“Does any one know him?—has he no friends who will look after him?” said the Commissioner, leaning over and addressing those beneath in a subdued voice.
“Devil a friend in the world! It's few friends stick to the man whose property comes here. But don't make me out mad. I 'm in my full senses, though I had enough to turn fifty men to madness.”
“I know him, my Lord; with the permission of the Court, I 'll take charge of him,” said Dunn, in a tone so low as to be audible only to a few. Kellett, however, was one of them, and he immediately cried out,—
“Take charge of me! Ay, that he will. He took charge of my estate, too, and he 'll do by me what he did with the property,—give a bargain of me!”
A hearty burst of laughter filled the hall at this sally; for Dunn was one of those men whose prosperity always warrants the indulgence of a sarcasm. The Court, however, could no longer brook the indecorous interruption, and sternly ordered that Kellett might be removed.
“My dear Mr. Kellett, pray remember yourself; only recollect where you are; such conduct will only expose you—”
“Expose me! do you think I've any shame left in me? Do you think, when a man is turned out to starve on the roads, that he cares much what people say of him?”
“This interruption is intolerable,” said the Commissioner. “If he be not speedily removed, I 'll order him into the custody of the police.”
“Do, in God's name,” cried Kellett, calmly. “Anything that will keep me from laying hands on myself, or somebody else, will be a charity.”
“Come with me, Kellett,—do come along with me!” said Dunn, entreatingly.