Her nurse says
she may live some time; but she seems to me to be sinking fast."

"Heaven help her!" sighed Jack. "I hope not."

"Her release would be a mercy," pursued the matron. "Oh! Sir, if you'd
seen her as I've seen her, you'd not wish her a continuance of misery."

As Jack made no reply, the woman proceeded.

"They say her son's taken at last, and is to be hanged. I'm glad of it,
I'm sure; for it's all owing to him his poor mother's here. See what
crime does, Sir. Those who act wickedly bring misery on all connected
with them. And so gentle as the poor creature is, when she's not in her
wild fits--it would melt a heart of stone to see her. She will cry for
days and nights together. If Jack Sheppard could behold his mother in
this state, he'd have a lesson he'd never forget--ay, and a severer one
than even the hangman could read him. Hardened as he may be, that would
touch him. But he has never been near her--never."

Rambling in this way, the matron at length came to a halt, and taking
out a key, pointed to a door and said, "This is Mrs. Sheppard's ward,
Sir."

"Leave us together, my good woman," said Jack, putting a guinea into her
hand.

"As long as you please, Sir," answered the matron, dropping a curtsey.
"There, Sir," she added, unlocking the door, "you can go in. Don't be
frightened of her. She's not mischievous--and besides she's chained, and
can't reach you."

So saying, she retired, and Jack entered the cell.

Prepared as he was for a dreadful shock, and with his nerves strung to
endure it, Jack absolutely recoiled before the appalling object that met
his gaze. Cowering in a corner upon a heap of straw sat his unfortunate
mother, the complete wreck of what she had been. Her eyes glistened in
the darkness--for light was only admitted through a small grated
window--like flames, and, as she fixed them on him, their glances seemed
to penetrate his very soul. A piece of old blanket was fastened across
her shoulders, and she had no other clothing except a petticoat. Her
arms and feet were uncovered, and of almost skeleton thinness. Her
features were meagre, and ghastly white, and had the fixed and horrible
stamp of insanity. Her head had been shaved, and around it was swathed a
piece of rag, in which a few straws were stuck. Her thin fingers were
armed with nails as long as the talons of a bird. A chain, riveted to an
iron belt encircling her waist, bound her to the wall. The cell in which
she was co