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The place is North America, and the year is 1900.

Jimmy Valentine is in prison, and his prisoner number is 9762.

He's making shoes in the prison workshop.

He wants to get out of prison, and his friends are trying to help him.

I have to get out of this prison, he thinks.

A guard comes into the room and says,

the warden wants to talk to you 9762, and he takes Jimmy to the warden's office.

Valentine, you are a lucky man, says the warden.

You are going to be free tomorrow, but don't come back to prison again.

You are not a bad man, you can change your life.

Stop burgling, stop safe cracking.

I'm not a safe cracker, sir.

Jimmy says, the warden laughs.

Take him away, he says to the guard.

Bring him here at 7 o 'clock tomorrow morning.

The next morning, Jimmy goes to the warden's office again.

A prison clerk gives him a railroad ticket and $5.

He walks out of the prison into the sunshine.

Prisoner number 9762 becomes Mr. James Valentine.

Outside the prison, the birds are singing.

But Jimmy does not listen to them.

He goes to a restaurant and he has a good meal.

Then he gets on a train.

Three hours later, Jimmy gets off the train at a little town in Illinois.

He goes into a small bar and shakes hands with the owner.

Mike Dolan, how are you?

It's nice to see you again, Jimmy.

Here's the key to your room.

Mike gives him a key and Jimmy goes upstairs to his room.

He unlocks the door and goes inside.

He sits on his bed and smiles.

He takes a dusty and heavy suitcase from under the bed.

He opens it carefully.

Inside the case is the best set of burglar's tools.

Half an hour later, Jimmy goes downstairs again.

He is wearing smart clothes and his suitcase is clean and bright.

Are you going to do another job?

Asks Mike.

Me asks Jimmy.

A job?

I don't understand you, Mike.

I sell biscuits.

I'm a salesman for the New York Cracker Company.

Mike laughs and Jimmy laughs too.

Two weeks later, Ben Price is a detective in Missouri.

He is reading the newspapers in his office.

$50 ,000 disappear from a safe in a bank in Jefferson City, he reads.

Jimmy Valentine is working again, he thinks.

Ben Price knows all about Jimmy Valentine.

I'm going to catch you one day, Jimmy.

You are going to stay years in prison.

Jimmy and his suitcase travel all around the country.

One afternoon, they go to a little town of Elmore.

Elmore is in Arkansas.

The town is five mouths from the nearest railroad station.

Jimmy walks along Elmore's main street.

He is young and handsome.

He is wearing good clothes.

He sees a beautiful young lady walking towards him.

She is the most beautiful girl in the world, he thinks.

The young lady passes him and enters the Elmore bank.

Jimmy turns and watches her.

A boy is playing in the street outside the bank.

Jimmy gives the boy a coin and asks him some questions about the town.

After a few minutes, the young lady comes out of the bank.

Jimmy gives the boy another coin.

Who is that young lady?

He asks.

She's Miss Annabel Adams replies the boy.

Her father owns the bank.

Jimmy walks to the planter's hotel and asks for a room.

My name is Ralph D Spencer.

He tells the hotel clerk.

I want to start a business here.

Is there a shoe store in Elmore?

No, there isn't a shoe store here.

The clerk replies.

This town needs a shoe store.

You're like Elmore, Mr Spencer.

The people here are very friendly.

I will stay for a few days, says Jimmy.

I'll look around the town.

Do you want someone to help you carry your suitcase up the stairs?

Ask the clerk.

No, I'll carry it myself, Jimmy replies.

It's very heavy.

Three months later.

Mr Ralph Spencer stays in Elmore now.

He owns a small shoe store in the town.

The store is successful.

People like Mr Spencer and they respect him.

He has many friends.

And soon he meets Miss Annabel Adams.

At the end of the year, Ralph D Spencer and Annabel Adams

are engaged to be married.

Annabel loves Ralph Spencer and she is proud of him.

And her father, the owner of the Elmore Bank, likes Ralph very much too.

The Adams family often invites him to their home.

One day, two weeks before the wedding day, Jimmy is sitting in his room at the planter's hotel.

He thinks for a while, then he writes a letter.

It is a letter to a friend in St Louis, Missouri.

Dear Billy, meet me at Sullivan's bar in Little Rock, Arkansas next Wednesday night.

I want to give you my tools.

I am an honest man now.

I've got a nice shoe store in this town.

And in two weeks, I'm going to marry the best girl in the world.

She believes in me.

She trusts me and she is proud of me.

I will never do another wrong thing.

Please come to Sullivan's bar.

I will bring the tools with me.

Your friend, Jimmy Valentine.