Tracks in the Snow; Being the History of a Crime (Paperback)

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1906. Excerpt: ... escape, and I do not care for acquittal. You have the means to throw suspicion on me, and that is enough for me. I cared for honour and success, and I do not care for life when they are lost." He was looking at each of us alternately with an inscrutable but quite unflinching gaze, but he now hid his eyes, and he added as if with difficulty, "Yet I did care for one other thing besides my position in the world, but that has gone from me too. "And now," he resumed, "that my struggle is over, and that the people--more people and bigger people than you would think--who have been courting me for the last twelve months will think of me only with as just abhorrence as Thalberg himself does, I have an odd fancy, and it is this: I should like to stand a little better in the eyes of the very men who, far from courting me, have had the courage to suspect me and the tenacity to drag me down." He had raised his eyes again, but this time me tell you just a little more of it, and, please, if it interests you enough, question me on any point you will. I shall not shrink from answering. If a man is known to have murdered two of his friends, there cannot be much left that it is worth his while to conceal. First, I would like to speak of my early training. If I had been brought up in the gutter, you could make some allowance for that, and give me some credit for any good qualities I had shown, however cheerfully you might see me hanged for my crimes. It is not usual to suppose that any such allowance may have to be made for a man brought up to luxury and to every sort of refinement, and yet such a man too may be the victim of influences which would kill the good in most characters even more than they have in mine. You may have heard a little about my people, and perhaps know that their views and ways w...