Jimmy Valentine by O. Henry

Part 1 The Burglar

“Now, Valentine,” said the prison warden, “you’ll go out in the morning to the real world. Be a man! You are really a good guy at heart.”

The warden gave Jimmy Valentine the pardon that the governor had signed. Jimmy had served ten months of a four-year sentence. He was surprised that it had taken so long. He had a lot of friends who usually helped him get out of jail early.

“Take him back to his prison cell,” the warden told the guard, “and give him some regular clothes. He can leave at seven in the morning. And Valentine, stop cracking safes and live an honest life.”

“Me?” said Jimmy in surprise. “I never cracked a safe in my life!”

“Oh, no,” laughed the warden. “Of course not. You guys are all the same! You all pretend you’re innocent!”

At seven the next morning Jimmy stood in the warden’s office again. The clerk gave him a train ticket and a five-dollar bill that the prison expected him to use to start leading an honest life. Jimmy Valentine walked out into the sunshine once again.

Jimmy went straight to a restaurant, where he ordered chicken and a bottle of white wine. From there he went to the train station. After three hours on the train, he arrived in a little town. He went to Mike Dolan’s café and shook hands with Mike.

“Sorry we couldn’t get you out sooner, Jimmy,” said Mike. “But we had some problems this time. Feeling all right?”

“Fine,” said Jimmy. “Got my key?”

Mike gave him the key and Jimmy went upstairs to his old room. Everything was just as he had left it. Jimmy reached under the bed and pulled out a dusty suitcase. He opened it and looked proudly at the finest set of burglar’s tools in the East. Jimmy had even invented some of the tools himself. They were made of steel and were very expensive. Jimmy only used the best!

Half an hour later Jimmy went downstairs. He was now dressed nicely and was carrying his suitcase in his hand.

“Anything going on?” asked Mike Dolan.

“I don’t understand,” said Jimmy, acting confused. “You know I’m just a salesman for the biscuit and cracker company.”

Mike burst out laughing!

A week after Valentine got out of prison, someone broke into a safe in Richmond, Indiana and stole eight hundred dollars. No one knew who did it. Two weeks later, a very new and modern safe (one that was burglar-proof) was cracked open in Logansport and fifteen hundred dollars was missing! Then an old-fashioned safe in a bank in Jefferson City was cracked and a total of five thousand dollars was taken.

Detective Ben Price knew Jimmy. He had arrested him before. Price suspected that all of the burglaries were Valentine’s work. Price told a reporter, “Jimmy is the only one who has the tools that can open these safes. I’m going to catch Mr. Valentine and this time he’ll go to jail for a very long time.” Ben Price knew Jimmy’s habits. It might take time but he would find him.

One afternoon Jimmy Valentine, with his suitcase, was in a little town called Elmore. He was going to the hotel there. A young lady crossed the street, passed him at the corner and entered “The Elmore Bank”. Jimmy Valentine looked into her eyes, forgot what he was, and became another man. She looked down and her face became a little red. She didn’t often see such good-looking young men in Elmore.

Jimmy asked a young boy in the street, “Isn’t that young lady Miss Polly Simpson?”

“No,” the boy replied, “She’s Annabel Adams. Her father owns the Elmore Bank.”

Jimmy went to the hotel and took a room. He wrote his name as Ralph D. Spencer. He told the clerk that he had come to Elmore to find a place to open a new business. He asked him how the shoe business was in the town. The clerk thought Jimmy was a nice guy. He told him that there weren’t any good shoe stores in the town and hoped that Mr. Spencer would decide to open a business in Elmore. He was sure that Mr. Spencer would like the town and the people in it.

Jimmy carried his suitcase up to his room. Now Mr. Ralph Spencer, formerly Jimmy

Valentine was suddenly in love. He opened a shoe store in Elmore and ran a good business.

Jimmy made a lot of friends in Elmore. He met Annabel Adams and fell more and more in love with her every day.

Part 2 A New Man?

At the end of a year the situation of Mr. Ralph Spencer was this: his shoe store was a big success, the people in the town liked him and he and Annabel were going to be married in two weeks. Mr. Adams, Annabel’s father, liked Spencer very much and was very happy his daughter had found a good man.

