"I--I think I must return to town."
The prisoner smiled. The Major winced.
"That--that fellow's pinned me to my chair," he gasped. He appeared to be making futile efforts to rise from his seat.
"You cannot return to town. Dismiss the idea from your mind."
The Major only groaned. He took out his handkerchief and wiped his brow. The governor looked up from the paper-knife with which he was again trifling.
"Am I to understand that the testimonial is to take the shape of a voluntary offering?"
"Oh, sir! Of what value is a testimonial which is not voluntary?"
"Quite so. How do you suggest it should be worded?"
"May I ask you for paper, pens, and ink?"
The prisoner bent over the table and wrote on the paper which was handed him. What he had written he passed to the governor. Mr. Paley found inscribed, in a beautifully fair round hand, as clear as copperplate, the following "testimonial":--