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Sir Wilfred Lucas-Dockery felt very much like Solomon at ten o'clock every morning of the week except Sunday. It was then that he sat in judgement upon the cases of misconduct among the prisoners that were brought to his notice. From his chair Colonel MacAdder had delivered sentence in undeviating accordance with the spirit and the letter of the Standing Orders Concerning the Government of Her Majesty's Prisons, dispensing automatic justice like a slot machine; in went the offence; out came the punishment. Not so Wilfred Lucas‑Dockery. Never, he felt, was his mind more alert or resourceful or his vast accumulation of knowledge more available than at his little court of summary justice. 'No one knows what to expect, complained warders and prisoners alike.
'Justice, said Sir Wilfred, 'is the capacity for regarding each case as an entirely new problem. After a few months of his administration, Sir Wilfred was able to point with some pride to a marked diminution in the number of cases brought before him.
One morning, soon after Paul began on his special régime of reclamation, his companion was called up before the Governor.
'God bless my soul! said Sir Wilfred; 'that's the man I put on special treatment. What is he here for?
'I was on night duty last night between the hours of 8 p.m. and 4 a.m., testified the warder in a sing‑song voice, 'when my attention was attracted by sounds of agitation coming from the prisoner's cell. Upon going to the observation hole I observed the prisoner pacing up and down his cell in a state of high excitement. In one hand he held his Bible, and in the other a piece of wood which he had broken from his stool. His eyes were staring; he was breathing heavily, and at times muttering verses of the Bible. I remonstrated with the prisoner when he addressed me in terms prejudicial to good discipline.
'What are the words complained of? asked the Chief Warder.
'He called me a Moabite, an abomination of Moab, a wash‑pot, an unclean thing, an uncircumcised Moabite, an idolater, and a whore of Babylon, sir.
'I see. What do you advise, officer?
'A clear case of insubordination, sir, said the Chief Warder. 'Try him on No. 1 diet for a bit.