“You see,” said Quinny triumphantly, “personally I incline to a woman for the reason that a weaker feminine nature is peculiarly susceptible to the domination of her own sex. There you are. We could meet and debate the subject year in and year out and never agree.” “I recognize most of the characters,” said De Gollyer with a little confidential smile toward Peters. “Mrs. Kildair, of course, is all you say of her—an extraordinary woman. The story is quite characteristic of her. Flanders, I am not sure of, but I think I know him.” “Did it really happen?” asked Rankin, who always took the commonplace point of view. “Exactly as I have told it,” said Peters. “The only one I don’t recognize is Harris,” said De Gollyer pensively. “Your humble servant,” said Peters, smiling. The four looked up suddenly with a little start. “What!” said Quinny, abruptly confused. “You—you were there?” “I was there.” The four continued to look at him without speaking, each absorbed in his own thoughts, with a sudden ill ease. A club attendant, with a telephone slip on a tray, stopped by Peters’ side. He excused himself and went along the porch, nodding from table to table. “Curious chap,” said De Gollyer musingly. “Extraordinary.” The word was like a murmur in the group of four, who continued watching Peters’ trim, disappearing figure in silence, without looking at one another—with a certain ill ease. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A RETRIEVED REFORMATION[9] By O. HENRY Footnote 9: From _Roads of Destiny_. Published by permission of the publishers. Copyright, 1909, by Doubleday, Page & Co. 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 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 hardly worth while to cut his hair. “Now, Valentine,” said the warden, “you’ll go out in the morning. Brace up, and make a man of yourself. You’re not a bad fellow at heart. Stop cracking safes, and live straight.” “Me?” said Jimmy, in surprise. “Why, I never cracked a safe in my life.”