“You have seen him, then?”
“Ay, that I have, and must see him again. Where is he confined?”
“In Newgate.”
“That is so far fortunate, because the jailer is an old acquaintance of mine.”
“I have a great curiosity to see this Freney.”
“Come along with me, then,” said Daly, as he arose and rang the bell to order a carriage; “you shall gratify your curiosity; but I must ask you to leave us alone together afterwards, for, strange as it may seem, we have a little affair of confidence between us.”
It did, indeed, appear not a little strange that any secret negotiation or understanding should exist between two such men; but Lionel did not venture to ask any explanation of the difficulty, but silently prepared to accompany him. As they went along towards Newgate, Daly related several anecdotes of Freney, all of which tended to show that the fellow had all his life felt that strange passion for danger so attractive to certain minds, and that his lawless career was more probably adopted from this tendency than any mere desire of money-getting. Many of his robberies resembled feats of daring rather than cautious schemes to obtain property. “Society,” added Daly, “is truly not much benefited because the highwayman is capricious; but still, one cannot divest oneself of a certain interest for a rascal who has always shown himself ready to risk his neck, and who has never been charged with any distinct act of cruelty. When I say this much, I must caution you against indulging a sympathy for a law-breaker because he is not a perfect monster of iniquity; such fellows are very rare, and we are always too well inclined to admire the few good qualities of a bad man, just as we are astonished at a few words spoken plain by a parrot.
“'The things themselves are neither strange nor rare;
We wonder how the devil they came there.'”
While Daly wisely cautioned his young companion against the indulgence of a false and mawkish sympathy for the criminal, he in his own heart could not help feeling the strongest interest for any misfortune of a spirit so wild and so reckless.
Daly's card, passed through the iron grating of the strong door, soon procured them admission, and they were conducted into a small and neatly furnished room, where a mild-looking middle-aged man was seated, reading. He rose as they entered, and saluted them respectfully.