'
'Very discreet of Mr Dennis,' observed Sir John with a slight yawn,
though still with the utmost affability, 'but--except for your admirable
and lucid manner of telling it, which is perfect--not very interesting
to me.'
'When,' pursued the locksmith, quite unabashed and wholly regardless of
these interruptions, 'when he was taken to the jail, he found that his
fellow-prisoner, in the same room, was a young man, Hugh by name, a
leader in the riots, who had been betrayed and given up by himself. From
something which fell from this unhappy creature in the course of the
angry words they had at meeting, he discovered that his mother had
suffered the death to which they both are now condemned.--The time is
very short, Sir John.'
The knight laid down his paper fan, replaced his cup upon the table at
his side, and, saving for the smile that lurked about his mouth, looked
at the locksmith with as much steadiness as the locksmith looked at him.
'They have been in prison now, a month. One conversation led to many
more; and the hangman soon found, from a comparison of time, and place,
and dates, that he had executed the sentence of the law upon this woman,
himself.
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