herwood said
in the cold voice of a judge after a jury has brought in a verdict of
guilty:

"Of course, if you think there is anything you may say for yourself, Mr.
Brainard, you now have the chance to say it."

"I have much to say, but I can't blame you if you refuse to believe
most of it," Larry said desperately, fighting for what seemed his last
chance. "I loved Maggie Carlisle. I believed she had splendid qualities.
Only she was dominated by the twisted ideas Old Jimmie Carlisle had
planted in her. I wanted to eradicate those twisted ideas, and make
her good qualities her ruling ones. But she didn't believe in me.
She thought me a soft-head, a police stool, a squealer. Then I had to
disappear; you know all about that. Not till I had been with you for
several weeks did I learn that she was being used in a swindling scheme
against Dick.

"I did think of telling you or Dick. But my greatest interest was to
awaken that better person I believed to be in her; and I knew that the
certain result of my exposing her to you would be for me to lose the
last bit of influence I had with her, and for her to pass right on to
another enterprise of similar character. So the idea came to me that if
I didn't expose her, but caused her to be received with every courtesy
by her intended victims, the effect upon her would be that she would
feel a revulsion for what she was doing and she would come to her best
senses. I told this to Mr. Hunt; that's why he agreed not to give her
away. And another point, though frankly this was not so important to me:
it seemed to me that a good hard jolt might be just what was needed to
make Dick take life more seriously, and I saw in this affair a chance
for Dick to get just the jolt he needed.

"That's all, Miss Sherwood. Except that I have seen signs which make me
believe that what I figured would happen to Maggie Carlisle have begun
to happen to her."

"Bunk!" snorted Gavegan.

"I know that part of what he says is true," put in Hunt.

Miss Sherwood ignored Hunt and his remark. The look of controlled wrath
which she held upon Larry did not change. Larry recognized that his
statement had sounded most implausible. Miss Sherwood in her indignation
considered only that her kindness had been betrayed, her hospitality
outraged, and that those she had accepted as friends had sought to
trick her family in the worst way she could conceive; and she spoke
accordingly.

"If that is the best Mr. Brainard