Evans had a wife and children, and these hostages to fortune weighed down his manly spirit. He came to Hawes as he was going out and said submissively, though not graciously:
“Very sorry, sir, to think I should disobey you, but when his reverence said it was against the law—”
“That is enough, my man,” replied Hawes quietly; “he has bewitched you, it seems. When he is kicked out you will be my servant again, I dare say.”
The words and the tone were not ill-humored. It was not Hawes's cue to quarrel with a turnkey.
Evans looked suddenly up, for his mind was relieved by Mr. Hawes's moderation; he looked up and saw a cold, stern eye dwelling on him with a meaning that had nothing to do with the words spoken.
Small natures read one another.
Evans saw his fate inscribed in Hawes's eye.
CHAPTER XVI.
HAWES and Fry sat in council. A copy of the prison rules was before them, and the more they looked at them after Mr. Eden's interpretation, the less they liked them: they were severe and simple; stringent against the prisoners on certain points; stringent in their favor on others.