第二天早上7点15分，基米站在了监狱长的办公室。他穿着一套很不合身的现成衣服和一双廉价的鞋子。这些是在释放犯人时发给他们的。一名职员递给他一张火车票和5美元。拿着这些钱，从此就可以开始诚实的新的人生了。监狱长递给他一支雪茄。他们握了握手。范林丁，9762号，已经登记在“州长赦免册”中。于是，詹姆斯·范林了便走到了阳光下。
Disregarding the song of the birds, the green trees, and the smell of the flowers, Jimmy went straight to a restaurant. There he ordered a roast chicken and a bottle of white wine and a better cigar than the one the warden had given him. Then he walked slowly to the railroad station. He put a quarter into the hat of a blind man sitting by the door, and took a train. Three hours later he arrived at his native town, went directly to the cafe of his old friend Mike Dolan and shook hands with Mike, who was alone behind the counter. “Sorry we couldn’t make it sooner, Jimmy, my boy,” said Mike. “It wasn’t so easy this time and we had a lot of trouble. Are you all right?”
基米没有理会鸟鸣、绿树和花香，径直向饭店走去。到了那里，他要了一份烧鸡、一瓶葡萄酒和一支比监狱长给他的要好的雪茄，随后慢慢地踱向了火车站。他向坐在门边的盲人的帽中丢了2角5分钱。3个小时之后，他来到了自己的家乡，直奔他的好友迈克·杜兰开的咖啡馆而去，跟独自站在柜台后面的迈克握了握手。“很抱歉我们没有早些办成，基米，我的孩子，”迈克说，“这次可真不容易，我们费了不少周折。你一切都好吧？”
“Fine,” said Jimmy. “Have you got my key?”
“很好，”基米说，“你没拿我的钥匙吧？”
He took his key and went upstairs, unlocking the door of his room. Everything was just as he had left it. There on the floor was still the collar-button that had been torn from the shirt of Ben Price—the well known detective—