Smilk, haggard with worry,—­for he had come to think, as the hours went by without a verdict, that there would be a disagreement or, worse than that, an acquittal, in which case he would have to face the charge of bigamy that the district attorney had more than intimated,—­Smilk slouched dejectedly into the court room a few minutes before eleven o’clock and went through the familiar process of facing the jury while the jury faced him.  He straightened up eagerly when the verdict was read.  He took a long, deep breath.  His eyes brightened,—­they almost twinkled,—­as they searched the room in quest of Mr. Yollop.  He was disappointed to find that the gentle milliner was not there to hear the good news.

The judge sentenced him to twenty years imprisonment at hard labor, and he went back to his cell in the Tombs, a triumphant, vindicated champion of the laws of his State, a doughty warrior carrying the banner of justice up to the very guns of sentiment.

Mr. Yollop received a friendly letter from him some two months after his return to Sing Sing.  He found it early one morning on his library table, sealed but minus the stamp that the government exacts for safe and conscientious delivery.  Mr. Yollop’s stenographer, being more or less finicky about English as it should be written, even by thieves, is responsible for the transcript in which it is here presented: 

Dear friend—­

I hope this finds you in the best of health.  I am back on the job and very glad to be so.  It is very gay up here and I am getting fat also.  Regular hours is doing it, and no worry I suppose.  I wish to inform you that the movies have improved considerable since I was here before and our baseball team is much better.  Also the concerts and so on.  Grub also up to standard.  I never eat better grub at the Ritz-Carlton.  Which is no lie either.  Well, Mr. Yollop, before closing I want to say you done me a mighty good turn when you thought of them two wives of mine.  If it had not been for them two women I guess it would have been all off with me.  I wish you would drop in here to see me if you are ever up this way so as I can thank you in person.  Which reminds me.  There is some talk among the boys that a movement is on foot to have a regular fancy dress ball up here once a month.  Some kind of a benevolent society is working on it they say.  Big orchestra, eats from Delmonico’s and a crowd of girls from the smart set to dance with us.  So as we won’t get out of practice, I suppose.  Soon as I hear when the first dance is to be I will let you know and maybe you will come up to be present.  I will introduce you to a lot of swell dames and maybe you can drum up a nice trade among them on account of their all being fashionable and needing a good many hats.  It must be great to be in a business like yours, where nobody cares how many times you rob them just so you leave them enough money to buy shoes with, because if you ask me they ain’t wearing much of anything but hats and shoes these days.  Well, I guess I will close, Mr. Yollop.  With kind regards from yours truly, I remain