There was no haughtiness in the steady gravity of this speech, whatever there was in the quiet silence he permitted to follow. Thorn did not break it.
"I am informed of the particulars concerning this prosecution of Mr. Rossitur--I am come here to know if no terms can be obtained."
"No!" said Thorn,--"no terms--I won't speak of terms. The matter will be followed up now till the fellow is lodged in jail, where he deserves to be."
"Are you aware, sir, that this, if done, will be the cause of very great distress to a family who have not deserved it?"
"That can't be helped," said Thorn. "Of course!--it must cause distress, but you can't act upon that. Of course when a man turns rogue he ruins his family--that's part of his punishment--and a just one."
"The law is just," said Mr. Carleton,--"but a friend may be merciful."
"I don't pretend to be a friend," said Thorn viciously,--"and I have no cause to be merciful. I like to bring a man to public shame when he has forfeited his title to anything else; and I intend that Mr. Rossitur shall become intimately acquainted with the interior of the State's Prison."
"Did it ever occur to you that public shame might fall upon other than Mr. Rossitur? and without the State Prison?"
Thorn fixed a somewhat startled look upon the steady powerful eye of his opponent, and did not like its meaning.
"You must explain yourself, sir," he said haughtily.