“Oh, yes; just so—I dare say,” remarked the governor, carelessly.
“And I can’t sit here all by myself wi’out having summut to do.”
“Certainly not; besides, they will keep you out of mischief. Idle people are always mischievous.”
“Out of meescheef!” cried Chudley. “Well, I loike that; what meescheef can a poor devil loike me do?”
“You might scrawl on the walls, or tear down the rules, you know,” observed the governor, with a smile.
“Oh, I might, sartenly, but I aint loikely to do nuffin o’ the sort. I hope I know how to behave myself in prison or out o’ prison.”
“I dare say you do, my man. Is there anything else you want before I leave?”
“Thank ’ee, sir, that be all.”
The governor despatched the messenger to the nearest library, and then left the cell. As he passed along the passage he called the turnkeys before him.
“I can’t make out that man,” he observed. “What can be his reason for asking for books? Just you keep an eye upon him.”