Then, there's her brother, the proprietor's only son. He's the clerk
in this place. He doesn't want to work, but his father has made him
learn the business, see? He's kind of a no-good; dissipated; wears
flashy clothes and plays the races and shoots craps and drinks. You
try to reform him because he's idolized by his sister that you're in
love with.
"But you can't do a thing with him. He keeps on and gets in with a
rough crowd, and finally he steals a lot of money out of the safe,
and just when they are about to discover that he's the thief you see
it would break his sister's heart so you take the crime on your own
shoulders. After that, just before you're going to be arrested, you
make a getaway--because, after all, you're not guilty--and you go
out West to start all over again--"
"Out there in the big open spaces?" suggested Merton, who had
listened attentively.
"Exactly," assented Baird, with one of those nervous spasms that
would now and again twitch his lips and chin. "Out there in the big
open spaces where men are men--that's the idea. And you build up a
little gray home in the West for yourself and your poor old mother
who never lost faith in you.
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