I confess I was startled,
notwithstanding your delicate exordium. Might I ask you to do me the
favour not to approach any nearer?--You have really come from Newgate!'
The locksmith inclined his head.
'In-deed! And now, Mr Varden, all exaggeration and embellishment apart,'
said Sir John Chester, confidentially, as he sipped his chocolate, 'what
kind of place IS Newgate?'
'A strange place, Sir John,' returned the locksmith, 'of a sad and
doleful kind. A strange place, where many strange things are heard and
seen; but few more strange than that I come to tell you of. The case is
urgent. I am sent here.'
'Not--no, no--not from the jail?'
'Yes, Sir John; from the jail.'
'And my good, credulous, open-hearted friend,' said Sir John, setting
down his cup, and laughing,--'by whom?'
'By a man called Dennis--for many years the hangman, and to-morrow
morning the hanged,' returned the locksmith.
Sir John had expected--had been quite certain from the first--that he
would say he had come from Hugh, and was prepared to meet him on that
point. But this answer occasioned him a degree of astonishment, which,
for the moment, he could not, with all his command of feature, prevent
his face from expressing.
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