‘No; never.’
‘Then for private perusal among a circle of friends?’
‘Just as little. I scarcely know three people in the world who would acknowledge that title.’
‘You had an object, however, in composing it?’
‘Yes; to occupy thought; to save me from—from——’
I hesitated, for I was ashamed of the confession that nearly burst from me, and, after a pause, I said, ‘from being such as I now am!’
‘You wrote it for yourself alone, then?’
‘Yes.’
‘Unprompted; without any suggestion from another?’
‘Is it here,’ said I, looking around my cell, ‘is it here that I should be likely to find a fellow-labourer?’