Read Justice in full
The complete text of Justice by John Galsworthy on booknest — 6 chapters, free to read, with notes and narration.
William Falder, a young clerk in a solicitor’s office, alters a cheque for nine pounds to ninety so that he can take Ruth Honeywill and her children away from her violent husband. The forgery is discovered, and Falder receives three years’ penal servitude despite his counsel’s attempt to show that he acted in a moment of mental collapse. Separate confinement breaks him down; after release, his criminal record keeps closing every path back into ordinary life. Just as his former employers agree to offer him another chance, police arrive over a breach of his licence. Falder jumps while being taken downstairs and dies, escaping the machinery of justice only when it can punish him no further.