"
Bridge, who had had no intention of deserting his help-
less companions, appeared at last to yield reluctantly to
their pleas. That indefinable something about the youth
which appealed strongly to the protective instinct in the
man, also assured him that the other's mask of criminal-
ity was for the most part assumed even though the stor-
ies of the two yeggmen and the loot bulging pockets
argued to the contrary. There was the chance, however,
that the boy had really taken the first step upon the
road toward a criminal career, and if such were the case
Bridge felt morally obligated to protect his new found
friend from arrest, secure in the reflection that his own
precept and example would do more to lead him back
into the path of rectitude than would any police magis-
trate or penal institute.
For the girl he felt a deep pity. In the past he had
had knowledge of more than one other small-town girl
led into wrong doing through the deadly monotony and
flagrant hypocrisy of her environment. Himself highly
imaginative and keenly sensitive, he realized with what
depth of horror the girl anticipated a return to her home
and friends after the childish escapade which had cul-
minated, even through no fault of hers, in criminal
tragedy of the most sordid sort.
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