“Does it? Then it’s still more discreditable. Well, assuming she has money—what then?”
“She will be allowed to buy books, clothes, and food.”
“Will she?”
“Certainly.”
“And bedding and furniture?” she asked, glancing at the bed which was rolled up and bound by a strap, and at a wooden stool with no back to it by the wall.”
“You cannot buy furniture; the governor would object to any prisoners making themselves so comfortable in prison. He might perhaps let you have a chair or an extra blanket to your bed; but, of course, we are only subordinates. It rests with the governor.”
“Whom I cannot see, I suppose?”
“Oh, you can see him whenever you like. He is a very genial gentleman, and does all he can to make prisoners comfortable who behave themselves—but they must behave properly.”
“I am not likely to misbehave myself,” said Miss Stanbridge, “but I must tell you frankly that it appears to me that suspected felons are not allowed so many comforts as convicted first-class misdemeanants, who are swindlers, and therefore only felons on a grander scale.”
She pointed to the rule which applied to the treatment of first-class misdemeanants, and which she had discovered with her first glance at the printed board.