In this spirit, he was fettered with great care, and
conveyed into the interior of the prison.
'Brother,' cried the hangman, as, following an officer, he traversed
under these novel circumstances the remains of passages with which he
was well acquainted, 'am I going to be along with anybody?'
'If you'd have left more walls standing, you'd have been alone,' was the
reply. 'As it is, we're cramped for room, and you'll have company.'
'Well,' returned Dennis, 'I don't object to company, brother. I rather
like company. I was formed for society, I was.'
'That's rather a pity, an't it?' said the man.
'No,' answered Dennis, 'I'm not aware that it is. Why should it be a
pity, brother?'
'Oh! I don't know,' said the man carelessly. 'I thought that was what
you meant. Being formed for society, and being cut off in your flower,
you know--'
'I say,' interposed the other quickly, 'what are you talking of? Don't.
Who's a-going to be cut off in their flowers?'
'Oh, nobody particular. I thought you was, perhaps,' said the man.
Mr Dennis wiped his face, which had suddenly grown very hot, and
remarking in a tremulous voice to his conductor that he had always been
fond of his joke, followed him in silence until he stopped at a door.
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