Mind you, from first to last I have done nothing to be ashamed of, and nothing that I would not do again; but you'll judge that for yourselves when I tell you my story.

Never mind warning me, Inspector: I'm ready to stand pat upon the truth.
"I'm not going to begin at the beginning.

That's all there," he indicated my bundle of papers, "and a mighty queer yarn you'll find it.
It all comes down to this: That there are some men that have good cause to hate me and would give their last dollar to know that they had got me.

So long as I am alive and they are alive, there is no safety in this world for me.

They hunted me from Chicago to California, then they chased me out of America; but when I married and settled down in this quiet spot I thought my last years were going to be peaceable.
"I never explained to my wife how things were.