"Sir John," said Gabriel, "I am a working-man, and have been so,all my life. If I don"t prepare you enough for what I have to tell; if I come to the point too abruptly; and give you a shock,which a gentleman could have spared you, or at all events lessenedvery much; I hope you will give me credit for meaning well. I wishto be careful and considerate, and I trust that in a straightforwardperson like me, you"ll take the will for the deed."
"Mr Varden," returned the other, perfectly composed under thisexordium; "I beg you"ll take a chair. Chocolate, perhaps, youdon"t relish? Well! it IS an acquired taste, no doubt."
"Sir John," said Gabriel, who had acknowledged with a bow theinvitation to be seated, but had not availed himself of it. "SirJohn"--he dropped his voice and drew nearer to the bed--"I am justnow come from Newgate--"
"Good Gad!" cried Sir John, hastily sitting up in bed; "fromNewgate, Mr Varden! How could you be so very imprudent as to comefrom Newgate! Newgate, where there are jail-fevers, and raggedpeople, and bare-footed men and women, and a thousand horrors!
Peak, bring the camphor, quick! Heaven and earth, Mr Varden, mydear, good soul, how COULD you come from Newgate?"
Gabriel returned no answer, but looked on in silence while Peak (who had entered with the hot chocolate) ran to a drawer, andreturning with a bottle, sprinkled his master"s dressing-gown andthe bedding; and besides moistening the locksmith himself,plentifully, described a circle round about him on the carpet.
When he had done this, he again retired; and Sir John, reclining inan easy attitude upon his pillow, once more turned a smiling facetowards his visitor.
"You will forgive me, Mr Varden, I am sure, for being at first alittle sensitive both on your account and my own. I confess I wasstartled, notwithstanding your delicate exordium. Might I ask youto do me the favour not to approach any nearer?--You have reallycome from Newgate!"
The locksmith inclined his head.
"In-deed! And now, Mr Varden, all exaggeration and embellishmentapart," said Sir John Chester, confidentially, as he sipped hischocolate, "what kind of place IS Newgate?"
"A strange place, Sir John," returned the locksmith, "of a sad anddoleful 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-morrowmorning the hanged," returned the locksmith.
Sir John had expected--had been quite certain from the first--thathe would say he had come from Hugh, and was prepared to meet him onthat point. But this answer occasioned him a degree ofastonishment, which, for the moment, he could not, with all hiscommand of feature, prevent his face from expressing. He quicklysubdued it, however, and said in the same light tone:
"And what does the gentleman require of me? My memory may be atfault again, but I don"t recollect that I ever had the pleasure ofan introduction to him, or that I ever numbered him among my personal friends, I do assure you, Mr Varden."
"Sir John," returned the locksmith, gravely, "I will tell you, asnearly as I can, in the words he used to me, what he desires thatyou should know, and what you ought to know without a moment"s lossof time."
Sir John Chester settled himself in a position of greater repose,and looked at his visitor with an expression of face which seemedto say, "This is an amusing fellow! I"ll hear him out."
"You may have seen in the newspapers, sir," said Gabriel, pointingto the one which lay by his side, "that I was a witness againstthis man upon his trial some days since; and that it was not hisfault I was alive, and able to speak to what I knew."
"MAY have seen!" cried Sir John. "My dear Mr Varden, you are quitea public character, and live in all men"s thoughts most deservedly.
Nothing can exceed the interest with which I read your testimony,and remembered that I had the pleasure of a slight acquaintancewith you.---I hope we shall have your portrait published?"
"This morning, sir," said the locksmith, taking no notice of these compliments, "early this morning, a message was brought to me fromNewgate, at this man"s request, desiring that I would go and seehim, for he had something particular to communicate. I needn"ttell you that he is no friend of mine, and that I had never seenhim, until the rioters beset my house."
Sir John fanned himself gently with the newspaper, and nodded.
"I knew, however, from the general report," resumed Gabriel, "thatthe order for his execution to-morrow, went down to the prisonlast night; and looking upon him as a dying man, I complied withhis request."
"You are quite a Christian, Mr Varden," said Sir John; "and in thatamiable capacity, you increase my desire that you should take achair."
"He said," continued Gabriel, looking steadily at the knight, "thathe had sent to me, because he had no friend or companion in thewhole world (being the common hangman), and because he believed,from the way in which I had given my evidence, that I was an honestman, and would act truly by him. He said that, being shunned byevery one who knew his calling, even by people of the lowest and most wretched grade, and finding, when he joined the rioters, thatthe men he acted with had no suspicion of it (which I believe istrue enough, for a poor fool of an old "prentice of mine was one ofthem), he had kept his own counsel, up to the time of his beingtaken and put in jail."
"Very discreet of Mr Dennis," observed Sir John with a slight yawn,though still with the utmost affability, "but--except for youradmirable and lucid manner of telling it, which is perfect--notvery interesting to me."
"When," pursued the locksmith, quite unabashed and whollyregardless of these interruptions, "when he was taken to the jail,he found that his fellow-prisoner, in the same room, was a youngman, Hugh by name, a leader in the riots, who had been betrayed andgiven up by himself. From something which fell from this unhappycreature in the course of the angry words they had at meeting, hediscovered that his mother had suffered the death to which theyboth are now condemned.--The time is very short, Sir John."