"Captain! there's your good old housekeeper, Mrs. Williams, takes on terribly because you will not eat; and she's so pressing to speak with you through the door, to see if she can not get you to take something, that I have promised her she shall, while the other officer is down at his supper. So, do take something, if it be but to please the old lady!"
"Well, well, I will speak to her when she comes!" answered Captain Delaware, in the same desponding tone; and Mr. Thomson withdrew.
In about five minutes after, he heard the step of the other constable depart, and ere long there was a gentle tap at his door.
"Come in!" was the first reply; but instantly remembering his situation, he approached the door, and demanded, "Who is there!"
"It is I, Master William!" answered the voice of the old housekeeper. "Oh, dear! Oh, dear! to think of their accusing you of killing a man--you that were always as gentle as a lamb!"
"Do not speak so loud, Mrs. Williams," said the voice of the friendly constable. "I do not want the other man to hear you. He is a stranger in the place, and of course can not feel for the old family as I can."
"Well, well, Mr. Thomson," answered the old lady, "I will speak low. You see that he does not come up-stairs. Oh, dear, Master William!" she proceeded; "good Mr. Thomson here, says you eat nothing at all. Pray, do eat something."
"I can not, indeed, Mrs. Williams," replied the prisoner; "but I shall be better to-morrow, and then I will. It is the first shock, you know, that is the worst. It will wear off in a day or two."
As he spoke, there was a slight noise, as of the key turning round in the lock, which was instantly caught by the quick ears of the constable. "You must not try to go in now, Mrs. Williams," he said; "it is against my strict orders."
"I am not trying to go in," she replied, somewhat crossly. "You would soon pull me out again, if I did. It was only my cap caught against the key, as I was just stooping down to ask if he would have the soup. Master William," she continued, again addressing the prisoner, "are you there?--for I must not speak loud, he says. I have such a nice basin of soup for you, if I could but get you to _take it_."