im, 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, 'that the
order for his execution to-morrow, went down to the prison last night;
and looking upon him as a dying man, I complied with his request.'

'You are quite a Christian, Mr Varden,' said Sir John; 'and in that
amiable capacity, you increase my desire that you should take a chair.'

'He said,' continued Gabriel, looking steadily at the knight, 'that he
had sent to me, because he had no friend or companion in the whole world
(being the common hangman), and because he believed, from the way in
which I had given my evidence, that I was an honest man, and would act
truly by him. He said that, being shunned by every one who knew his
calling, even by people of the lowest and most wretched grade, and
finding, when he joined the rioters, that the men he acted with had no
suspicion of it (which I believe is true enough, for a poor fool of an
old 'prentice of mine was one of them), he had kept his own counsel, up
to the time of his being taken 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 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. She had been tempted by want--as so many people are--into the
easy crime of passing forged notes. She was young and handsome; and the
traders