Within the Law [33]
does it make?" she demanded, scornfully. "He's got it, ain't he?" And then she added with avaricious intensity: "Just as soon as I get time, I'm goin' after that watch--believe me!"
Mary shook her head in denial.
"No, you are not," she said, calmly. "You are under my orders now. And as long as you are working with us, you will break no laws."
"But I can't see----" Aggie began to argue with the petulance of a spoiled child.
Mary's voice came with a certainty of conviction born of fact.
"When you were working alone," she said gravely, did you have a home like this?"
"No," was the answer, spoken a little rebelliously.
"Or such clothes? Most of all, did you have safety from the police?"
"No," Aggie admitted, somewhat more responsively. "But, just the same, I can't see----"
Mary began putting on her gloves, and at the same time strove to give this remarkable young woman some insight into her own point of view, though she knew the task to be one well-nigh impossible.
"Agnes," she said, didactically, "the richest men in this country have made their fortunes, not because of the law, but in spite of the law. They made up their minds what they wanted to do, and then they engaged lawyers clever enough to show them how they could do it, and still keep within the law. Any one with brains can get rich in this country if he will engage the right lawyer. Well, I have the brains--and Harris is showing me the law--the wonderful twisted law that was made for the rich! Since we keep inside the law, we are safe."
Aggie, without much apprehension of the exact situation, was moved to a dimpled mirth over the essential humor of the method indicated.
"Gee, that's funny," she cried happily. "You an' me an' Joe Garson handin' it to 'em, an' the bulls can't touch us! Next thing you know, Harris will be havin' us incorporated as the American Legal Crime Society."
"I shouldn't be in the least surprised," Mary assented, as she finished buttoning her gloves. She smiled, but there was a hint of grimness in the bending of her lips. That grimness remained, as she glanced at the clock, then went toward the door of the room, speaking over her shoulder.
"And, now I must be off to a most important engagement with Mr. Dick Gilder."
CHAPTER VIII. A TIP FROM HEADQUARTERS.
Presently, when she had finished the cigarette, Aggie proceeded to her own chamber and there spent a considerable time in making a toilette calculated to set off to its full advantage the slender daintiness of her form. When at last she was gowned to her satisfaction, she went into the drawing-room of the apartment and gave herself over to more cigarettes, in an easy chair, sprawled out in an attitude of comfort never taught in any finishing school for young ladies. She at the same time indulged her tastes in art and literature by reading the jokes and studying the comic pictures in an evening paper, which the maid brought in at her request. She had about exhausted this form of amusement when the coming of Joe Garson, who was usually in and out of the apartment a number of times daily, provided a welcome diversion. After a casual greeting between the two, Aggie explained, in response to his question, that Mary had gone out to keep an engagement with Dick Gilder.
There was a little period of silence while the man, with the resolute face and the light gray eyes that shone so clearly underneath the thick, waving silver hair, held his head bent downward as if in intent thought. When, finally, he spoke, there was a certain quality in his voice that caused Aggie to regard him curiously.
"Mary has been with him a good deal lately," he said, half questioningly.
"That's what," was the curt agreement.
Garson brought out his next query with the brutal bluntness of his kind; and yet there was a vague suggestion of tenderness in his tones under the vulgar words.
"Think she's stuck on him?" He had seated himself on a settee opposite the girl, who did not trouble on his account to assume a posture more decorous, and he surveyed
Mary shook her head in denial.
"No, you are not," she said, calmly. "You are under my orders now. And as long as you are working with us, you will break no laws."
"But I can't see----" Aggie began to argue with the petulance of a spoiled child.
Mary's voice came with a certainty of conviction born of fact.
"When you were working alone," she said gravely, did you have a home like this?"
"No," was the answer, spoken a little rebelliously.
"Or such clothes? Most of all, did you have safety from the police?"
"No," Aggie admitted, somewhat more responsively. "But, just the same, I can't see----"
Mary began putting on her gloves, and at the same time strove to give this remarkable young woman some insight into her own point of view, though she knew the task to be one well-nigh impossible.
"Agnes," she said, didactically, "the richest men in this country have made their fortunes, not because of the law, but in spite of the law. They made up their minds what they wanted to do, and then they engaged lawyers clever enough to show them how they could do it, and still keep within the law. Any one with brains can get rich in this country if he will engage the right lawyer. Well, I have the brains--and Harris is showing me the law--the wonderful twisted law that was made for the rich! Since we keep inside the law, we are safe."
Aggie, without much apprehension of the exact situation, was moved to a dimpled mirth over the essential humor of the method indicated.
"Gee, that's funny," she cried happily. "You an' me an' Joe Garson handin' it to 'em, an' the bulls can't touch us! Next thing you know, Harris will be havin' us incorporated as the American Legal Crime Society."
"I shouldn't be in the least surprised," Mary assented, as she finished buttoning her gloves. She smiled, but there was a hint of grimness in the bending of her lips. That grimness remained, as she glanced at the clock, then went toward the door of the room, speaking over her shoulder.
"And, now I must be off to a most important engagement with Mr. Dick Gilder."
CHAPTER VIII. A TIP FROM HEADQUARTERS.
Presently, when she had finished the cigarette, Aggie proceeded to her own chamber and there spent a considerable time in making a toilette calculated to set off to its full advantage the slender daintiness of her form. When at last she was gowned to her satisfaction, she went into the drawing-room of the apartment and gave herself over to more cigarettes, in an easy chair, sprawled out in an attitude of comfort never taught in any finishing school for young ladies. She at the same time indulged her tastes in art and literature by reading the jokes and studying the comic pictures in an evening paper, which the maid brought in at her request. She had about exhausted this form of amusement when the coming of Joe Garson, who was usually in and out of the apartment a number of times daily, provided a welcome diversion. After a casual greeting between the two, Aggie explained, in response to his question, that Mary had gone out to keep an engagement with Dick Gilder.
There was a little period of silence while the man, with the resolute face and the light gray eyes that shone so clearly underneath the thick, waving silver hair, held his head bent downward as if in intent thought. When, finally, he spoke, there was a certain quality in his voice that caused Aggie to regard him curiously.
"Mary has been with him a good deal lately," he said, half questioningly.
"That's what," was the curt agreement.
Garson brought out his next query with the brutal bluntness of his kind; and yet there was a vague suggestion of tenderness in his tones under the vulgar words.
"Think she's stuck on him?" He had seated himself on a settee opposite the girl, who did not trouble on his account to assume a posture more decorous, and he surveyed