One day Jimmy sat down in his room and wrote this letter, which he mailed to one of his old friends.

Dear Old Pal,

I want you to come to Sully’s Place in Little Rock next Wednesday night at nine o’clock. I want to give you a present – my tools. I know you’ll be happy to get them. You can’t buy them anywhere. I want you to know that I quit the old business about a year ago. I have a nice shoe store now. I’m living an honest life and I’m going to get married in two weeks. It’s the only life, Billy – the honest one. I wouldn’t touch a dollar of another man’s money now. After I get married I’m going to go out West. I don’t want to stay here because I don’t want to be close to people who may know me in my old profession. I tell you, Billy, I love Annabel – she’s an angel. She believes in me – I wouldn’t do another thing against the law for the whole world. Be sure to be at Sully’s Place. I’ll bring the tools with me.

Your old friend,

Jimmy

On the same night that Jimmy wrote the letter, Detective Ben Price arrived in Elmore. He walked around the town until he found out what he wanted to know. He stood across the street from Spencer’s shoe store and looked very carefully at Ralph D. Spencer. “Going to marry the banker’s daughter, are you, Jimmy?” said Ben to himself. “Well, I’m not so sure about that!”

The following Wednesday morning Jimmy got ready to go to Little Rock to meet his friend. It was the first time that he was going to leave Elmore. He was sure it was safe for him to travel. After breakfast, Annabel’s family got together – Mr. Adams, Annabel and Annabel’s married sister with her two little girls, aged nine and five. They came by the hotel where Jimmy still lived. Jimmy got his suitcase and they all went on to the bank, where a driver was waiting to take Jimmy to the train station.

But before Jimmy left, everyone went inside the bank. The Elmore bank had just put in a new safe and vault. Mr. Adams was very proud of it and wanted everyone to see it. The vault had a new door with special locks. Mr. Adams proudly explained how it worked to Mr. Spencer. Jimmy listened very politely. The two children, May and Agatha, were excited about the safe and vault too. It was shiny and had funny little handles on it.

While they were standing around and talking, Detective Ben Price walked into the bank and looked around. He told the teller that he didn’t want anything, he was just waiting for a man he knew.

Part 3 His Real Identity

Suddenly there were screams from the women. May, the nine-year-old girl, had closed Agatha inside the vault while they were playing. She had turned the handle like Mr. Adams had showed them and the vault automatically locked. The old banker jumped up and pulled at the handle. “It can’t be opened,” he said. “I didn’t set the clock and the combination first.”

They could hear the child screaming inside the dark vault.

“My poor baby!” cried the mother. “She will die in there! Open the door! Oh, break it open!

Can’t you men do something?”

“There isn’t a man near here who can open that door,” said Mr. Adams, in a shaky voice. “My God! Spencer, what should we do? She can’t stand it long in there. There isn’t enough air and she is so scared.”

Agatha’s mother started beating on the vault door with her hands. Somebody suggested dynamite. Annabel looked at Jimmy, her eyes full of worry. “Can’t you do something, Ralph, please?” He looked at her and knew what he had to do. Jimmy threw off his coat and pulled up his shirtsleeves. At this moment Ralph D. Spencer “died” and Jimmy Valentine took his place.

“Get away from the door, all of you,” he said to everyone. He put his suitcase on the table and opened it. From that time on he did not look up. He took out his shiny tools and whistled softly to himself as he always did when at work. The others watched him in shock. In a minute Jimmy’s favorite drill was drilling into the steel door. In ten minutes – breaking his own record – he opened the locks of the door. Agatha, weak but safe, came out of the vault.

Jimmy Valentine put on his coat and walked away. He thought he heard a voice that he once knew call “Ralph!” but he didn’t stop. Near the door of the bank, a man stood in his way.

“Hello, Ben!” said Jimmy. “Got here at last, didn’t you? Well, let’s go. It doesn’t matter

anymore, now.”

But Ben Price simply said, “I think you have made a mistake, Mr. Spencer. I don’t believe I know you. Your driver is waiting for you, isn’t he?”

And Ben Price turned around and walked out of the bank and down the street.