cheated. So you see
how careful we has to be."

Annie could not listen to any more. The horror of having Howard classed
with fiends of that description sickened her. To the keeper she said
quickly:

"Please take me to my husband."

Taking another dollar from her purse, she slipped the bill into the
man's hand, feeling that, here as everywhere else, one must pay for
privileges and courtesies. Her guide led the way and ushered her into an
elevator, which, at a signal, started slowly upwards.

The cells in the Tombs are arranged in rows in the form of an ellipse in
the centre of each of the six floors. There is room to accommodate nine
hundred prisoners of both sexes. The men are confined in the new prison;
the women, fewer in number, in what remains of the old building. Only
the centre of each floor being taken up with the rows of narrow cells,
there remains a broad corridor, running all the way round and flanked on
the right by high walls with small barred windows. An observer from the
street glancing up at the windows might conclude that they were those
of the cells in which prisoners were confined. As a matter of fact, the
cells have no windows, only a grating which looks directly out into the
circular corridor.

At the fourth floor the elevator stopped and the heavy iron door swung
back.

"This way," said the keeper, stepping out and quickly walking along the
corridor. "He's in cell No. 456."

A lump rose in Annie's throat. The place was well ventilated, yet she
thought she would faint from a choking feeling of restraint. All along
the corridor to the left were iron doors painted yellow. In the upper
part of the door were half a dozen broad slits through which one could
see what was going on inside.

"Those are the cells," volunteered her guide.

Annie shuddered as, mentally, she pictured Howard locked up in such a
dreadful place. She peered through one of the slits and saw a narrow
cell about ten feet long by six wide. The only furnishings were a
folding cot with blanket, a wash bowl and lavatory. Each cell had its
occupant, men and youths of all ages. Some were reading, some playing
cards. Some were lying asleep on their cots, perhaps dreaming of home,
but most of them leaning dejectedly against the iron bars wondering when
they would regain their liberty.

"Where are the women?" asked Annie, trying to keep down the lump that
rose chokingly in her throat.

"They're in a separate part of the prison,"