I know," Dick said distinctly. Then abruptly, the
young man spoke with the energy of perfect faith in the woman.
"Don't you see, father? Why, she is justified in a way, in her
own mind anyhow, I mean. She was innocent when she was sent to
prison. She feels that the world owes her----"
But the older man would not permit the assertion to go
uncontradicted. That reference to the woman's innocence was an
arraignment of himself, for it had been he who sent her to the
term of imprisonment.
"Don't talk to me about her innocence!" he said, and his voice
was ominous. "I suppose next you will argue that, because she's
been clever enough to keep within the law, since she's got out of
State Prison, she's not a criminal. But let me tell you--crime
is crime, whether the law touches it in the particular case, or
whether it doesn't."
Gilder faced his son sternly for a moment, and then presently
spoke again with deeper earnestness.


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